That..... Stupid..... Tree......

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bdg
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Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2012 11:59 am

That..... Stupid..... Tree......

Unread post by bdg » Sun Oct 07, 2018 2:34 pm

Fantastic morning of flying on October 7.... cloudy but the showers held off until just before noon. As we were packing up, Ian's Timber hit "the" tree and was firmly lodged in the branches some 35' in the air.

To the rescue were Chris, Steve and Brian. Lots of attempts to get a rope near the plane proved unsuccessful. Some attempts were just downright dangerous and could have resulted in damage.... and one maneuver did result in a dent..... Eventually, Ian went home to retrieve rope; I went to Rona (unfortunately closed) and then home to do the same.

After many many many unsuccessful attempts, we used a quad to carry a nylon line over the tree/plane, and used that as a messenger to pull back a stronger line. With lots of teamwork and manipulation, the plane was recovered. Almost 2 hours to get this plane down....

I continue to remain very impressed with the comradeship of the HEFA members. Today of all days, when family is coming for Thanksgiving dinner and there are perhaps other outstanding family commitments, people stay behind to help out a member in need. What a fantastic bunch we have at our club. Thanks to those who helped. In the end, there appeared to be minimal damage to the Timber....

See you at the field tomorrow!

Brian
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retiredVTT
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Joined: Wed Oct 01, 2008 9:59 pm
Location: Bedford, NS,CANADA
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Re: That..... Stupid..... Tree......

Unread post by retiredVTT » Sun Oct 07, 2018 3:05 pm

Wow...my "permit" was expiring at noon, and I believed we were all packing it in at about that hour, so now, three hours later, I was shocked to read about this misadventure; and glad to hear how you all worked it out. You all deserve a second go at the "turkey trough" later today, that is if you don't first get sent to your room..!

Talk about putting your heads together for a rescue! Nice to hear that you used the quad as your airborne assistant..!

A ball of twine must become an addition to our field supplies, perhaps a proper "hook" as well..!
Bill
HEFA #5
MAAC #13708

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steve
Posts: 999
Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2008 10:58 pm

Re: That..... Stupid..... Tree......

Unread post by steve » Sun Oct 07, 2018 7:54 pm

Lots of fun and some of my wrench throws were dangerous to say the least (heads up). 2 socks were harmed in this rescue and I am trying my best not to comment on the photo.....LMAO!!

:)
Steve

chodgkinson
Posts: 107
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2015 12:17 pm

Re: That..... Stupid..... Tree......

Unread post by chodgkinson » Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:23 pm

I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. I can't believe it took an hour and a half of Steve and Ian throwing adjustable wrenches and bags of golf balls tied to string high (but not high enough) into the tree before we finally came up with a plan that actually worked. Both of you are going to have sore arms tomorrow.
A couple of times we had to rescue the rescue apparatus when it got stuck in the tree, which was hilarious in itself. I think at one point we had a wrench dangling from a rope stuck on a branch well out of reach and at the same time a bag of golf balls attached to a separate length of string firmly lodged high in the branches. Ah well it all ended well with the retrieval of Ian's plane, both bags of balls and both wrenches.

Word of advice: park your vehicle well out of reach of flying adjustable wrenches and flying bags of balls when undertaking a rescue operation like this, you never know when something might inadvertently head off in the wrong direction.

Chris

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