DustOffUH1

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I have a question. Which would be worse, crashing a plane into water (a lake), or crashing into mother earth (terra firma) lets say cut grass in this instance? Would it matter if the water was choppy or calm? I know crashing into a frozen lake is very bad, been there done that, awful sound [:@]
Joe

C_Watkins

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Too many variables to say one crash is better than the other.

Just a few... though many more could apply:
How much mass is in motion?
How quickly is it moving?
How quickly will it stop moving, when it crashes?
What is the construction? (materials and arrangement)
At what angle will the thing hit? (Some structures are stronger in some directions than in others)
If everything survives the initial impact, will it survive the subsequent bounces or ricochets?
If it crashes in the grass... will it hit the only rock in the field? Or... will it hit the only soft, marshy spot?


Heck, one of my last crashes was into asphalt, after doing a roundy-round on the top of
a limbo pole that caught my aileron. Broke a prop, slit the aileron covering, splayed the gear.
All in all... not a bad crash, but it was a light plane, moving slowly, and it hit at an angle
such that the prop and the landing gear took all the abuse. Changed the prop and rebent the gear,
and the Magic 3D was golden again. If it had hit tail-first, it could've been all over, for that Sunday.

That plane fared better than my only water experience so far. I wanted to "skim" the water standing
at the edge of a field after a big storm-- maybe 3-4" deep. As soon as the wheels touched, it was all
over... and in a couple of violent flips, the tail was destroyed, most of the wing ribs were shattered,
and the firewall was hanging on by the throttle pushrod.

(Well, that crash was a hybrid- part water, part grass/earth. Still, not sure any crash is better than another )

DustOffUH1

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I guess it is too general of a question. I was thinking of a dive straight down, and its obvious to say that a fiberglass fuse would fair a great deal better than wood/balsa. But like you said, too many variables to consider. But I honestly don't think there would be too much a difference between the 2 anyway. A crash is going to do some damage either way
Thanks!
Joe

blw

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I crashed my Fantasy in a pond a month ago after elevator flutter. It hit almost straight down. The plane is very streamlined and I think the fuselage cut thru the water. There was little damage there, but the wing was smashed beyond repair. It flew again last Saturday with a new wing.

CP140

I suppose the answer would also depend on how much of the wreckage you were able to recover... crashing into a lake and having your engine/radio etc disappear is worse, in my opinion, than crashing into dry land and beeing able to retrieve a not too badly damaged engine. Similarly, having your plane disappear into a stand of trees never to be seen again is worse than scooping soggy bits into the boat and being able to dry out your engine...

huggins

Anybody can stick one in the ground, or even in the water for that matter. How about crashing right on the shore line, then you could have the best of both worlds!

Mike

DustOffUH1

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I wish when I crashed on the frozen lake that I could have crashed on the shoreline. On the shoreline there was about 4' of snow. Where I crashed, in the middle of the lake, simply solid ice, probably about 4- 5' thick [:@] At least it was a fiberglass fuse, but man did that thing make an echo when it hit. A guy across the lake had to be watching. As soon as it crashed I heard someone yell aw sh*t. That actually made me laugh, then reality set in and I repeated his words [&:]

blw

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The plane made a splash about 10' high when it hit. It all floated in the middle of the pond. The land owner saw it crash and we got his boat from another field. I rowed out to get the fuselage and wing. They were all floating. I recovered everything. I'll test fly the receiver and battery in my trainer the next time I fly, but they work fine on the bench. Those parts were barely damp from being wrapped in foam.

jessiej

My most inconvenient crash was onto the roof of a factory. I had to rent a 40' extension ladder to recover the model

jess

Mike Ledbetter

I have crashed into both. Overall, the lake was an easier fix. I found my Super Sportster floating about five feet from the shore of the lake with a broken landing gear and mount. Wenat in on final approach.

âûñøåå îäíî

I would rather crash into land, because that way I know I have all the peices, and the RX and servoes wont be shot

headshot

I have crashed numerous planes (combat)

I can speak from experience that ground is ground (totaled) water at least to the reinforced combat plane is actually softer and will result in less damage. Though also from experience, SPAD type planes don't always float!

I will suggest though that you not crash into a chain link fence (through). I did this with an all balsa P-51 combat plane (a little to close to the flightline on a high speed pass, clipped the wing on the ground then spun into fence) about 4 years ago, shredded balsa/plywood all over found servos 30 ft away. Worst was, no damage to fence!!!!

Jay Lawless

KennyH

I would say crashing into water is worse for the sake of water damage to your engine radio and servos. You also would have water being soaked up in the wood of the airplane to. Cold water hitting a hot engine can crack a motor block really fast. Like the others have said, you can always count on retrieving all the pieces if they sink to the bottom.

Kenny H

blw

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The servos flew again on Saturday on the plane. The receiver bench tests fine. It was tightly packed in foam and appeared to not be water soaked...somehow. The wood on the fuselage was all okay, but I didn't think it would be at first. I had minor damage behind the wing trailing edge where a former cracked with some sheeting damage. Some minor cracks in sheeting under the fuel tank. The wing blocks were ripped out cleanly. The engine was a troublesome, used .46 FX. I couldn't turn the engine over since the wing was too damaged and I didn't have a spare prop. It was getting dark. I brought the engine home and shot Marvel Mystery Oil into it with a syringe. I must have filled the crankcase full, but there is rust on the bearings. Maybe the rust was already there. I put a new Evo .46 NT in the plane and it had a lot of power, so I'm don't miss the OS.

Goinstraightup

My Feedback: (26)

Heheeee, I've had similar experiences to those here.

I crashed into a limbo pole at our Fun Fly last weekend. The spinner cap flew 15 feet, destroyed the wing, knocked out the firewall, and pulled the back half of the muffler right out of the front. Seemed like a lot more damage than just a 4 foot drop, then I realized that I had the weight of the limbo pole on my plane too[>:].

I went into the roof of a metal warehouse as well. Not 40 feet up, but 25. Very high. Never got the pilot figure out of the warehouse, but I got everything else back.

I heard that once you reach 50 - 60 MPH, the surface tension of water is the same as asphalt.

DustOffUH1

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That's what I was looking for

Great stories comments and advice! Thanks!
Joe

Underaged Pilot

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email me for a video testing that theory[>:]
the seaplane landed on land the P-40 AND Hellcat landed in the lake