RJ Gritter Makes RC History with One-Wing landing

On Sunday 9/16/07 RJ Gritter got an unexpected chance to duplicate a little piece of RC history. Just about everyone in the RC community has seen the video or heard the story of Bill Hempel losing a wing in flight yet managing to guide the plane on knife edge back to the runway and land the plane with only one wing. Watch and see what happens to RJ Gritter when he is suddenly faced with his own one-wing challenge at the RDRC Fly-for-Tots in Raleigh NC.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• HigherPlane
• Gritter
• RDRC
• Fly-for-Tots

[pilotemtnils]

it would had been better had the cameraman not been standing on a basketball :) Great piloting!

[fmidgett]

The flight video was shot by the pilot's mom, not a professional. Her excitement and lack of experience resulted in a fairly shaky image, but I thought the emotion in her voice was one of the most endearing parts of the film.

[nagmashdriver]

Feh! Big fucking deal. An IAF F-15 lost a wing in a mid-air collision and made a perfectly normal landing. Not a wing-tip, but a whole fucking wing, fuel and all. See the video, it's on youtube and other websites.

[fmidgett]

No this is not a full scale plane. But for those of us who fly RC maintaining flight after the loss of an entire wing, much less landing, is quite a feat. Especially for a 16 year old. I've been filming during a wing failure three times now. This was the only sucessful landing. There have been others but it remains a fairly elite club.

[invertmast]

didn't damage anything after losing the wing? then how come 1/2 the stab was ripped off? Are people purposely building these planes crappy now just to join this "exclusive" club?

[fmidgett]

Yes the landing bent the wing tube and pulled off one stab. But considering what happens to most people who lose a wing this was minor damage which in RJ's mind came out as "didn't damage anything" during the post landing interview. No, not intentionally built "crappy". But he had logged a few hours on the simulator practicing one-wing landings "just in case." -Fred

[fireflybuzzbuzz]

comming from a guy who had enough spare time on his hands to both watch and comment on the video

[psindrup]

Props to your mom. Cool Mom-cam :-)

[CLayaway1]

@fmidgett do worry, nagmash obviously has no idea how to pilot a real plane let alone a rc giant like that. "props" to the pilot, and calling it mom cam was great!

[Laxpowertoo]

My wings fell off my car and I got home without a scratch...beat that!

[505197]

The landing gear survived unscathed, I'm not so sure you can actually call it a landing when the wheels are pointed upwards and so much stuff is busted. Nice flying none the less.

[lazor222]

@demmylowther look up "avant girls ircha 2008" and btw my heli could cut the head off your parrot any day, carbon fiber swinging at 2000rpm always wins.

[SK4VENGERonXBOX]

hey rj i fucked yor wife cause i fly real planes

[Aircraftfreak155]

just order the rgith side and put it on the plane and fly her agin

[Ricmcspeedy987]

@nagmashdriver Fuck dude its a bit different with the jets tho, imo F-15's don't really fly like a conventional plane, they have so much power that their wings aren't nearly as critical as those on planes.

[IFLY2deep4U]

thanks mom for the vid

[chickenproductions56]

nrdy very very VERY nrdy