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Rc B-52....

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Video

From a email i got.....

" the B-52 took off, then approx 45 seconds into flight, turned at an angle of about 30 degrees, downwind, (quite windy 20 to 25 Knts) stalled on the turn and dropped straight in nose first. Five of the eight turbines are said to be totaled, three looked like flattened soft drink cans...Debris was scattered over a fair area. The point of impact was said to be approx 20 Yards from a farmhouse"



http://home.comcast.net/~flyingcrazy/b52crash.mpeg
 
chawbein said:
Makes me want to cry.
Yeah but you gotta wonder, it looked really gusty when they shot the video. Don't know if that contributed to the crash or not, but if I were the owner I'd wait till 0 wind conditions to fly that sucker.

Man i'd like to know how many man-hours they put into that, in addition to total cost. It seems like whenever you see these monster RC projects, one minute later they're dust! I'll never forget the sight of a mammoth B-36 I saw in a magazine turn into chop suey, it happens so fast.
 
Yeah but the is more to the story, there are a couple of factors that may have lead to the crash, i bet they wished the weather was alot better but i don't believe it had anything to do with the crash. The B52 weighted about 300lbs.

I don't want to say more then that until i have the facts, as right now there is alot of unwanted talk of why it crashed.

When you get involved in this type of hobby, this is one of the risks you take. I have seen $5000-$15000 R/C jets crash some on there 1st flight, with been a total loss. The people who where involved have aleast 20 years in this hobby.

I fly jets with 1 turbine, this jet had 8 of them, whole different jet, very complicated, but i'm sure there will be another B52 sometime soon.

There is a C-17 about the same size completed, just waiting for the right day for its 1st flight. i'll post a few pics of it later
 
This brings me back to my original thoughts when I saw the clip of the first flight. My initial impression was "coool!" but my second thought was that I wonder how the folks around that RC strip feel about something that large flying near their houses?

If my family and I lived in the farm house, I'm afraid the RC enthusiasts would have a lot more to worry about than recovering the pieces, such as the major a$$ whooping they would have coming. I thought it was a neat model, but they have no right to endanger the lives and property of others.

This would be the same as me designing and building my own homebuilt, then instead of using the 40 hour fly-off period to motor around at cruising altitude over an unpopulated area, I decide instead to spend the second test flight buzzing peoples houses at low altitude. And these folks aren't even IN the aircraft. Selfish, arrogant, irresponsible behavior. I hope criminal charges were pressed, and if not, civil litigation pursued. (And I detest lawyers...)
 
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First, I have to say that I fly R/C helicopters and R/C planes. That model was an awsome sight to behold. That said, what a cool crash, there was so much smoke and you can hear someone yelling pull, oh no! It's great when someone else's plane takes a soil sample, but it sucks when it is yours.
 
flyifrvfr said:
First, I have to say that I fly R/C helicopters and R/C planes. That model was an awsome sight to behold. That said, what a cool crash, there was so much smoke and you can hear someone yelling pull, oh no! It's great when someone else's plane takes a soil sample, but it sucks when it is yours.
Yeah, veeeery cool, lot's of fun.
I take it you also enjoy watching "Faces of Death" If not, I recommend it. :rolleyes:
 
flyifrvfr said:
First, I have to say that I fly R/C helicopters and R/C planes. That model was an awsome sight to behold. That said, what a cool crash, there was so much smoke and you can hear someone yelling pull, oh no! It's great when someone else's plane takes a soil sample, but it sucks when it is yours.
What you going to say about this crash that happened last weekend . What that must of been fun to watch .......

Dear Members of the IMAA Board
I have been notified of a horrific accident that happened over the weekend
in Wakeman, Ohio. A good friends of mine Casey Rowe and Brian Striker
who have flown together for years encountered what we have all talked
about at our Board meetings for months, What if one of these 42%
aircraft hit someone? Well Brian had a 42% Oracle Bi-plane as it took off he lost control of the aircraft. Casey who was over 300ft away sitting under his tent, stood up and looked at what was transpiring and before he know it, tried to leap away from the incoming 47# 80 mph 42% biplane but to no avail. He was struck in the back the carbon fiberprop cut through his back into his kidneys, severed his leg almost completely off. They called 911 and he was transported by life flight to Cleveland metro where he is in stable condition. I talked to Casey today and he wants everyone to know that his can happen to anyone. These guys are professional RC pilots and use the best equipment!! Casey is lucky to be! alive and is very shaken by the whole incident. I wished him our best on behalf of the IMAA. I would like to work with the AMA safety committee and really look into a way to police ourselves. We and Casey are lucky no one was killed. If we do not put restrictions and more failsafe measures in effect on ourselves then I feel the FAA and other government agencies will do it for us. I feel this was our wakeup call I hope we can all work together on these issues.

Sincerely,

IMAA President
 
Wow. Where's the video of the involuntary kidney donation?
 
Wow, they finally got the engines to produce the authentic black smoke.



Sad day....




Whose idea was it to fly in that kind of winds?


.
 
Losing a model is always sad, especially when they cost so much, but it's nothing compared to someone getting hurt!

I wonder if that model B-52 had only spoilers for roll control, just like the real thing? That might be the cause right there, especially on such a gusty day.
Once you get into a corner of the flight envelope, there isn't enough roll authority to recover. Several real B-52s were lost due to the same reason.
 
I can't find the site to reference now, but I distinctly remember reading from the stats that yes, roll was provided only by spoilers as in the real plane.
 
crash-proof said:
Yeah, veeeery cool, lot's of fun.
I take it you also enjoy watching "Faces of Death" If not, I recommend it. :rolleyes:
" Faces of Death " is fake, but how do you sumize that I want someone to get hurt or die from a crash. I re-read my post and I can't see a single reference me wishing someone would get hurt or killed. The only pain inflicted by this crash was to the owners wallet. But that's the risk you take when you build a model such as that. The only other option is to build it and put it on display and not fly it.
 
C601 said:
What you going to say about this crash that happened last weekend . What that must of been fun to watch .......

Dear Members of the IMAA Board
I have been notified of a horrific accident that happened over the weekend
in Wakeman, Ohio. A good friends of mine Casey Rowe and Brian Striker
who have flown together for years encountered what we have all talked
about at our Board meetings for months, What if one of these 42%
aircraft hit someone? Well Brian had a 42% Oracle Bi-plane as it took off he lost control of the aircraft. Casey who was over 300ft away sitting under his tent, stood up and looked at what was transpiring and before he know it, tried to leap away from the incoming 47# 80 mph 42% biplane but to no avail. He was struck in the back the carbon fiberprop cut through his back into his kidneys, severed his leg almost completely off. They called 911 and he was transported by life flight to Cleveland metro where he is in stable condition. I talked to Casey today and he wants everyone to know that his can happen to anyone. These guys are professional RC pilots and use the best equipment!! Casey is lucky to be! alive and is very shaken by the whole incident. I wished him our best on behalf of the IMAA. I would like to work with the AMA safety committee and really look into a way to police ourselves. We and Casey are lucky no one was killed. If we do not put restrictions and more failsafe measures in effect on ourselves then I feel the FAA and other government agencies will do it for us. I feel this was our wakeup call I hope we can all work together on these issues.

Sincerely,

IMAA President
My reply to you is similar to the other person who suggests I wish someone to get hurt. Anyone who can read on a grade school level could see that I didn't wish for someone to get hurt or killed in an accident. Having said that, if a person gets hurt or killed and it happens to be on video, I would surely watch it. How often do you get the chance to see someone die on video.

I have seen awsome video of aircraft accidents, car accidents, people getting shot, and struck by trains. I can't help that these people had the misfortune of being video taped while being killed. I don't wish for people to get killed, but it does make for great T.V. Case in point was the POW who was beheaded. I didn't wish for Berg to be beheaded, but I sure did watch the video. I highly recommend it.
 
flyifrvfr,

A- You should have stopped typing while you were just a little behind.

B- Have you ever considered counseling? Deriving pleasure from watching the violent deaths of others is abnormal in anyone's book.
 
Concur - that's pretty sick, dude. The only accident stuff worth watching is when the pilot/passenger escape, then you can say "cooool!". An example is a great series of Navy ejection sequences with cold cat shots or engine failures.

I hate listening to CVR from fatal accidents, too, although much of it is very educational when combined with data, such as the Delta L1011 windshear accident at DFW. Watching the autothrottles retard while the jet is in dire straights is chilling.

As for the little turbines on these models, I have machined a couple, including a turboprop. They are deceptively simple, a 1 stage radial compressor combined with an axial turbine, the radial compressor being much more efficient in this small size relative to axial flow. But the challenge comes from the required balance of compressor output to turbine work, and due to the phenomenally high RPM, the bearings are special ceramic jobs. The rotating parts must be exquisitely balanced or the engine will either not run at all or will come apart.

Most use turbocharger compressors, but the turbine wheel is normally a custom item wax-cast from inconel. The difficult part is often the combustion chamber - if not "just right", the turbine will either have excessive EGT, or the fire will blow-out due to excess/improper airflow. The BUFF used 8 ea. MW54 gas turbines from the U.K. An MW54 measures 3.5" dia. by 6" long, produces 10-12 lb thrust, turns at 160,000 RPM. I build them to simply bench run and tinker with them. They are fascinating, make all the correct sounds and smells of their big brothers. The turboprop is especially cool, and like a PT6 or any good turboprop, has power to weight ratios which make piston engines look like a joke.
 
Swede,

Got any pics of your homemade turbines? Sounds very cool. What does it cost you to built them?
 
Hi Swass, the cost for a basic turbine machined from near scratch will vary. In the early days of hobby turbines, guys created the turbine wheel from a stainless steel disk. While this worked, almost no one does it anymore because cast inconel turbine wheels are available.

Here's a basic cost breakdown when done on the cheap:

Compressor (Garrett auto T/C) - maybe $80
Turbine wheel, inconel, cast - $100
Ceramic bearings, pair - $75

The rest of the turbine, if scratch built, shouldn't add up to more than another $100. Of course you need access to machine tools!

I have a hobby web site with pics of the turbines, plus some other stuff - http://www.5bears.com
 
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EagleRJ said:
flyifrvfr,

A- You should have stopped typing while you were just a little behind.

B- Have you ever considered counseling? Deriving pleasure from watching the violent deaths of others is abnormal in anyone's book.
EagleRJ, I hope you don't go through the rest of your life making stupid statements like the two above. First, I pointed out, yet you couldn't see that I never said I wished someone to get hurt or killed in any of my post. I can't believe that I have to spell this out for you, but I underestimate your intelligence, my mistake. I think it's painfully clear who is behind.

Second, the reason I call these statements stupid is because you must think that I belong to a minority group of people who will watch videos of someone getting hurt or killed, I don't take pleasure out of someone elses pain. How many times have you slowed down to look at an accident scene, I don't know maybe you look away because you can't stand to see blood, but it is normal to have a morbid curiosity. If you don't think so, than you are the minortiy who are abnormal.

Third, I gladly defend myself for statements I make in person or in type. If someone tries to put words into my mouth and than try to blast me for it will certainly get a stern reply, and a question of thier reading comprehension abilities. Please, when responding to my post in the future, take the time to read and comprehend the messege being sent. If you need to re-read the post, by all means do so. This will keep me from having to point out to everyone that you are a flaming retard.
 

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