budgetdude

My Feedback: (6)

Maybe he hides his planes in firey holes so you cant see if its airworthy.

MikeMc

Hahahaha. I think you have a better theroy than myself.

camdyson

I think ALL R/C planes should have to carry jet fuel - just for the cool crash explosions........

Settle down - I was kidding!

cowana

I heard WREN donated the engines, and the landing gear cost over £2000 per set!

Pa-18cub150

Hay if the guy wants to build and fly a third BUFF more power to him.

It would be him and his investors who would be liable.

If there had been a governing body back in 1902 when the Wight brothers were crashing kites there would not have been a first flight in 1903.

I wish I could see the video but the sight has been closed.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

As I understand it...he canNOT build another, that the LMA is a sanctioning arm of the CAA and they can actually forbid him from flying it in the UK. That's a tradeoff there. In exchange for official sanctioning of such models, you also have the official ability to UNsanction such a model. Do any UK flyers know differently?

bbrown210

Can someone please repose a link to the carhes as the site has shut down and its now a dead link to nothing.

jamie_duff

You're quite right.

I'm involved in full size aeroplanes in the UK as well as models and the CAA can seem restrictive at sometimes.

In this instance though almost everyone in the UK seems happy that this guy is banned from flying large models.

As there is less open space in the UK, and the way the UK generally works, the authorities prefer to prevent deaths by restriction rather than simply sueing the man after he's killed a dozen spectators. As with any system, it has plenty of flaws, but in this instance, as I said, it works to our advantage.

Whilst the CAA's methods restrict and sometimes stifle creativity, they are also pretty good at preventing people with a proven track record for crap building and public crashes from risking anyone any further.

Normally I'd tend to promote a builder/flyer liable system as the majority of us know what we're doing. The reason we're stuck with the CAA's draconian methods is because of people like that.

As they say in the UK at least - There's always one......

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

Yup...I hate to come out and say it, but as much as I admire the guy's tenacity, building projects like that, I am APPALLED at his building techniques. I just don't think "add more ply and balsa" cuts it with a 300 pound bird. Two crashes is enough.

Pa-18cub150

Ok I watched the video. I have not been able to find any build photos or specifications so I will not comment on his plans or building skills.

If I were him I would have chosen a more privet time to test fly this thing. There are just to many distractions and to many lookeylues.

By the way if I were him, I would build a third, and if I could not fly the thing. It would make one hell of a static display.

That’s just me. Probably has something to do with my association with the motorcycle culture and the NRA. I just hate it when some one tells me I can’t, and yes this attitude has gotten me in trouble before.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

It was test flown before, he did NOT test it in front of a crowd.

camdyson

Put " B-52 crash" into google and check out the full-size version of this crash - hard to believe, and tragic.......

archiebald

There is so much bull**** and uneducated speculation in this thread, I find it hard to believe.

The first B52 was successfully test flown during and after certification trials by the LMA. I have the video on my PC.

The crash did not occur in a cross wind, it was flying downwind making a turn. As Gordon has pointed out repeatedly his lost orientation and rolled the wrong way. Having seen the crash video and studied it more than 20 times, anyone would have to admit that it could have happened to anyone, the shape of the plane and the orientation at the time he lost it was totally confusing. In other threads, there were even several arguments as to which way the plane did actually roll, it was that difficult to tell.

It did not crash into the garden of a house, it was a building on the airfield premises.

With regard to the second one, I don't have full information but the crash occurred during testing under the eyes of the LMA inspector. I believe that the model was only damaged, not destroyed but the LMA said NO to a rebuild.

I don't think there is any doubt about Gordon's flying ability but the B52 is a pig of an aircraft to fly, particularly because he modelled it on the original spoileron control. The crash video of Gordon's model was uncannily like the full size crash a few years back simply because the B52 has a serious problem recovering from steep angles of banking.

AFAIK, the LMA have only stated they they will not certify another B52 which in my mind simply points out the difficulty in modelling this particluar aircraft.

EASYTIGER

My Feedback: (119)

There was a really fascinating monograph on that incident and what led up to it. The pilot was very talented, a real hot dog, but he had been warned previously, and many crew refused to fly with him. He SHOULD have been grounded, and there was a real failure of leadership...nobody wanted to ground the guy, because he was so good. But he took too many risks. FOUR guys died.
Maybe the LMA does not want to make that same mistake. I think they did the right thing refusing permission to build another.

bbrown210

I know this wont change minds but its a good pic of the plane before the crash And some pics of the crash site. It took a while to find these.









found some others




And a vid of A sucessful flight and take off.

http://www.mcgirt.net/RC/VIDEOS/Gia...B52_Takeoff.wmv
http://www.mcgirt.net/RC/VIDEOS/Gia...52_Flight_1.wmv

Ispitfire

Those links dont work, nice photos tho....

RC135

That crash was pilot error too.

NorfolkSouthern

That site was hijacked by a spammer and cybersquatter.

NorfolkSouthern

C. Holley

http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photoga...RCb52crash.wmv

try this

B58

My Feedback: (43)

Actually, the B-52's up to the "G" model did have ailerons as well as spoilers. The G and H had spoilers only and the shorter tail. Other differences too, but I don't think they would effect handling. The rudder is suprisingly effective on the full scale. The wing however does not lift when inverted, and with spoilers only once you exceed about 60 deg bank there is no lift to spoil on the uphill wing, so the only way to recover roll is full power on the downhill side, and idle on the other. The guy who put that one into the ground praticing for the airshow didn't have time to mess with that. The copilot punched out just before impact, but he was way too low. You can see the hatch and seat leaving on the video. The accident report really lays it out. The RC buff looks like disorientation, and then just too much bank to recover from. What a shame. Bob

PiccoLino

Connery,

are you sure that it was a pilot error? I have seen the video, like most of our community, and I could not really understand how an enough experienced pilot could have left that big thing come down like that. The event (I mean the moment the plane started to tilt over) was not sudden and it looks like he had plenty of time to decide what to do.
However nothing could stop it. The plane continued to roll and fall until it hitted the ground.
About this subject, in another web page I have found and watched model jet plane crashes that happened during an exhibition. Except a couple of guys whose jet engines quit right after take off, the other 4 or 5 crashes are all identical to each other.
The planes come in the box after a wing turn then they just continue like that untill their end. It looks like the pilot got paralized. Not a move, not the tiniest attempt to recover it.
How is that possible?
Are those jets so much different from prop planes that what looks like a simple maneuver to me it is actually impossible for them?

S E Repton

Nearly correct!- It did not crash into a garden, the building on the video is not on the airfield, it is a farm house.

I live four miles from Barkston Heath and I am a member of the Grantham Model Society that flies from BH.

Bubba

blw

My Feedback: (3)

EasyTiger-

That is not what happened with the pilot and crew of the B-52 that crashed before the airshow. He was not so talented that they wouldn't ground him. He was the Commander and nobody had the rank to stand up to him enough to where it counted. There were copilots who refused to fly with him. He had recently been cited for flying way too low over some hilltops and that was caught on video. He had a wide reputation as being careless and apt to do stupid things that scared people.

B58

My Feedback: (43)

You need to read the accident report. He was the Deputy Commander for Operations. Not the Wing Commander. He could have been grounded if he was chief of staff of the airforce, he just wasn't. Because of the good old boy feelings in the unit he was allowed to fly. The Squadron Commander was in the Copilot seat because he wouldn't make anyone else climb in with him on this flight. I spent 23 years in the airforce, 17 of those in B-52's, so I can see what happended. I think it will probably never happen again. Bob

timothy thompson

My Feedback: (1)

he had several good flights on it with great landings. lets bash everyone who crashes, not my idea of being supportive. He should not have flown that day too windy. he either lost orientation or some engines. Only way to tell was if he had telemetry on board. Who can stop anyone from building a model. thats just nazi thinking