I was at the mall yesterday doing a bit of Christmas shopping when I walked past one of those little kiosks they have set up in the middle of the pedestrian area. This particular kiosk had some radio controlled Formula 1 cars that caught my eye so I wandered over for a closer look. I wasn't too impressed with the F1 cars, but I looked around the whole booth anyway. On the other side. they had a variety of R/C helicopters on display. There was one for about $150 (normally $199...) that was about 2 feet long with rotor blades maybe 2 feet in diameter. The guy at the booth was kind enough to fire it up and quickly flew it up to the top level of the mall and then back down.
Then I thought: what if I tied my zing-it throw line to the helicopter and then used the whirlybird to fly up to the tree, through the particular crotch where I want my climbing to go, and then back down the other side! There's a nice red oak that I've been wanting to climb and now that all the leaves are off the trees, I'm sure I could fly the bird up there with my climbing line on it and then (perhaps with some practice), fly the climbing line back to me and avoid all the other crotches on the opposite side of the tree that I would have to deal with if I did the standard throw bag technique.
It very well might work. Also, all the parts on the helicopter are replaceable, so even if I break something trying it out, it might work pretty well.
The salesman said the heli has a 200 foot range, so distance is not a problem.
Bob
Then I thought: what if I tied my zing-it throw line to the helicopter and then used the whirlybird to fly up to the tree, through the particular crotch where I want my climbing to go, and then back down the other side! There's a nice red oak that I've been wanting to climb and now that all the leaves are off the trees, I'm sure I could fly the bird up there with my climbing line on it and then (perhaps with some practice), fly the climbing line back to me and avoid all the other crotches on the opposite side of the tree that I would have to deal with if I did the standard throw bag technique.
It very well might work. Also, all the parts on the helicopter are replaceable, so even if I break something trying it out, it might work pretty well.
The salesman said the heli has a 200 foot range, so distance is not a problem.
Bob