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Lost Plane Finder; Need Ideas

A

alan0043

Well-known member
Hi Everyone,

Sad day at the field yesterday. I lost my Scout XL. The plane was flying east and I lost control of the plane. So you can so, it flew away. 😱 This is the second plane that I have lost. The Scout went down in the corn field. The corn is about 8 to 9 feet tall. I want to add a plane finder in the fuselage. I came across this one. Vifly Finder 2. Has anyone used this ?

One of the guys at the field said maybe an Air Tag. I do not have an I Phone. So that idea won't work. My phone is an Android.

Any ideas ?

www.getfpv.com

VIFLY Finder 2 Drone Buzzer

The VIFLY Finder V2. The most intelligent drone buzzer. Self-powering to work even after the quad battery ejection.
www.getfpv.com www.getfpv.com
 
Foamforce

Foamforce

Elite member
I have a friend with drones who uses those. It’s a good idea to get one with the battery built in because the main battery frequently gets disconnected in a crash.

On a separate note, did you set up failsafe? That limits how far it will go if you lose signal. I always put a bit of left rudder in my failsafe too, hoping that it will turn and regain signal. I haven’t had a real life test of that yet though.
 
Bricks

Bricks

Master member
I have the ones with built in battery in all my combat planes and quads, they do help, seem to be pretty loud until you actually need it. Windy and in tall corn still struggle to here it dead calm much better. Someone needs to come up with a way to actually make these really LOUD. Or something like HEY I AM OVER HERE. lol
 
LitterBug

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
I was going to say the same thing as Merv. That or a GPS hooked to your radio with telemetry back to your transmitter.

Funny story. I had a GPS and telemetry on my nano goblin that went nose in at flite fest. Walked way out in the field and found it immediately. Took it back to the flite line and realized I did not get all the small parts like the camera, GPS, ETC. Was NEVER going to find that spot again since A) the big parts were gone, and B) I lost my point of reference to where it went down. Remembered I had a GPS on it, looked at the telemetry, plugged the coordinates in to google maps, and walked right to all the little bits.

LB

EDIT: and yes, the battery had been ejected. Radio remembers the last telemetry it recieved.

IMG_20240619_204525506.jpg
 
Last edited:
M

Merv

Moderator
Moderator
GPS is good.
I have used a hand held GPS to find planes in the tall corn for a long time now. This was way before we had the unit in the plane. If you can get a bearing on where the plane went down. Set a couple of points 5-600 feet away & walk to them. Much better than just wandering around in the corn, just guessing if you are close to the plane.
 
K

Kzhurley

New member
ColoFlyer said:
I have used the VIFlY and it works pretty well I don't fly where there is tall corn, so I am not sure about that, but it works in tall grass.
It does however have it's own battery so it works even if the main battery is ejected.

Finder V2 FPV Racing Drone Buzzer​


Here is another option, but I have not tried it.

FPV Finder Buzzer 110dB​

Click to expand...
I had one of those in a plane I got stuck in a tree and it beeped for almost a week. It was amazing lol
 
J

joelspangler

Active member
My radio (a Radiomaster TX16s) has a tool on it named "Model Locator (by RSSI) that shows the signal strength to the plane. It's sort of annoying to walk around watching to see if the signal strength is going up or down, but it's better than nothing. Your radio may have a similar function.

Quads often have a model alarm, some of them even with a battery backup if your battery gets ejected. You can get them for really cheap if willing to wait a few weeks for them to ship from overseas

I couldn't find one that plugs into a normal servo port that has a battery - the Vifly finder v2 has a battery, but you'd have to wire it up appropriately to connect it to a standard receiver (it's meant to be connected to a flight controller)
 
A

alan0043

Well-known member
joelspangler said:
My radio (a Radiomaster TX16s) has a tool on it named "Model Locator (by RSSI) that shows the signal strength to the plane. It's sort of annoying to walk around watching to see if the signal strength is going up or down, but it's better than nothing. Your radio may have a similar function.

Quads often have a model alarm, some of them even with a battery backup if your battery gets ejected. You can get them for really cheap if willing to wait a few weeks for them to ship from overseas

I couldn't find one that plugs into a normal servo port that has a battery - the Vifly finder v2 has a battery, but you'd have to wire it up appropriately to connect it to a standard receiver (it's meant to be connected to a flight controller)
Click to expand...
My transmitter is a Radiomaster TX 16S. I will have to find a video about my radio and see how to do this idea.
 
LitterBug

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
alan0043 said:
My transmitter is a Radiomaster TX 16S. I will have to find a video about my radio and see how to do this idea.
Click to expand...
I use RadioMaster (edgetx) radios too. The RSSI locator will only work if the battery is not ejected and the reciever is still functioning. It would be well worth learning to use it as an added method. Think I should play with it too. Not all my models have GPS. I have been fortunate that any time I have "lost" a model, GPS telemetry has been available.
 
J

joelspangler

Active member
Since there was some interest in the "Model Locator (by RSSI)" on my radio. First I do have to say it might be the firmware I'm running. I changed the firmware in my radio from OpenTx to EdgeTX, so it may be a function of that upgrade. I'm running EdgeTX v2.9.2 - which is probably not the most current version, but was at the point when I last upgraded (during the winter).

To get to the function, I click the SYS button and it's on the first page (named Tools and an icon of a wrench and screwdriver). There really isn't much to the tool itself. It just shows the RSSI value and beeps at different rates (faster as you get closer I think).
 
R

ray672

New member
alan0043 said:
Hi Everyone,

Sad day at the field yesterday. I lost my Scout XL. The plane was flying east and I lost control of the plane. So you can so, it flew away. 😱 This is the second plane that I have lost. The Scout went down in the corn field. The corn is about 8 to 9 feet tall. I want to add a plane finder in the fuselage. I came across this one. Vifly Finder 2. Has anyone used this ?

One of the guys at the field said maybe an Air Tag. I do not have an I Phone. So that idea won't work. My phone is an Android.

Any ideas ?

www.getfpv.com

VIFLY Finder 2 Drone Buzzer

The VIFLY Finder V2. The most intelligent drone buzzer. Self-powering to work even after the quad battery ejection.
www.getfpv.com www.getfpv.com
Click to expand...
What receiver and system are you using, and at what distance did you fly? Is your rx antenna in a good place and direction? I have only had issues with battery connections. Orange rx are supposed to have glitches, so I don't use them. I have had no issues with 2.4Ghz system, Frsky & Radiomaster TX's, and have used Turnigy and hobby King rexeivers. I've only used receivers that are under $16. The only next step, not knowing your system yet, is to try long range system, ELRS, which is about $60 to get off the ground. At any rate, 2.4Ghz system should not have much issues. Maybe someone is shooting signals at planes where your plane goes?
 
A

alan0043

Well-known member
Hi Everyone,

I came across this video explaining RSSI. A way that could help you find a lost plane. I wish I knew about that idea when things went wrong. I do have a Radiomaster TX16S running Open TX. Hopefully it will work. The screen on my transmitter looks different then the screen in the video.

 
A

alan0043

Well-known member
alan0043 said:
Hi Everyone,

I came across this video explaining RSSI. A way that could help you find a lost plane. I wish I knew about that idea when things went wrong. I do have a Radiomaster TX16S running Open TX. Hopefully it will work. The screen on my transmitter looks different then the screen in the video.

Click to expand...

Hi Everyone,

I did a test on RSSI on my TX16S. I had no luck at all. The screen on my TX is different then the screen that is on the video. The fellow on the video is also using a TX16S. I am running Open TX. I don't know how to get to the same screen that is in the video. I tried scrolling up and down with no luck. I am on the telemetry screen. The following is some info from that screen.
. Source ( default )
. Low alarm 45
. Critical alarm 42
 
LitterBug

LitterBug

Techno Nut
Moderator
You may need to discover sensors after binding the radio to a model. If you scroll down in the telemetry page, you should see the RSSI, If not, "Discover New" while the RC link is established. Once no more sensors are being found, "Stop Discovery"

You should now have RSSI

The RX must also support telemetry. What RX are you using??
 
Last edited:
randyrls

randyrls

Randy
I have but don't usually use a "Marco Polo" by Eureka with integrated rechargeable battery and tag. Handheld unit (NOT GPS) that shows direction and strength.
 
M

Mehvish99

New member
Lost a plane? That's tough. Have you considered GPS trackers or altitude sensors? They could be game-changers. Also, check out online communities for specific model advice. Good luck with the search! ✈️🔍
 
A

alan0043

Well-known member
Hi Everyone,

Thank you for the suggestions and help. It seems like from what I have read that my transmitter ( TX 16S ) needed to be setup ahead of time before any flight. But if you watch the video you don't get that idea. The fellow in the video is also using a TX 16S. I wish he would have shown a better close up of how he could that info on his screen. When I bring up my telemetry screen it looks different then his ( Painless 360 ) screen. And I don't now why. Painless 360 is the only guy that I have found talking about RSSI to recover your lost plane. I am trying to learn more about my transmitter ( TX 16S ).

Please keep the comments coming in. We might be able to help someone else out after losing their plane.
 
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