WOW! You gotta see this!

Personally, I don't care. It is fun to watch, and regardless of how much editing went on, it is amazing to look at. It is allot more believable than some of the stunts Hollywood trys to pass off in movies

[scotiasailor]

Sorry boys but that video is 100% fake, CGI if you will. not even the begining sequence before his wing "falls off" is real, and is not R/C.

There is not even an argument here.. this video wasn't even that good of a CGI plane flying/landing. if your not convinced its fake, just watch the landing a couple of times and think to yourself.. "why is the no grass flying or dust or dirt, or a sound even when he smashes into the ground?"

Don't be fooled by this video......

-Greg

[GordMay]

This film recreates an Israeli F15, piloted by Zivi Nedivi, landing with only one wing, after a midair collision (May 1, 1983). The stills, at the end, are actual photographs.

http://www.sonnyradio.com/F15.wmv

http://www.f-16.net/varia_article8.html

[knottybuoyz]

Snopes.com status on this is still undetermined...

snopes.com: One Wing Plane Landing

I've flown RC for years. No way, it's fake.

[Zanshin]

I have flown aerobatics and that video, while really well done, is fake. The smoke in the beginning isn't right, the wing separation is far too clean with no material bending/folding prior to break, the knife-edge rotation to landing is too fast. And the left-hand turn at that speed with no right wing would have flipped the plane.

[James S]

Do a search.....you'll find some very similare R/C video.

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by martinworswick

theoretically speaking, would it be possible though, even if the landing was harsher but survivable?

No. Once the wing becomes detached from the fuselage the pilot loses control of the aircraft because of the damaged aileron control system and aerodynamic imbalance, and it would enter a death spiral. The pilot's only option would be to bail out.

The RC plane landed because of the huge power-to weight ratio advantage, which compares to the F15 in Gord's link landing on afterburners. The plane literally "hangs on the prop" to maintain control.

So in real life, without the power of an afterburner or equivalent, you're not going to be able to land it.

From the F15 link:

"I started to decrease the airspeed, but at that point one wing was not enough. So I went into a spin down and to the right. A second before I decided to eject, I pushed the throttle and lit the afterburner. I gained speed and thus got control of the aircraft again. Next thing I did was lowering the arresting hook. A few seconds later I touched the runway at 260 knots ..."

BWS

[GordMay]

According to the F-16 site:

“The IAF contacted McDonnel Douglas and asked for information about possibility to land an F-15 with one wing . MD replied that this is aerodynamically impossible, as confirmed by computer simulations... Then they received the photo....

After two months the same F-15 got a new wing and returned to action.

This is what "Flight international, 8 June 1985" wrote about the incident:

"The most outstanding Eagle save was by a pilot from a foreign air force. During air combat training his two seater F-15 was involved in a mid air collision with an A-4 Skyhawk. The A-4 crashed, and the Eagle lost it's right wing from about 2ft. outboard. After some confusion between the instructor who said eject, and the student who outranked his instructor and said no, the F-15 was landed at it's desert base. Touching down at 290 kt, the hook was dropped for an approach and engagement. This slowed the F-15 to 100 kt, when the hook weak link sheared, and the aircraft was then braked conventionally. It is said that the student was later demoted for disobeying his instructor, then promoted for saving the aircraft.

McDonnell Douglas attributes the saving of this aircraft to the amount of lift generated by the engine intake/body and "a hell of a good pilot".

[martinworswick]

Originally Posted by GordMay

According to the F-16 site:

“The IAF contacted McDonnel Douglas and asked for information about possibility to land an F-15 with one wing . MD replied that this is aerodynamically impossible, as confirmed by computer simulations... Then they received the photo....

here's a link to the history channel vid

YouTube - One winged F-15 Story & Landing

[BlueWaterSail]

Originally Posted by GordMay

McDonnell Douglas attributes the saving of this aircraft to the amount of lift generated by the engine intake/body...

I would draw the following sailing analogy - bringing my 25' sailboat safely home after being holed by a frontal collision, thanks to my 300hp Z-drive which brought her to a plane on the last 1/4 of her hull.

Possible, but only RC planes and fighter jets are so overpowered.

BWS

[bstreep]

It's a "viral: video, part real, most fake:

Airplanes | Aviation | Pilots | Flying: KillaThrill Generates Huge Buzzkill With Viral Airplane Crash Video

[lannen]

And here is the rest of the story: (I'm a pilot, but not this pilot (or R/C driver in this case) I'm just passing on an email I received~ attached below)

From AV Web

Video of the Week: One-Winged RC Landing

I am the pilot of the radio-controlled plane in your video of the week
(VOTW, Oct. 27
<Video of the Week: One-Winged RC Landing>).


I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I'm also glad you recognized the fakery
in the recent video being promoted by a clothing company (AVwebinsider,
Oct. 30
<One-Winged Landing Video Does Its Job>).


In case you aren't aware, I also fly aerobatics in "real" planes. My
full-scale Yak-54, Russian Thunder, has thankfully never lost a wing.

Check out my blog at RCGroups
<jbourke's blog - RC Groups>, my Web site.

*Jim Bourke*

[Stillraining]

Well if he is for real ..It takes my knowledge of R/C capabilities to a whole different level ..as I stated...I have been friends with two national level flyer's and back 30 years ago I'm pretty sure there was no way that landing could have been done.

On the other hand look whats been accomplished in the sailing world in the past 30 years also...so what do I know...nothing!

My hats off to him if he did it..but Im as skeptical as you all were of it being the real deal..
But you can easly see it aint even close to being the same plane or angle of photography...or landing..he is a good flyer and what he did is impressive for sure and very similar indeed..Just not as smooth and pretty and thats why I said befor that the one were talking about can not be R/C...Its either real or computer.

[David M]

If it were real, something this amazing would have been on all the major media outlets, not just YouTube.

[97octane]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

I use to fly R/C ( still have em ) and have been around national level fliers...there is no way to save that in a Radio controlled craft IMHO..Even in 1/4 scale the rotations are all off for the spin sequence it would be much more rapid and violent..If you have flown them then you would know there is not much in this viedo that speaks of R/C flying not even the landing. and especially the approach.

As far as going in and out of focus..the camera was having a hard time and hunting right from the fist frame.

Heres your proof... RC Pilot lands with one wing.

YouTube - RJ Gritter Makes RC History with One-Wing landing