Video of an Experimental Design Crash

ARFlyer

ARFlyer

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Strong crosswind and a failure of one of the RC jet engines lead to this guys crash. I think he made a horrible decision by turning into to the aircraft bone yard instead of out towards the desert...
 
The experiment failed.
 
Engine out: Aim for the densely packed rows of aircraft.

He couldn’t have been more than 100’ AGL. Why wouldn’t he have just put it down to his 12 o’clock..not an obstacle in sight. :dunno:
 
With engines on the fuse I wouldn’t think differential thrust would be that great, but it was the left engine that died. Maybe the right engine took him for a ride......who knows with EXP aircraft???

Add to that the strong right to left cross....
 
There's already a thread where we beat this one to death a few weeks ago.
 
Better to crash into the runway.
 
Bill Jennings said:
With engines on the fuse I wouldn’t think differential thrust would be that great, but it was the left engine that died. Maybe the right engine took him for a ride......who knows with EXP aircraft???

Add to that the strong right to left cross....
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Yeah that’s highly likely. I would’ve thought a bit of power reduction on the right engine combined with rudder would keep it straight enough to put down in front for as low as he was. Looked like he just about lost it over the threshold. Might have some funky aerodynamics, like you say.
 
Ryanb said:
I would’ve thought a bit of power reduction on the right engine combined with rudder would keep it straight enough to put down in front for as low as he was.
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You're assuming that's actually what the pilot did. I have no idea what his experience was. An untrained instinct is to push the power up, which would make the Vmca roll worse.
 
Anymouse said:
You're assuming that's actually what the pilot did. I have no idea what his experience was. An untrained instinct is to push the power up, which would make the Vmca roll worse.
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Yeah true. No idea.
 
ARFlyer said:

Strong crosswind and a failure of one of the RC jet engines lead to this guys crash. I think he made a horrible decision by turning into to the aircraft bone yard instead of out towards the desert...
Click to expand...

He lost his left engine with a crosswind from the right...even though the engines we’re fuselage mounted that put the aircraft into an isometric thrust situation forcing left yaw. Add the right crosswind he was turning left into the boneyard no matter what he wanted to do.


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northtechsan said:
He lost his left engine with a crosswind from the right...even though the engines we’re fuselage mounted that put the aircraft into an isometric thrust situation forcing left yaw. Add the right crosswind he was turning left into the boneyard no matter what he wanted to do.


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Easy to armchair quarterback, but he coulda chopped the throttle and landed straight ahead, or at worst, in the dirt alongside the runway. Keeping it in the air seemed like a bad decision.
 
I am glad he is ok..

But it look like the scene in star wars as he is making his run on the Death Star...

wow
 
Well yes. Chopping the throttles does seem like the first option when directional control was lost.

From what I believe I remember from the other thread, this guy also had a monetary stake in this plane, so I would guess saving the plane was the thought process.

And yes, he did do a good job crashing by flying all the way to the crash, although for a second before the crash it looked like it was VMCing.
 
Finding the trailer to crash into in order to slow down was a pro move.
 
This was discussed ad nauseum a few weeks ago. He was insulted plenty then. Any need to keep it up?
 
Well I guess he did aim for something cheap.
 
Why do you guys keep reposting this thing? We all know that many mistakes have been made. The Internet has spoken, nobody likes this video anymore, more insults, please!
 
I'm sure he thought he could keep a little altitude until it just stalled out.
At least he took out the trailer with the crappy wood paneling inside.

and that's all I got to say about that
 
Elliott is also a test pilot for Mooney and also heavily involved with/instructs at the National Test Pilot school.


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Zeldman said:
Really..??? How do I apply for these jobs..???
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Yes, he flies all sorts of wacky stuff too, Bearcats to a testing someone's completed thunder mustang build. Not sure on applying, haha...probably all network / word-of-mouth...
 
3 in the green said:
Yes, he flies all sorts of wacky stuff too, Bearcats to a testing someone's completed thunder mustang build. Not sure on applying, haha...probably all network / word-of-mouth...
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Yep. He probably socializes with a better (wealthier) class of people than I do...:lol::lol::lol:
 
Direct C51 said:
Although not infallible, Elliot is a trained test pilot who understands test flight procedures. If anyone would rather read facts instead of a bunch of armchair quarterbacks who are way out of their league, here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bIC3H3Z7UVuESJpjotc4F108w7LdnkaKs7J-dz-EJVc/mobilebasic
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Sounds like he made the best of a very bad situation, once the decision to fly was made.

When the Quickie first came out, I thought it was an interesting design, but it disappeared from the radar pretty quickly. After reading Elliot's description of its flying characteristics, I can see why.
 
FormerHangie said:
...When the Quickie first came out, I thought it was an interesting design, but it disappeared from the radar pretty quickly. After reading Elliot's description of its flying characteristics, I can see why.
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Apparently the main wheels out on the ends of the flexible canard were always a problem. Easily bounced landings, squirrelly directional control. There was a similar airplane called a Dragonfly that brought the mains inboard:

IMG_0300.JPG
 
Actually the Rutan Quickie, the QAC Q2, and the Viking Dragonfly all started with canard tip mounted main wheels. The QAC Q2/Q200 and Dragonfly Mark II moved the wheels inboard like in your picture. The TriQ was a tricycle gear Q2. The Dragonfly Mark III had hoop main gear mounted to the fuselage.
 
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