FAI-F1D
Free Flight Indoorist
I've flown every type of model airplane except control line and turbines, and since that includes rocket power, I've shredded and crashed a lot of different types of planes. So here's a video compilation of a few of the more interesting crashes for your viewing pleasure, learning, and hopefully encouragement, that even those of us who are successful in competitions still mess up, really, really badly, sometimes. And yes, there will be another installment in the future.
Notice this video includes THREE crashes of iterative designs of the SAME airplane, and there were at least two other crashes in addition to these, and that aircraft still made it into commercial production as a successful plane. Lesson: pick up ALL of the pieces, analyze what went wrong, and NEVER give up.
Another item you'll notice here: I have very few crashes at public flying events because I do the testing in isolated areas. This is one of the reasons we bought a house in the country: we wanted a safe, convenient place to make whatever mistakes are required to build successful airplanes. Bottom line: find a safe place to test your airplanes so they crash in private, frustrate you as much as necessary, etc, so that when you fly with friends, you aren't a safety risk.
Flip side of the above: there's a thread over in Flite School entitled "You are never good enough to fly in neighborhoods." That's not true. What you need to do is fly things appropriate for the venue that you have the skills to fly in that venue. It's absolutely possible to safely fly a UMX plane in your front yard. Just use common sense and don't go out there buzzing cars, pets, and neighbor's front yards, or you'll get what you deserve. It's simply a matter of common sense, but we've got a bunch of safety nuts who have gone the other direction, and that's just as destructive as the crowd who are recklessly flying quads into airport approach paths.
Notice this video includes THREE crashes of iterative designs of the SAME airplane, and there were at least two other crashes in addition to these, and that aircraft still made it into commercial production as a successful plane. Lesson: pick up ALL of the pieces, analyze what went wrong, and NEVER give up.
Another item you'll notice here: I have very few crashes at public flying events because I do the testing in isolated areas. This is one of the reasons we bought a house in the country: we wanted a safe, convenient place to make whatever mistakes are required to build successful airplanes. Bottom line: find a safe place to test your airplanes so they crash in private, frustrate you as much as necessary, etc, so that when you fly with friends, you aren't a safety risk.
Flip side of the above: there's a thread over in Flite School entitled "You are never good enough to fly in neighborhoods." That's not true. What you need to do is fly things appropriate for the venue that you have the skills to fly in that venue. It's absolutely possible to safely fly a UMX plane in your front yard. Just use common sense and don't go out there buzzing cars, pets, and neighbor's front yards, or you'll get what you deserve. It's simply a matter of common sense, but we've got a bunch of safety nuts who have gone the other direction, and that's just as destructive as the crowd who are recklessly flying quads into airport approach paths.