Another Mishap

Another Mishap

This is the 4th time I have typed this so I hope it works this time. I swear that there is some mysterious force out there that does not want be to do this hobby anymore. If it is not allowing me to write a posting on my blog, having my parachute fly away into nothingness or this new story, I do not know what is up.
The reason I have not posted any thing in 2 to three months is because in mid January I got my replacement RC parachute plane from Sea Breeze Parachutes. I put it together, but with less zeal than before. The loose of my plane has felt like falling off a horse. I knew I had to get back on, but a new fear has begun to over take me. Well I spent the next week putting the aircraft together, painting it yellow this time to match the yellow in the center of the parachute. I had it all ready and in late January on a Friday and the weather was not to cold and the winds where light coming from the west. I had to go into the field in front of my house because the wind was blowing from the back of our house toward the field. I hand launched it and walked back to the house. It flew well. I flew it for about 10 min. I was starting to regain my confidence. I had one more battery so I thought I would give it another go. I strapped it on and walked out into the field to hand launch one more time. It launched beautifully, but normally I turn it to the left a way from the house but this time it turned to the right. As I was walking to the house I noted it needed to be turned more to the right. I turned it and keep walking. Being that the hill my house is on slopes upward that way started to notice that it needed more altitude and it was headed for my neighbors house. I increased the throttle slightly and it started to climb and turn. I was almost to my house when I noticed the tree. From my perspective it looked like it had cleared the tree, but all of a sudden crash. My parachute smashed into the benches of the biggest tree in the neighborhood. It was about 80 ft. up into the tree. I cut the engine hoping that the weight of the gondola would pull it down. It did not. I revved the engine several time to see if the swinging action would dislodge it. It did not. I put the radio down and ran back to the house.
I pulled out our 12 ft. ladder and carried it to the tree. I fully extended it and placed it next to the tree. The last rung of the ladder just reached the lower branches. I climbed up and got into the tree. This was not a good climbing tree. I look around and saw death everywhere, so I decided to climb down. It was not worth my life, plus it was so far out into the tree that it probably would not have worked anyways.
I ran back to the house and got a basket ball. When I got back to the tree I commenced to throw the ball at the tree. The parachute was so high I could only get the ball about half way up. So I ran back to the house and grabbed a rope and a wrench. I tied the wrench to the rope and started to twirl it and then throw it. It would still come up about 20 ft. short. After about 1 hr. of that I gave up.
I turned the radio of and my new lost aircraft device started to beep. It beeped for three days. Every time I went out side I heard beep, beep, and beep. I did not want anyone to know that that was my parachute. I was so embarrassed and upset. The good news is it was the middle of winter and it was cold, so nobody seemed to notice.
Three days latter after the location device gave out we had a nice 20+ mph wind. When I got home I noticed that the parachute was about 20 ft lower in the tree. I got the rope out and started throwing it up in the tree. After about one hour I had hooked it on a branch right below the parachute. The branch was connected to the main branch that the parachute was on but a lower limb. I started to jump up and down trying to get the chute free, but it was not happening. I had to go so I tied the rope off to come back later. The weather worsened but fortunately it was so cold that rain was not an issue. 2 days latter the wind picked up again and when I got home from work the parachute was still in the tree, but only about 15-20 feet off the ground. I got out there and with in a few minutes I chute down on the ground. It helped that the limb that it was on was much smaller and after I ripped out of the tree it fell gently to the ground.
Upon evaluation of the aircraft the only problems I had was a dead battery ($165) and two strings on the chute were cut, probably from my throttle control exercise done the first day to try to dislodge it from the tree. This parachute really amazes me. Short of losing it I do not thing you can destroy it. Untangling it was not fun but it flies well still. Thanks to Troy at Sea Breeze Parachute for creating such a great aircraft.