On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 18:44:23 -0700, "C J Campbell"
wrote:

The RC model B-52 that was the subject of a popular video circulating around
the Internet recently has crashed. :-( It looks like the pilot stalled it in
a steep turn, rather like the terrible crash at Fairchild. A real shame;
someone had put a lot of work into this airplane.

http://www.teambanana.co.uk/b52crash2.wmv

That's terrible. It was definitely a cool model.

From mic on the video camera, it sounded like it was a windy day.
Without an ASI to refer to, the 'pilot' can really only rely on
pitch/power and a guestimate of airspeed (from the groundspee) to keep
the thing flying.

I had an RC model plane when I was younger. Flew it about 10 times
with another pilot doing most the takeoffs and landings. I put the
thing into storage, and then got it back out after I got my pilots
license. Managed to get the engine running again, and made sure the
controls worked. I figured if I could fly a real plane, I could fly
an RC one, so I made a trip to my families farm for a test flight...

Let me tell you - PP-ASEL skills don't translate to RC skills

I could not keep the plane straight & level, and eventually ended up
stalling it into the corn field. I walked corn rows for about 10 hrs
and never found the plane. Fortunately, our tenant farmer managed to
find it before the combine chopped it up. I still have it in storage,
and plan on rebuilding it and giving it another go (with supervision)
someday.

-Nathan