CrashPro

My Feedback: (1)

What a great bunch of guys and pilots those guys are....heres a happy face that Dan spoke of.

http://home.dc.rr.com/maurie/SmileyFace.wmv

Flak

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Use a large enough engine and anything can fly. The problem is how to control it. I once had a Spitfire. On her second flight I saw something flutter off. She needed about 3 clicks of up elevator trim after that, but kept flying well. She flew another five minutes before landing. After landing, I saw she had lost 3/4 of her entire elevator from left to right. That's right, there was only about one inch of the elevator remaining. The F-117 was not as lucky. Since the time with my Spitty, I now know better and always land immediately if I suspect something to be afoul. The F-117's fatal blow was the high speed low level pass. Always make sure those control surfaces are solid and firmly intact! I hope the F117 can be repaired, corrected and flown again. I believe it's amazing we mere mortals can fly a scale model of a computer operated aircraft and all we need is a R/C transmitter and the grit in our mouths to fly it. Good luck.

"Keep 'Em Flying!"
Flak

Deadeye

AWESOME!

AMA234

My Feedback: (3)

I do agree with your statements above however if you apply the same reasoning to the scale model F18's, F16's etc that are flying, why should F117 be any different. Yes the airfoil doesn't lend itself to providing the maxiumum amount of lift because it has the specific angles and geometry for the radar evasion, however lift is lift and people are flying F16' F18's etc with no problems. I understand where your coming from but we all saw Joe fly David Hudson's creation (which became a JOINT venture between Lou Vadino and David Hudson) the first time and except for the wheel coming off it flew superbly. The problems came about when they moved the CG and modified the exhaust. (if I remember correctly I believe those were the two changes). The design WILL FLY WELL, that has already been proven by the folks in CA. [sm=thumbup.gif][sm=thumbup.gif]

As for me, I would be in my shop finishing up my F15 if I hadn't done this to myself today.......
Y'all do yourselves a favor and use your starters!

Troy-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

C'mon guys, the argument that it needs a computer to fly applies to almost all modern fighters and you see plenty of "unstable jets that need computers" at the jet rallies. The fact is that this plane flew successfully before and it suffered a "pilot ejection" in that flight as well. The wobbly goblin attributes in this last video is due to the fact that the winds are gusting 15-20 knots (see the guys' shirts in the video). Go watch the big B-52 video at take-off and you'll see the same thing. There are plenty of RC aircraft out there with bad aerodynamics but they fly fine. This is just an example of lightning striking twice...

Here's the successful flight: http://pilot.joemcbride.com/StealthSucsm.wmv
canopy ejection at 34 seconds

Empennage Gunner

My Feedback: (11)

Awesome flight video...Thanks for sharing Troy-RCU! What did that jet weigh? and did it use two jet engines or one? Thanks, Wade

VeeAte

WOW!!!!

All I can say is that I hope one day I can maintain flight with an airplane in that state. I am fairly new to RC Planes, but I somehow doubt many people could have held that together for as long as the pilot did in that vid. Truly amazing to watch. Also to put it down in a controlled manner (As controlled as could be expected with the damage etc in that sort of wind) without endangering people, the pilot deserves a medal.

Kudos to the guy telling everyone to move back too. It's amazing how many people in a situation like that will either stand in the one spot like a rabbit in the headlights of an oncoming car, or they will walk closer to get a better look. I should imagine that an aircraft of that size going that fast could very easily seriously injure someone if not outright kill them.

Thanks for sharing the vids.

Condolences to the pilot and builder(s) of the aircraft. I hope the damage was repairable.

aero_naut

Well said jet jockey.

Barry Siskind states that bumblebees fly because they display common sense! We should all take a page out of this book
and use his 7 strategies.

BTW nice jet in your gallery

Chris

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

What would you figure that F117 weighed?

Jetjockey_3

My Feedback: (8)

Chris,

Thanks for the kind comment. Where in Ontario are you located? I see that you are new to RCU, but are you a jet flier also?

r/c seaplane

this sort of thing dosn't just happen in models. the full size f-117 had a few crashes like this when they first started flying it, i don't know about now though. i was watching the history of the f-117 on the history chanel, where they showed some crashes where the plane lost something midair then had a sudden loss of control,[X(] and a few clips where the plane lost something midair then pooof....... disintegration.[:@] it's just one of the quirks of this plane i guess.[&:]

Troy-RCU

My Feedback: (1)

The famous video I saw of a 117 doing a fly-by at an airshow when it lost an elevon was caused by a missing pin one of the AMP mechanics forgot to put back in after inspections. The control surface fluttered causing the wing to flutter and fail. It was pretty violent to the airframe but the pilot ejected safely. Any airframe, 117 or Cessna, will have ugly consequences if they experience flutter or loss of an airframe component.

The thing that amazes me are the A-10's that came back to base with wings and hydraulic systems shot to hell and the MOST amazing was the F-15 that lost it's right wing in a midair with an A-4 and actually flew back to base and landed. The pilot knew he had damage but couldn't see his wing was literally GONE!![X(]
http://www.uss-bennington.org/phz-nowing-f15.html

p-40lover

could tell who makes the kit l would like to look into buying one thanks.

tartago

Sad end for the plane. Interesting discussion. I have seen some F-117 flying really fine.
I am even building a prop driven one.

For such expensive models, is not crazy thinking about a ballistic parachute to save the plane. Is it? Cut the engine and deploy the chute. I think that it will carry minor damage to the model and will be safer for pilot and espectators.

srm99

i thaught ut was balance a little out but when part of the alevon riped off i think the balance cg went out plus the lack of control serface its amazing he got so close .
sad to see a plane with a lot of hours put in do this but give the pilot some credit at least its not confetti in the desert .

FLIGHTJOCKEY

My Feedback: (48)

the only reason this f 117 crashed was the canopy blew off and the plane lost its lift, if anyone knows anything about this plane most of the lift comes form not only the wing but the nose area and when the canopt blew off it lost part of the lift, the configuration of the plane was changed and it lost lift, I know this by experience, I have a prop pusher version that i designed, I had the same thing happen to me the canopy blew off and the plane started to pitch from right to left and lost lift, just like the in this movie, after I fixed the canopy problem the plane flew like a dream, easy to handle I have designed another version with the engin in front,both are easy to fly and a lot of fun

UK_Flyer

Interesting - if thats the case i wonder why it flew successfully in the previous flight when the canopy blew off then as well ?

If you look here you'll see a successful flight in which the canopy blows of at 34 seconds yet he continues to fly and trim without incident ?

[link=http://pilot.joemcbride.com/StealthSucsm.wmv]http://pilot.joemcbride.com/StealthSucsm.wmv[/link]

Planebeach

Sorry to say, but I think that pilot was an idoit trying to land back at the runway. There was a lot of people there, and plane way to unstable to make a safe landing. If your plane gets that unsable, you crash land your plane on the field away from people. Its a big and heavy thing, it can kill.l

blw

My Feedback: (3)

It would be stupid to have put the plane down without trying to land it. It wasn't out of control and he did a fine job of setting up his traffic pattern. He did a good job of coming in low and trying to use all of the runway that he had. He erred on the side of safety.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

The plane was not under full control. Not by a long shot. Which is why it CRASHED, OUT OF CONTROL, before it got to the runway.

CrashPro

My Feedback: (1)

geez.....why do you guys keep resurrecting these long dead threads?...every possible aspect of this incident was discussed in this thread... http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_42..._1/key_/tm.htm

easytiger...for krisakes...let it go....you've already said all there is to say about this....moderator..,please close this thread too,..as of now,my link to this video is no longer active.

somegeek

My Feedback: (2)

[quote]ORIGINAL: ama234

Woah - I did the same thing to my right index finger today when hand starting my SSE. Prop kicked back and whack. Spooky cause the cut on my finger looks exactly the same - partially through the nail. I need to use my starter religiouly or hand start the prop wearing a leather glove... proly wouldn't hurt to sand the back edge of my prop either to take the edge off it.

Typing without using my right index finger sucks. [:@]

somegeek

gustavo Campana

My Feedback: (1)

dears
i will like to contact the F 117 owner, to ask some questions, im making one....
thank you
Gustavo Campana