ORIGINAL: RCKen
ORIGINAL: CGRetired
And, I might add, flutter may occur when you fly a wing/control surface faster than it was designed to fly. Then, you will quickly find out what that resonant frequency really is. Often, it happens pretty fast. Flutter is pretty destructive. It will tear up a control surface in a heartbeat. Often, if you can hear it, it may be to late.
CGr.
Destruction usually isn't limited to the control surface. Many times flutter will destroy the entire airframe. It doesn't take long, usually just a few seconds from the time you hear the flutter to the time that the airframe is destroyed. About the only thing you can do when you hear flutter is chop the throttle and level out the plane. Hopefully that will change the resounance of the flutter enough to stop it. If it does you should immediately get the plane back on the ground. And if you can bring back a plane from flutter then you should immediately head to Vegas and hit the Blackjack tables, because you are one lucky person!!!! Most planes don't survive flutter!!!
Ken
I guess I should have amplified my reply, meaning that it starts at the control surface then, in heartbeat... well, you get the idea. I've only seen it once, and once was enough. In that case, it pretty much tore up the horizontal stab of the plane that it happened on. If I recall, it was a 3D'er that was going way to fast for the airframe. The humm started, got louder, then we heard a noise like a bang as the horizontal stab desintregrated and down it came... very quickly. From the time of the hummm sound to the time that it destroyed the stab was perhaps, oh, 10 seconds??? I don't recall, but it was very fast. We were not sure what happened until the club "pro" said that it was classic flutter.
As I said, once was enough.. and it was not my plane.
CGr.