flying with one wing

I could do this if I wanted to.... but I've got better things to do.

link

.....

I wonder what colour his flying suit was when he got out?

Brown and White I would say, One hell of a lucky man.

I would say that was 90percent skill. phenomenal!

Did that really happen. My first thought was that it must be CG. If he did it then that was amazing. And to land it as well.

Anyway, the bag of luck he has finished. Henceforth that his hobby is gardening.

f248

English lesson 1:
He has finished his bag of luck. (This is not a common idiom but it works)
Henceforth his hobby is gardening. (You don't need the 'that')
Hope this helps, honestly i'm not being facetious.
And it takes me to 30 posts

Check out the comments
Most reckon it was fake...
Fun though!
Matt

EDIT: Aldoose, English Lesson 2: "facetious"

I think the first give-away was that the when the wing breaks off you hear the 'crack' at the same time, at that distance it would take a second or to reach the camera. Definitely doesn't look right after it's landed either.

Dan

It is undoubtedly a fake. Hilarious, but impossible.


What was absolutely not a fake, however, was when Neil Williams, one-time British National Aerobatic champion, back in the 70s, had been practising in his Zlin.

His wing broke, and the wing started to fold upwards.

With extraordinary presence of mind, he rolled the aircraft away from the wing, to the inverted, at which point it snapped back into place.

He then flew inverted all the way back to the airfield, down final approach, and then rolled it erect again a few tens of feet off the ground. Although the wing started to fold again, it lasted long enough for him to bang it into the ground and walk away.

He's a real legend in aviation circles. His accident report is here.

If it is fake then it is very clever. notice he hasn't got any speed so the remaining wing won't generate lift and send him into a spin. He then hangs the plane on the prop and descends gracefully. like I say, if it is fake then they really thought about it when they made the video.

It is technically possible in my humble opinion. The side of the aircraft could generate lift when in the attitude just before he 'lands', and those particular aerobatic aircraft have a massive power to weight ratio and can hang vertical in the air using the thrust from the prop.

However, I think this particular video is fake, just something about the way the plane flips at the last second before landing and then seems to die with no bounce.

I agree it's very well done though.

You're right that so-called knife-edge flight is possible with modern aerobatic aircraft, where the weight is balanced by lift generated from the angle of attack made by the inclined fuselage, and the inclined thrust of the propeller.

But it is inconceivable that from the point the wing broke off, the aircraft would have been controllable.

Aircraft with only one wing enter a violent, uncontrollable spin and crash. Much like the way sycamore seeds spin as they fall.


If you look carefully, the wing appears to break off in the flick roll at the top of the vertical. It is completely inconceivable that that would be recoverable.

He recovers from the flick roll at low speed, and then enters a perfectly normal spin, from which they cut to a bit of knife edge flight.

I agree it's well done, and very funny with the lower wing edited out. But completely impossible.

Addendum:

Although, to my amazement, it is possible to fly in something very fast with most of one wing gone.

This Youtube video is fairly extraordinary.

Edit...

Hmm. Maybe I should eat some of my words.

This RC vid is genuine, I think.

Wow Chris it's seems you know your stuff and I agree with you totally
How come that you know so much about it?