Most people who watch their RC plane disappear into the canopy of a tall tree accept that it’s gone. Jimmy, a retired Army pilot flying a Robinson R22 over a rural stretch of countryside, apparently had a different read on the situation. “You know how cool it would be if we could scoop that thing out the tree for him?” The RC plane hobby has grown considerably since 2012 – the market is valued at roughly $4.84 billion in 2025 per MarkWide Research, with electric-powered models now the choice of around 68% of active pilots globally. Whether any of them have a retired Army pilot overhead is, unfortunately, a matter of luck.