Modern (and Low-Cost) Tools to Help Find your Model

When you get better at building and flying, your models start going higher and farther downwind.  If you want them back, you need to be able to locate them after they land.  I am going to talk about three or four things that will help you with your location techniques.

1.  watch the model land.  You (or your timer) need to keep an eye on the model throughout the flight and note exactly where it lands. For most of us, we had pretty good eyesight when we were young, but these days it is getting worse – we need some optical assistance.  I use a pair of binoculars whenever I time for someone.  I have a generic brand of 10×50 binoculars with a built-in compass (google “10×50 marine rangefinder compass”).
   I have found that the compass is suspect, so I don’t use it, but 10×50 is a good power size.  I know I can get greater magnification, but I already have trouble finding a model that is far downwind.  A narrower field of vision (which a higher magnification would have) would make spotting the model even harder.  Get an eye on the model early and track it through the entire flight.  As it comes down, it is CRITICAL to do three things: a) mentally note where you are seeing the model go down and its direction of travel, b) find a landmark behind that location that is easily identifiable – a tree, or a building, etc. and c) note where you are currently standing or sitting.  Two points define a line:  the landmark in the distance is one of those points and where you’re standing/sitting is the second.  This line will be very important – your distant landmark is useless without the origin location.
2. taking a step into “modern” searching, especially when the model is very far away, requires some new tools, including a compass.  This can be a hand held mechanical compass or a digital compass app on your phone. You will need this to get a bearing in degrees (you will need this numeric degree value later).
   1. For the mechanical style, get a “lensatic” or “military sighting compass” like this:
      

      another web image. You can find these for about $10, give or take.

      Obtain the degrees like by sighting into the eyepiece like this:

      

      another web image. Find your landmark and read the degrees.

   2. there are many cell phone compass apps, but here are the best for our purposes.  “Compass i8” (for iPhone) and “Compass 22G” (for android).  These are free, but may contain ads; you can purchase the app to be add-free for under $5.  These use your cell phone and camera to obtain the bearing.  Open the app, hold the phone vertically, find your landmark on the screen, and read the bearing.
      

      This is a real-world screen shot of Compass i8 that was sent to me by Tom Hallman when he had a line on my plane that went into the corn. We found the model (see below).

      Both of these apps look like this and they have a picture-taking function.  Unfortunately, the resulting photo does not have the compass overlay, so it is best to take a screenshot.

3. The last bit of modern technology is another cell phone app called “Bearing (Azimuth) Navigation” (for android).  This allows you to enter in the bearing you just obtained and it will plot a line over the google maps image of the area.  The best part?  Keeping the app open while you go search will track your wanderings and allow you to move back to the plotted line as you deviate.  This really works.  Check out this image:
   
   This  is a real world plotted line (in Yellow) and tracking (in red) of our search for a missing plane.  Doug Griggs was standing at the left end of the yellow line and know where he last saw his plane.  I went out to where he was standing and plotted the yellow line using a compass bearing app.  We rode back to the base, got a golf cart, and went down the road to an entry point into the woods.  Then we went into the woods on foot and tried to find his landmarks as we approached the plotted line.  As we came out of a low area and finally saw his landmark on a rise, Doug found his plane.  This was at the last intersection of the Yellow plot line and the Red wandering line.
   

   Doug Griggs finding his plane right on the line he sighted and I plotted.

   This app was created by a modeler for just this purpose.  Unfortunately, I do not know if there is an equivalent iPhone app.

Do you want to increase your accuracy even more?  Use these techniques with TWO people standing at different locations.  If both have done a good job of sighting the model and bearing, your model will be at the intersection of their two plot lines.  The searcher needs to go along one line and then the plotter of the second line needs to say when your line intersects with his line.  Your plane will be in that general area (this is triangulation).

Winn Moore (left) and me after a successful trek into the corn to find my lost Miss Production. We used all of these tools, including two lines (one by Tom Hallman, one by Pat Murray), a pole (to locate us in the corn), and a cell phone (taped to the pole) to coordinate the lines and searchers. Note: a tracker would have made this much easier! a Tom Hallman photo.

You can increase the odds of discovery by utilizing a tracker, but these are higher tech and more expensive tools that may be out of reach for most modelers.  The use of a long pole can be helpful when searching in the corn – so the observer can see where you are.