Aircraft takes off with no pilot...because of wind.

A stationary aircraft with no pilot inside took off because of nothing but
a stiff breeze...lessons to be learned...

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/...keoff/886gu2cd

On 3/16/2013 1:03 PM, Jeremy Keeling wrote:
A stationary aircraft with no pilot inside took off because of nothing but
a stiff breeze...lessons to be learned...

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/...keoff/886gu2cd

One lesson might be "don't park it with full up elevator". It's strange
to me a camera would be focused on such a small area, unless it was an
intentional event.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

Thats hilarious! thanks for sharing!

On Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:14:55 -0700, Eric Greenwell
wrote:

On 3/16/2013 1:03 PM, Jeremy Keeling wrote:
A stationary aircraft with no pilot inside took off because of nothing but
a stiff breeze...lessons to be learned...

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/...keoff/886gu2cd

One lesson might be "don't park it with full up elevator". It's strange
to me a camera would be focused on such a small area, unless it was an
intentional event.

Intentional indeed. I'd say it's a model.

On Sat, 16 Mar 2013 18:54:55 -0600, Ralph Jones wrote:

On Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:14:55 -0700, Eric Greenwell
wrote:

On 3/16/2013 1:03 PM, Jeremy Keeling wrote:
A stationary aircraft with no pilot inside took off because of nothing
but a stiff breeze...lessons to be learned...

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/...keoff/886gu2cd

One lesson might be "don't park it with full up elevator". It's strange
to me a camera would be focused on such a small area, unless it was an
intentional event.

Intentional indeed. I'd say it's a model.

Agreed. It doesn't look windy enough, judging from the way the scenery
isn't waving (much), to lift even quite a light GA aircraft. Nothing is
really moving apart from a bit of dust. And what about that wing being
picked up just after it lifted off: natural stability or a crafty twitch
on the sticks?


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |

At 00:54 17 March 2013, Ralph Jones wrote:
On Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:14:55 -0700, Eric Greenwell
wrote:

On 3/16/2013 1:03 PM, Jeremy Keeling wrote:
A stationary aircraft with no pilot inside took off because of nothing
but
a stiff breeze...lessons to be learned...

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/...keoff/886gu2cd

One lesson might be "don't park it with full up elevator". It's strange
to me a camera would be focused on such a small area, unless it was an
intentional event.

Intentional indeed. I'd say it's a model.


Actually this business about parking with full elevator is a good one.
Some clubs I know are very good, in my opinion, in that they do up the
pilots harness around the joystick after landing in order to hold it in a
back position (full up elevator) so that as the glider is being towed back
to the launch point the control surfaces don't 'clunk around' etc. I think
this is a good idea, but typically what happened as the aircraft got back
to the launch point is that they would be lined up for launch, into wind
ofcourse, with full elevator still on. It seems to me to be a good point
about not leaving aircraft parked with full elevator, particularly into
wind.
Definetly a lesson to be learned there...

I don't think the aircraft is a model haha, look at the relative size of
everything around it.
It seems to me that the CCTV camera would be looking towards an aircraft
parking area maybe? Or perhaps the other aircraft that were there had
already been tossed over and the person fetched his camera to catch the
last one...I dunno.

At 02:25 17 March 2013, Jeremy Keeling wrote:
At 00:54 17 March 2013, Ralph Jones wrote:
On Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:14:55 -0700, Eric Greenwell
wrote:

On 3/16/2013 1:03 PM, Jeremy Keeling wrote:
A stationary aircraft with no pilot inside took off because of
nothing
but
a stiff breeze...lessons to be learned...

http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/...keoff/886gu2cd

One lesson might be "don't park it with full up elevator". It's strange

to me a camera would be focused on such a small area, unless it was an
intentional event.

Intentional indeed. I'd say it's a model.


Actually this business about parking with full elevator is a good one.
Some clubs I know are very good, in my opinion, in that they do up the
pilots harness around the joystick after landing in order to hold it in a
back position (full up elevator) so that as the glider is being towed
back
to the launch point the control surfaces don't 'clunk around' etc. I
think
this is a good idea, but typically what happened as the aircraft got back
to the launch point is that they would be lined up for launch, into wind
ofcourse, with full elevator still on. It seems to me to be a good point
about not leaving aircraft parked with full elevator, particularly into
wind.
Definetly a lesson to be learned there...

I don't think the aircraft is a model haha, look at the relative size of
everything around it.
It seems to me that the CCTV camera would be looking towards an aircraft
parking area maybe? Or perhaps the other aircraft that were there had
already been tossed over and the person fetched his camera to catch the
last one...I dunno.

Up elevator only matters on a nose-wheel aircraft. Most empty gliders sit
with the tail-wheel or skid on the ground so elevator position is almost
irrelevant.

On 3/16/2013 11:42 PM, Chris Rollings wrote:
At 02:25 17 March 2013, Jeremy Keeling wrote:


I don't think the aircraft is a model haha, look at the relative size of
everything around it.
It seems to me that the CCTV camera would be looking towards an aircraft
parking area maybe? Or perhaps the other aircraft that were there had
already been tossed over and the person fetched his camera to catch the
last one...I dunno.

Up elevator only matters on a nose-wheel aircraft. Most empty gliders sit
with the tail-wheel or skid on the ground so elevator position is almost
irrelevant.

The comparable glider errors I see are leaving the tail dolly attached
to an unattended, unsecured glider; not putting the flaps into full
negative; and not turning the glider perpendicular to the wind.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

On Sunday, March 17, 2013 1:42:43 AM UTC-5, Chris Rollings wrote:
Up elevator only matters on a nose-wheel aircraft. Most empty gliders sit
with the tail-wheel or skid on the ground so elevator position is almost
irrelevant.

Oh, how not true, Chris! Elevator position ALWAYS matters. And in fact, nose down is where the elevator should be when the glider is unattended. Why? Wind comes up from the nose, the elevator will raise the tail if the wind is high enough, reducing the angle of attack and making it less likely that the plane will blow away. Wind comes up from behind, it will keep the tail pinned to the ground. Same applies to both nose dragger and tail dragger planes. How many have seen single engine Cessnas blown over by a wind from behind because the tail was not secured and the control wheel was held back? I have seen quite a number.

And depending on the tail wheel, nose up elevator can help compress a tailwheel leaf spring increasing the angle of attack and make the plane more likely to blow away. Think 2-33s and the long, slender single leaf springs.

Steve Leonard

Nah, this looks like the real thing to me. Most every model will not have the protrusions like pitot and antenna you see here underneath unless they are the very top end scale ($$$) jobs which are rare. ARF manufacturers wont supply these details since they'll break off right away when you remove the wings for transport.