Harpoon Gun Plane Rescue

If you fly a water-loving craft this sight above may raise some painful emotions.

You've been flying all day and neglected to check the battery. Now your plane shows tendencies of a puppy at the dog park; it won't come home! 

There are several super creative methods hiding in the depths of Google for getting your plane back to shore.

A few of our favorites are:

1. Position yourself downwind if possible. This will allow the plane to head back your way over time.
2. Postion yourself down stream if possible. Same as above; the plane will naturally come back to you.
3. A fishing pole fit with a weighted wiffle ball or tennis ball (anything that has some mass but will float).

Unless you are 100% positive you have the stamina to make it to the middle of a lake and back, while holding your craft, don't go after it yourself.

The human ego will get you into trouble more often than you think. We hope we don't have to tell you, but your plane is never worth you possibly drowning. 

So we have our ModelAero stuck out on the lake with no safe way to retrieve it. Leave it to Peter to create the coolest way to wrangle a lost plane. 

How does a model tugboat sound? 

How does a model tugboat equipped with a 2-axis FPV harpoon gun sound!?

We know, he's awesome.

The idea is to sail the ship out to the plane, line up a nice shot with the DIY Micro FPV Setup, give it the old Moby Dick, then safely return with the plane in tow. 

A successful hit!

The plane came back in one piece! Once we saw the entrance wound we realized that Peter possibly hit the battery with the harpoon! 

You can't get closer than that! The harpoon was wedged directly between where the cells meet. 

So we learned a lesson here! If you decide you want to build a little harpoon gun to rescue your planes, make sure you aim for the tail!

Flying on the water is an undescribable experience. Just be aware of the added difficulties that come with it.

Be mindful of your battery time, preplan to put yourself on the best part of the water (down wind/stream) and NEVER put your life a risk to save a plane.