experimental RC airplane crash at SCCMAS

Students from San Jose State University Designed & built this RC experimental airplane they called the Albatross it flew & then crashed at the Santa Clara Model Aircraft Sky park in Morgan Hill, California

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

[nolsmtm]

it amazes me that universities and such go to all that effort to build a plane for a project and then let an incompetent pilot maiden it.

[wcolby]

@nolsmtm

People that fly foam, shouldn't throw stones.

[pysc1984]

nope, totally pilot error. it took off and "flew" with no problems until pilot pulled on the stick causing it to learch up, pilot was startled and went into up / down.. pilot should have let it get more altitude before he pulled on the stick so he could see how much of a difference it made, and adjusted "trim" as needed

[calmatosport]

I'm studying Aeronautical engeneering and am a frequent rc pilot. The mistake that they probably made was the CG way to far back. With the big ones it's better for the wing loading and more efficient, but it makes smaller planes very unstable and thus ,like the F16, some can't even fly without stabilisation systems onboard. This was probably pilot error caused by the design that was not dynamicly stable.

[DHubert777]

@nolsmtm It was more likely a design error. The stability and control calcs probably are to blame

[jungibaaz]

@wcolby people who fly wood shouldnt talk either ;)

[nibbler125]

too much throw on the elevator. even an experienced flyer would have trouble flying it.

[lisarenee3505]

We see this kind of thing frequently out at the flying field at the University of Oklahoma. The aeronautic engineering kids will come out there with some project they've been designing and building all semester, only to have them crash within seconds of taking off or being launched. The last time it didn't even take that long, the thing fell out of the air as soon as it was hand-launched. I guess you gotta let the kids fail so they will have mistakes to learn from though.

[MrJoggl]

It was the EXPO you should put it a bit negative!!

[718skaterboy]

nose heavy much?

[Imprezaman555]

@wcolby Why does it matter what the plane is made of?

[wristp1n]

@dont12die hell yeah it was nose heavy! did you see the rear wheels come off the ground first? lol! ugly too

[ussgrisham]

As a grad of the SJSU Aviation Department I know that this was not ours it had to come from the Engineers over on the main campus in that bath tile building.