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As satisfying as it sounds, cutting down trees that have caught your rocket is a bad idea... Put down your chainsaw (and cut out the snarky remarks). Here's some ideas to help you get your rocket back.
But first a warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RECOVER your rockets (kites, drones, etc.) that are stuck on overhead utility lines! Attempting to do so can lead to severe injury and death! Contact your utility company in the event your rocket gets hung up on a utility line.
One of the major hazards to our fleets are trees (cats and dogs are among the others). You have a beloved rocket that you fly, and to your horror and annoyance it gets stuck up a tree. Too high (or small) for you to safely climb, how do you get it down? A common response to these situations by many (un)helpful members (including myself on occasion) is to grab a saw, and start hacking branches off, or cut it down (even if it's only meant as humor). This is usually not helpful to the rocketeer, nor to the hobby. There are those who aren't in the hobby who, upon seeing or even hearing this, get a negative view of us and our hobby in their minds. Any wonder why communities might be banning rocketry on their parks, playing fields, and school grounds? Damaging, and destroying offending trees also may be illegal. Do you own the tree? And If you do, are you allowed by your community to remove it?
So, let's get real. We've heard the question countless times. Now what can you do?
Rockets typically get caught in 3 different ways... By the shock cord draping over a branch, by the parachute getting caught on a branch. or some how the rocket getting hooked by its fins on a branch.
People need to remember these things. Shock cords can be replaced, parachutes can be replaced, and often even nosecones can be replaced easily. We invest most of our time, energy and resources on the cardboard tube(s), balsa bits, and AV bays. Those are what we want back the most. And remember, usually, a treed rocket will not come down, intact, on its own if left to the environment. The solution is to sacrifice the parts that can be replaced for those that can't. In other words, cut the shock cord, or damage the parachute until it comes down.
So, how do we do that? I suggest that attaching a line (I like to recommend Kevlar) to a projectile and firing it up there as the best option when shaking the tree doesn't work. Suitable projectiles? Lead fishing weights, blunted arrows, or crossbow bolts. Then by using a slingshot, bow, or crossbow, or even a "speargun", you launch the line up into the tree, and try to shake the rocket down, or cut/damage the hung up part.
Here's a couple of photos of a successfully recovered Estes MAV that was hung up high in a tree.
And here's a video on making a "speargun" for recovering rockets and drones (thanks to Greg Furtman for the link).
If we want to preserve what we have left, and attract new people to the hobby, we should keep these things in mind.
And again: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RECOVER your rockets (kites, drones, etc.) that are stuck on overhead utility lines!
Pointy Side Up!
K'Tesh
But first a warning: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RECOVER your rockets (kites, drones, etc.) that are stuck on overhead utility lines! Attempting to do so can lead to severe injury and death! Contact your utility company in the event your rocket gets hung up on a utility line.
One of the major hazards to our fleets are trees (cats and dogs are among the others). You have a beloved rocket that you fly, and to your horror and annoyance it gets stuck up a tree. Too high (or small) for you to safely climb, how do you get it down? A common response to these situations by many (un)helpful members (including myself on occasion) is to grab a saw, and start hacking branches off, or cut it down (even if it's only meant as humor). This is usually not helpful to the rocketeer, nor to the hobby. There are those who aren't in the hobby who, upon seeing or even hearing this, get a negative view of us and our hobby in their minds. Any wonder why communities might be banning rocketry on their parks, playing fields, and school grounds? Damaging, and destroying offending trees also may be illegal. Do you own the tree? And If you do, are you allowed by your community to remove it?
So, let's get real. We've heard the question countless times. Now what can you do?
Rockets typically get caught in 3 different ways... By the shock cord draping over a branch, by the parachute getting caught on a branch. or some how the rocket getting hooked by its fins on a branch.
People need to remember these things. Shock cords can be replaced, parachutes can be replaced, and often even nosecones can be replaced easily. We invest most of our time, energy and resources on the cardboard tube(s), balsa bits, and AV bays. Those are what we want back the most. And remember, usually, a treed rocket will not come down, intact, on its own if left to the environment. The solution is to sacrifice the parts that can be replaced for those that can't. In other words, cut the shock cord, or damage the parachute until it comes down.
So, how do we do that? I suggest that attaching a line (I like to recommend Kevlar) to a projectile and firing it up there as the best option when shaking the tree doesn't work. Suitable projectiles? Lead fishing weights, blunted arrows, or crossbow bolts. Then by using a slingshot, bow, or crossbow, or even a "speargun", you launch the line up into the tree, and try to shake the rocket down, or cut/damage the hung up part.
Here's a couple of photos of a successfully recovered Estes MAV that was hung up high in a tree.
And here's a video on making a "speargun" for recovering rockets and drones (thanks to Greg Furtman for the link).
If we want to preserve what we have left, and attract new people to the hobby, we should keep these things in mind.
And again: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RECOVER your rockets (kites, drones, etc.) that are stuck on overhead utility lines!
Pointy Side Up!
K'Tesh
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