Ever have one of those days???

[robertp17]

I fly foamies at my house and there are two medium sized trees on a two acre lot and I swear sometimes they attract my planes. I could be 200 feet away and soon as a little gust comes up it aways blows them near the tree. I lost several planes in those two trees and am ready to cut em down.

[smokin]

many many years ago, my dad lost a giant Powerhouse Oldtimer due to rf issues. it just slowly flew away! out of sight into a forest at the end of the state park our field was in. somehow, only a few hours later, i found it walking thru the trees. it was HIGH up there. i mean HIGH up there. we couldn't really tell how high but man, it was up there. we tried a bow and arrow with a rope...you know to go over the wing and break it to get her to fall... we were almost going to try a shot gun when we ended up calling a tree service friend of the family. they brought a bucket truck, a tree climing dude and 120 ft of rope. the guy got in the bucket truck, went as high as he could, got out and started climbing.... he then got to the plane, and tied the fuse around the tail and started letting it down to the ground.... remember, 120 ft rope!!!!! it came down all but the last 10 or 12 ft!!!! 115 feet or so in the air!!!!!!!! crazy huh.?.? NO DAMAGE!!!!!!! expensive recovery but no $$$$ in a rebuild!!

[WangoTango]

	Quote: Originally Posted by wizard
	It has been on of them for me. First due to work yesterday and 24 hour shift tomorrow, I couldn't make the St. Louis Huckfest. Then the wind was way to strong here for me to fly today. Finally about a 1/2 hour before dark the wind laid back. So I go and grab my slow stick I have just for this type of time. Go out beside the house and fly. This is the same place I have flown many, many times. Well as I was making the turn at the far end of the area a fing tree jumps out and grabs it out of the air. It's now about 15 minutes before dark and my slow stick is about 45 feet up in a tree. Now the plane staying in the tree wouldn't bother me, but the li-po battery, the brushless motor and speed control, and receiver staying there until Monday bothered me. Well the first thing I try was the old weights on the fishing pole routine. After loosing a bunch of 2 oz weights, I decided to try something else. So I go grab 2 sections of one of my 60 foot ladders (two sections actually extend to about 36 feet). Put them together and lean them against the tree. Grab about 15 foot of poles and go climbing. Get to the top of the ladder and can't even see the plane. Try a few pokes anyway and have no luck. By this time it is full on dark. I climb back down and cuss for a few minutes, then start thinking. No those that know me know that me thinking usually ends up in trouble. So off to the garage for equipment. I head back toward the tree wearing a harness carrying 50 feet of rope and my trusty chain saw. I tie the chain saw onto one end of the rope hook the other end to my harness and start climbing. I get to the top and tie off to the tree, and tie the ladder to the tree. I fire up the chain saw and proceed to get the bar pinched in the tree. By this time I'm not a happy camper. So now I'm sitting on the top of a 36 foot ladder in the dark, with a chain saw pinched in the tree and my cheap little plane still stuck. So I start to thinking again. I tie the end of the rope that I had tied off with to the chain saw, pull up a few feet of rope and tie to the tree about 3 feet above the saw. Climb back down the ladder and go get the van. I tie the end of the rope to the hitch on the van and take off. The top of the tree breaks off and falls over, but is still held by the rope. The slow stick floats to the ground with only the prop damaged. I unplug the battery and put it in the van. Ok, so now I have retrieved the plane. Remember all this started because of a plane, that with all the equipment is only worth about 150 bucks. I still have about 30 feet of tree hanging by a rope, and a $500 chain saw at the top of the ladder. Then I notice that the portion of the tree that is hanging is hanging right on the ladder. I have to climb the ladder through the tree top that is still hanging by the rope. I finally get to the top and find that the part of the tree that I cut/broke off is actually not on the rope but, on another large branch that is broken but still hanging onto the tree. So I tie off to the tree again, check out the chain saw and find that it is fine. Fire it up and use it to, first cut the rope that is attached to the hanging part of the tree (there was no way I was going to get it untied.) Then I cut the other branch loose from the tree. Both parts of the tree now go sliding down the ladder and pile against the bottom. So now I'm sitting at the top of the ladder looking down at branches leaning against the bottom of the ladder and covering about 10 feet. My father was there watching this whole performance and tried to move the branches from the ladder but couldn't get them to budge due to the weight. so I climb down until I get the the branched then swing around to the back side of the ladder and go the rest of the way hand over hand down. I cut up the limbs and pull them away from the ladder, pick up the tools and call it a night. The ladder and limbs are going to stay there until Monday when I get home from work. I started flying about 8:15. I flew for about 6 minutes before the tree reached out and grabbed the plane. I finally got back inside with the plane about 11:30. The funny part about the whole situation was that I never got mad and having a good time during the entire "recovery operation". Sorry no photos due to the fact that most of this occurred during hours of darkness. I almost wish that I had the whole thing on video. I just though I would share the strange things we do sometimes because of our love of the hobby.

Wizard,
You did the right thing........ Now get some rest. You might have to fly again tomorrow!
WT