My RC plane flies off into the blue yonder.

[Bonzodog]

Windy day at my strip, but I'd planned to test return to home on a flight controller I'd installed, so I went for it. I'm new to this kind of technology and was feeling a bit anxious, hence I made a mistake. The idea was get some height, position aircraft well upwind, and first off hit 'loiter' and then check the fpv signal on some goggles I'd brought with me. Trouble was, when the plane was a long way off I flicked the wrong switch on my tx (as I didn't dare look down at it) and before I'd realised my mistake the plane had flown away. I'd lost sight of it! Sick feeling in my stomach as I gazed into the distance, plus a real panic moment. Would it actually work? ☹️.

Some nice aerial footage in my video.

 

[LitterBug]

Fun times! You are making great progress!

 

[Bonzodog]

Fun times! You are making great progress!

Big learning curve, but I was pretty amazed even with loiter. To be able to flick a switch (when you flick the right one ) and see a model just fly around in circles. I'm getting there and enjoying learning something completely new to me.

 

[AIRFORGE]

That's a different way to get a bit of cardio, Bob!

 

[Bonzodog]

That's a different way to get a bit of cardio, Bob!

Even worse yesterday. I had a repeat of this , but worse. Really lost it and RTH didn't work.
Even windier and I had a spotter this time. I spent 20 secs looking at goggles checking signal during which we lost sight of the plane and it didn't RTH. . After a good long walk searching, during which I was contemplating whether I'd buy another Bixler and start again, £££££. I was lucky enough to find it. Crashed. I think my fault. All back together now. I'll do better next time!

 

[Bonzodog]

Even worse yesterday. I had a repeat of this , but really lost and RTH didn't work.
Even windier and I had a spotter this time. I spent 20 secs looking at goggles checking signal during which we lost sight of the plane and it didn't RTH. . After a good long walk searching, during which I was contemplating whether I'd buy another Bixler and start again, £££££. I was lucky enough to find it. Crashed. I think my fault. All back together now. I'll do better next time!

 

[AIRFORGE]

Even worse yesterday. I had a repeat of this , but worse. Really lost it and RTH didn't work.
Even windier and I had a spotter this time. I spent 20 secs looking at goggles checking signal during which we lost sight of the plane and it didn't RTH. . After a good long walk searching, during which I was contemplating whether I'd buy another Bixler and start again, £££££. I was lucky enough to find it. Crashed. I think my fault. All back together now. I'll do better next time!

Build, Fly, Lose, Crash, Repeat!

 

[alan0043]

Hi Bonzodog,

I can feel your pain. I have had it happen to two birds, set free. 😅 The first bird was my fault. It had a gyro in it and I was just learning how to use the gyro. I needed to turn off the gyro so I could bring the plane down out of the wind. Second plane, lost signal and kept going east into a corn field. The plane was never found. Once the pain goes away the crew I fly with will make jokes about it. And that's all good with me. The 2nd plane was a scratch built Scout XL. Keep having fun !

 

[LitterBug]

Even worse yesterday. I had a repeat of this , but worse. Really lost it and RTH didn't work.
Even windier and I had a spotter this time. I spent 20 secs looking at goggles checking signal during which we lost sight of the plane and it didn't RTH. . After a good long walk searching, during which I was contemplating whether I'd buy another Bixler and start again, £££££. I was lucky enough to find it. Crashed. I think my fault. All back together now. I'll do better next time!

What radio gear are you using. You might be able to set up telemetry and have the GPS coordinates on your radio. I've walked right to the spot twice to recover things thanks to telemetry.

 

[Bricks]

If you have a patch antenna I have found my quad this way as long as the battery did not eject. Swing your head back and forth as you walk towards where you lost it. Once close enough the signal will come and go showing which direction to keep walking.

 

[LitterBug]

GPS telemetry will give you the last seen position, so even if the battery is ejected, or other wiring casualties, you have a point to walk to. Take the picture above... EVERYTHING was ejected. Was still able to walk right to it.

 

[Houndpup Rc]

View attachment 250083 GPS telemetry will give you the last seen position, so even if the battery is ejected, or other wiring casualties, you have a point to walk to. Take the picture above... EVERYTHING was ejected. Was still able to walk right to it.

Wow! Was this the one before your current one? GPS is a aircraft saver!😅

 

[LitterBug]

Wow! Was this the one before your current one? GPS is a aircraft saver!😅

yeah, that one probably had 1000+ miles on it. It was an original release PNP model.

 

[Houndpup Rc]

yeah, that one probably had 1000+ miles on it. It was an original release PNP model.

Nice!