RE: Fly Eagle Jet F-14 Crash (video)
Taileron flutter should not be the problem, it must be the HC tail structure.
Why? Unintenionally I did a flutter test of one taileron on my First Generation (non HC) Tomcat during flight last week. On the 48th flight I managed to to stupid to fix the taileron correctly. The rotating pin was not all in as I set the four screw holding the Taileron. I missed this because the moving test I did by hand was without power on the servos.
Directly after departure I recognized that something was wrong. The plane was unstable and it was not possible to trim it for a straight and level flight. Finishing the second trafic pattern I was able to land without damage. Me and the other guys at the field have not seen any flutter. After landing I checked what was wrong and was shocked. The left taileron could be moved up and down by hand approximately 10 degrees with very light force.
Rudi