Syma Forum

Gyrobob said
Mike K said, "The lake fisherman who tried to help me told me he was not very good at fly casting -- but he was infinitely better than I would be with zero experience.  And the branch my x5c was planted on was relatively short but overhung by longe, much thicker ones, which managed to trap and capture three little sinkers.  

I will say you're probably right about the flu-flu arrows, mainly because of their puffy feather pattern, which is designed to slow them down.  But if a lead sinker can get hung up those flu-flu feathers surely would.

The bottom line so far is the most promising means of rescuing a stranded heli from a tree is a hurricane.  So thanks again, Joaquin."  

Fly casting would not work at all.  The only way to get a line 80' up in a tree is with spin-casting.  Put a good-sized weight on the end of some 40lb test monofilament and use the $10 spin-casting rod and reel you bought at Goodwill or Salvation Army or craigslist. 
Hurricanes are non-existent around here.  Drone recovery is something you have to do yourself.

Aha!  I see -- and I can tell you are an experienced fisherman, which is why you make it sound so easy.  I wouldn't know one kind of casting from another because I've never held any kind of fishing rod or done any kind of fishing, so that approach to recovering a stranded quad would mean a whole new education for me.  

That said, and considering what you've said about depending only on yourself for drone recovery, what do you think of the connecting plastic tubes idea I mentioned earlier?  I believe the Chinese could produce and market a set of connectable tubular plastic rods that would extend to 50 or more feet for around ten bucks.  Having had the stuck-in-tree experience I would happily pay ten dollars for a set -- and I think anyone who's had the experience would, too.  

Gyrobob said
Mike K said, "Something else;  I'm an archer and a pretty good one but I don't have a fishing rig for my target bow.  But an inexpensive (toy) bow, using a specially-designed ("flu-flu") arrow, would be able to knock a stranded r/c plane or heli out of a tree with limited risk of causing damage (10 15 pound draw weight).  So if this tree problem is as common as it seems to be (we've seen lots of reports) some Chinese company (Syma?) might want to market an inexpensive toy bow-fishing type rig, specifically designed for this purpose, with a plastic bow, plastic flu-flu arrow with a soft rubber tip, a simple spool (reel) and some string.  The Chinese could make something like that available on a card for around ten or fifteen bucks and anybody with an investment stuck in a tree would be an automatic customer."

I'm not familiar with your kinds of trees, but the fluflu arrow idea wouldn't work very well in the really tall and dense Georgia pines here.  I had to smooth out the shape of the sinker quite a bit so it could be pulled back through the branches to recover it to use for another cast.  A fluflu arrow would get hung up in the gnarly branches, cones, and needles quite easily I would think.  The Chinese could make a spincasting setup as well,.. optimized for drone recovery.  Drone stranders would be, as you relate, automatic customers.

The lake fisherman who tried to help me told me he was not very good at fly casting -- but he was infinitely better than I would be with zero experience.  And the branch my x5c was planted on was relatively short but overhung by longe, much thicker ones, which managed to trap and capture three little sinkers.  

I will say you're probably right about the flu-flu arrows, mainly because of their puffy feather pattern, which is designed to slow them down.  But if a lead sinker can get hung up those flu-flu feathers surely would.

The bottom line so far is the most promising means of rescuing a stranded heli from a tree is a hurricane.  So thanks again, Joaquin.  

Gyrobob said

MikeK said,

Gyrobob,

As mentioned, I don't fish so I don't have a casting rig.  I live near a lake where there usually are a few fishermen but not fly-casters.  One fellow tried to help me but was able only to lose a couple of sinkers and a few yards of line, so I thanked him and that was that.  I have a Wrist-Rocket slingshot and I tried a few shots with big marbles but I couldn't come close.  Just as well because that monster probably would have damaged the bird if it hit.  

Anyway, winter is nearly here.  Soon the pine needles will be rusting and falling away, the strong winds will be blowing and the way the bird is perched it's likely to be blown off the branch.  So, we'll see.

Good thing you were able to retrieve your FPV.  Yours is the second tale of success I've read so far -- and a tribute to the resilience of Syma's x5c.  I hope I have similar luck.  

 

Mike

A spincasting set up is needed for something like this.  It's the only equipment that has the range.  You could get a brand new cheapo setup at Walmart (rod, spin cast reel, 20lb test line, sinkers) for maybe $25.  You could get the same stuff at Goodwill, Salvation Army, Craigslist, etc., for less than half that.  Once you get the stuff, be patient.  Over a few days, I probably cast that sinker up in the tree hundreds of times before I actually got it on the branch that jostled the x5c enough to shake it free.
I thought about using a slingshot too, but you are right,.. anything with enough energy to get up that high would damage the x5c.
Can you see the drone well enough to study what it is stuck on?

GyroBob,

I found one fellow who fishes at a nearby lake and was willing to help me.  He did try and he lost three little sinkers and about a total 30 feet of line when I told him not to bother anymore.  The way the quad was situated in the tree made it very difficult to hook onto the right branch.  

That's the bad news.  The good news is Hurricane "Joaquin," which brushed the East Coast last week, visited me late one night and next morning there was my x5c perched comfortably atop a 3' bush like it belonged there.  It had been in that tree for about two weeks and had been drenched by two very heavy rains.  So I went to work on it with a soft cloth, a brush, a pipe-cleaner and a hair dryer.  Believe it or not with just twenty minutes work and a new battery it was flying as well as ever and is still going strong.  And, believe it or not, the old battery, which was dripping wet, has fully recovered and seems to be fueling more flying time than before.  (???)   This is one more tribute to Syma quality.

So thanks for your advice.  If I had my own casting rig I'm sure if I kept at it eventually I could have brought the quad down.  I just didn't want to impose on that nice fellow and spoil his fishing day.  

Something else;  I'm an archer and a pretty good one but I don't have a fishing rig for my target bow.  But an inexpensive (toy) bow, using a specially-designed ("flu-flu") arrow, would be able to knock a stranded r/c plane or heli out of a tree with limited risk of causing damage (10 15 pound draw weight).  So if this tree problem is as common as it seems to be (we've seen lots of reports) some Chinese company (Syma?) might want to market an inexpensive toy bow-fishing type rig, specifically designed for this purpose, with a plastic bow, plastic flu-flu arrow with a soft rubber tip, a simple spool (reel) and some string.  The Chinese could make something like that available on a card for around ten or fifteen bucks and anybody with an investment stuck in a tree would be an automatic customer.

Gyrobob said
I installed the FPV kit.
It does what it says it will do.  It does provide a real time first person view. However,...
 -- The picture is not all that great and it "jelloes" some.
 -- The camera weighs maybe double what the original camera weighs.  It has its own non-removable battery.
 -- The x5c battery gets used up a lot faster, presumably because of the additional weight.  The duration is about a minute less per flight.
 -- Probably because of my low skill level, I find it hard to maneuver looking only in FPV.  Hopefully I'll get better at it.
 -- If the x5c is allowed to descend more than slowly, it goes into a wobbly descent that needs full power and a couple seconds to arrest.  Again, this may be from the additional weight.  I have to be careful to descend very very slowly or the thing slams into the ground.
 -- The microphone on the camera sticks down further than the skids.  I had to put some pads on the skids to keep the mic from scraping on the ground.
 -- There is no manual.  You have to figure out how to assemble and use it all by your little ol' self.
 -- When you run out of x5c battery (which happens more often now), you have to shut off four switches to shut it all down,.. x5c, control box, FPV screen, and camera.
This is obviously a toy FPV set up, but not very rugged,... nowhere near "prosumer" level equipment.  That said, it will serve well for training,.. a good value even though rather crude.

I think you said it all in that these toy-grade components (FPV) serve well for training.  In fact that's exactly how I feel about the x5c, which I really have fun playing with but its real value lies in developing the reflexes essential to piloting one of the professional-grade quads, one with all the bells and whistles.  

I am hooked on this hobby and I've been thinking about how I can manage to squeeze something along the lines of a DJI Phantom-3 into my budget.  But until I am able to instinctively master the use of all four channels of my x5c I won't make a move in that direction.  Assuming you've read and/or heard about the two professional-grade quads that recently crashed into major sports events, I'm sure the reason for these mishaps is lack of adequate experience on the part of the pilots.  

It takes more time than one might think to fully develop the instinctive skill needed to competently fly one of these birds, because one little falter is all it takes to lose it -- or worse.  So far I haven't heard of anyone being hurt by a crashing drone but we know it's coming.  And when it does there will be calls for regulation.