Best pic or vid of a rocket trapped or landing in a tree!

[CPO Fast Forward]

We have all battled the tree monster, so share the pain!
Let's see pics of a rocket trapped in a tree or video of one landing in a tree (we have to see the impact).
Bonus points for every 6 months the rocket has been stuck up there
This Astrocam has only been up a few weeks:

 

[CPO Fast Forward]

Two launches, two tree landings!
The first was an easy recovery, the second took some work!
Note that after this the rocket flew again ... and landed in tree! (Honest!)

 

[K'Tesh]

Here's a good place to drop my reminder.... Treed Rockets: Robin Hood Recovery... And Some Warnings


Photograph used w/permission by the photographer

 

[Hobie1dog]

I'll wish there was video of that bow and arrow retrieving system.

 

[mbeels]

My L1 cert rocket (King Kraken). We did manage to get it back, but needed EVERY INCH of that pole.

 

[CPO Fast Forward]

My L1 cert rocket (King Kraken). We did manage to get it back, but needed EVERY INCH of that pole.

WHAT is that pole?
I just bought a 24' extending one with a claw that I claim I got for putting Christmas lights on the tree in front of the house.

 

[mbeels]

WHAT is that pole?
I just bought a 24' extending one with a claw that I claim I got for putting Christmas lights on the tree in front of the house.

I'm not honestly sure. It belonged to the MDRA club, many sections of telescoping fiberglass tube. Rather heavy and unwieldy, but it did the job like nothing else could have.

 

[lr64]

I've helped someone use a 50 foot fiberglass pole meant for electric utilities to retrieve a model from a tree. Such poles are heavy, unwieldy and floppy. Carbon fiber is much nicer if you can afford it and there are no voltage sources around. I think I've seen one of those up to maybe 30 feet.

I've used a bowfishing setup to retrieve models from trees. I use dowels instead of arrows, but it's important to wrap the dowel just above the knock to prevent splitting. I found a strong compound bow which I'm strong enough to pull maybe a dozen times. That's usually enough to loft a relatively heavy dowel, with attached line, 100 feet or so. If you have line attached to the back, you don't really need fletching. There are expensive bowfishing rigs, but mine is just a hollow spool which might be 4 inches in diameter, which I fasten to the center of the bow and shoot through. It would be better to use a short projectile instead of a dowel. The HAM guys have homemade air cannons that will send a weighted tennis ball pretty high. I'm not sure I'd want to make one out of unreinforced PVC the way some of them do, though.

I've also climbed trees for retrieval. Like this guy:



This was taken during the awards ceremony, and this guy should have been on the ground to pick up his.

 

[Upsrocketman]

My L3 rocket ended up in two separate trees. Thanks to "Grey Squirrel" from URRG, the rocket was retrieved and the certification was successful!

 

[Capt. Eric]

View attachment 651886

My L1 cert rocket (King Kraken). We did manage to get it back, but needed EVERY INCH of that pole.

Glad you got the Kraken back. That's one of my favorites. Just flew it at LDRS.

Edit: And, come to think about it, I got my L1 with it too (at Red Glare with MDRA).

 

[Capt. Eric]

My most recent tree grab was last month for my L2 flight. My rocket (Madcow 4" Frenzy) was the only one that day that the wind carried in that direction. (bad luck)
Landed in the tree of a family that had a roofing business. (Good luck)
Took awhile for them to get home. (bad luck)
But they finally got home, and one of them climbed the tree, and got it back! (Good luck)
Rocket, electronics, L2 cert saved!! (Best luck!!!)


For the duration contest, I had a nice Snarky land in a tree about 50ft up. Club's retrieval pole is only 25'. The body stayed up there almost a year. The nose cone and chute are still up there. The flight was fall of 2021 I think. Just visited the nose cone about a month ago! Waved at it, said hello, and moved on.

 

[neil_w]

I would like to quibble with the thread title. There’s no such thing as a “good” picture of a rocket in a tree.

grump grump grump

 

[goose_in_co]

Estes Photon Probe, First Launch. The Wind carried it out of the launch area and it was snagged by a tree, you can see the red parachute, and then the rocket dangling below it. I came back later that day with an 18' extension pole and snagged the shock cord and pulled, the only damage was one shroud line being pulled off.



Other than those large cottonwood trees, it's a great place to launch.

 

[Sooner Boomer]

OK, it's not a "tree". This is the closest to "tree" you get at Argonia. And it's a two-fer.

 

[lr64]

You need that kid's sharpened boomerang from Mad Max. Just don't try to catch it.

 

[bobby_hamill]

At Whitakers NC launches I would use a wrist rocket sling shot. 1 oz barrel fishing weight, 200lb fishing line and a spool of parachute chord to get rockets out of trees. The guys at Whitakers gave me the nickname "Birddog"

 

[lr64]

Not so great for power lines, though.

 

[bobby_hamill]

At whitakers I had a a system with the local power company.

When a rocket got hung up on the power lines I would call the company and the operator would put in a work order for the object ( rocket ) to be removed from the power line .I also informed the operator to let the employee who was doing the work order to place the removed rocket on the front porch of a
local church that was only 1/4 mile away.

At the end of the day I would call the power company back with the work number that was given to me.
And ask if the work order had been completed that day. If the answer was yes I would drive back to whitakers and go to the
church and pick up the rocket from the front porch.

It worked like a charm

 

[jadebox]

When your rocket lands in the only group of trees in a sod farm, it is nice when you can just grab the nose cone to yank it down.

 

[KenECoyote]

 

[drewnickel]

Not a tree, but more or less in-line with this thread. Some of the UTK guys went for certification flights a while back and had an ignition with just enough oomph to clear the pad, and that's about it.

 

[MidOH]

Did they find it?

They're all looking at the ground like "Where'd it go George?".

 

[Bob Yanecek]

Winter recovery.

 

[Capt. Eric]

Winter recovery.

Much easier to see them in winter!

The small field we launch at has thick brush and trees on 2.5 sides. Rockets often get very lost in there during summer. In winter we can walk through and find all kinds of rocket parts. Much of it can be salvaged. Nose cones, nylon chutes, retainers. I even found a JL chute release that was salvageable (couldn't find the original owner, so bonus for me). Occasionally a cardboard rocket that is well painted, and sits just right, will survive a couple of months in the woods.

 

[darrenf]

My most recent tree grab was last month for my L2 flight. My rocket (Madcow 4" Frenzy) was the only one that day that the wind carried in that direction. (bad luck)
Landed in the tree of a family that had a roofing business. (Good luck)
Took awhile for them to get home. (bad luck)
But they finally got home, and one of them climbed the tree, and got it back! (Good luck)
Rocket, electronics, L2 cert saved!! (Best luck!!!)
View attachment 652081View attachment 652082View attachment 652083

For the duration contest, I had a nice Snarky land in a tree about 50ft up. Club's retrieval pole is only 25'. The body stayed up there almost a year. The nose cone and chute are still up there. The flight was fall of 2021 I think. Just visited the nose cone about a month ago! Waved at it, said hello, and moved on.

I was there for that flight. Great flight until it started to drift on descent. I felt so bad for you. I asked on the group text the next day if you ever recovered it but never got a response. Congrats on the Level 2!!

 

[Capt. Eric]

I was there for that flight. Great flight until it started to drift on descent. I felt so bad for you. I asked on the group text the next day if you ever recovered it but never got a response. Congrats on the Level 2!!

Thanks. I wasn't going home without that rocket! Didn't get it until 7pm, but I got it! It did have a couple of minor zippers due to being pulled from the tree, but they were easy fixes, and I still got my L2. I was going to fly it at LDRS, but didn't get a chance.

I did give Jeremy all the info on those guys that helped get it back. Handy people to know (and nice guys), even if your rocket get snagged by a tree in other areas.

 

[darrenf]

Thanks. I wasn't going home without that rocket! Didn't get it until 7pm, but I got it! It did have a couple of minor zippers due to being pulled from the tree, but they were easy fixes, and I still got my L2. I was going to fly it at LDRS, but didn't get a chance.

I did give Jeremy all the info on those guys that helped get it back. Handy people to know (and nice guys), even if your rocket get snagged by a tree in other areas.

Will we see you back at BARC?

 

[Capt. Eric]

Will we see you back at BARC?

Maybe. If you'll let me. I do like the field. A few of us CENJARS folks have been talking about doing that more regularly. I have a few rockets now that won't fly where we are. At LDRS I stocked up a little on H-J motors, so now I'll be able to actually utilize those bigger ones.

Of course, BARC has to hold launches more regularly, which I know is not easy for you guys. And they have to be on different days than CENJARS (generally 1st Sunday each month).

We're also on the hunt for a farm field up here to hold occasional mid to high power launches. Have an idea, but don't know if it will pan out.