WOW! You gotta see this!

[Viking Sailor]

Someone who reallly knows the meaning of "never say die".

YouTube - Amazing Pilot

I saw this on another site. The guy is one heck of a pilot.

[s/v 'Faith']

There is no way that is real.

[ajman]

I'm not quite ready to buy into this. It looks like it happened to a model plane (still a pretty amazing landing...) and then morphed into a real plane on the ground. However, I've looked at it frame by frame and it seems seamless. I think it's a very good editing job.

[senormechanico]

My son's and I T professional and he is convinced it's fake.
Too many convenient out of focus spots in critical places in the video.

Steve B.

[martinworswick]

what am i doing wrong? when i click on the link i get a youtube window aying this video is no longer available!

[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.



One Heck of a flier is right..the guy running toward the downed plane cant believe it either.

Iv been wrong before though.

This speaks volumes as to what we are discussing over on the racer vs cruiser forum...There is no way your average pilot has the skill set to do what this acrobat pilot just did...It aint going to happen..I will stand on what I said over there.

[Wotname]

Hmm... I have an open mind on this one....part of me says its gotta be fake and yet part of me thinks its real. I have watched it over and over and frame by frame (as best as that can be achieved on a standard computer) along with the rest of the guys at work (all pilots or aircraft engineers) and we can't decide one way or the other.

If it is a fake, then the audio was well acted (spoken?); however I want it to be real

[martinworswick]

person 1-oh my god
person 2-runnnnnn

but the cameraman never flinches even when the plane seems to be heading directly for him.

i'm sceptical

but i also would like it to be true!

[ajman]

Here's why I think it's a R/C model (And ALL of this is just my unqualified opinion, so don't beat me up...!)

•The white exhaust smoke doesn't seem typical for a full size stunt plane:
If it was purposely trailing smoke, he purposely shuts it off at the top of his Hammerhead turn. It seems like the few times I've seen that in person, the smoke is on at the top of the turn to leave a little "cloud" up there.
If the smoke wasn't on purpose, why would a highly specialized stunt plane be flying around with an engine that needs rings? Seems more likely that an R/C plane would be smoking.

•The wing comes off at the top of the turn, which is performed at 20-30 kts. in a full size plane with very little stress on the wing at that point. Seems more likely that mechanical fasteners on an R/C had been vibrating loose for some time, and the last one let go at the top of the turn.

•Wing comes off in a very clean break. No debris, pieces of aluminum skin, etc. seen when it comes apart.

•No fuel cloud when the wing comes off (assuming full size planes carry fuel in their wings) and engine keeps running.

•When it lands, it bounces faster (less mass) that I would expect for a full size plane.

•When the plane rolls to a stop, it turns to the left, conveniently hiding any trace of a broken right wing stub.

•To me, the voices sound dubbed in after the fact.

•But the biggest deal breaker is, if this were real and you had just captured the most amazing landing ever, would you shut the camera off where this video ends, or would you run to the plane and keep filming, especially capturing the pilot and the broken wing stub?

Just like the UFO video from Brazil(?) that was going around the internet a few months ago (and was later acknowledged as being fake), I'm sure the truth will float to the surface soon...

[Stillraining]

All good observations

But it is definitely not engine fuel smoke but we do have smoke generators on R/C as well.

I will let you re look but there would be wires hanging out the stub going to a control servo for the aileron or a push rod if fuselage mounted..I didnt see any.

As well as there should be control cables in a real one.

The other thing you will notice is a very defined wing rib with evenly spaced control pathways or lighting ( weight saving ) cutouts and metallic looking as if aluminium...something you just dont do in normal R/C building

I want to believe it as well.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by ajman

Here's why I think it's a R/C model (And ALL of this is just my unqualified opinion, so don't beat me up...!)

........
•But the biggest deal breaker is, if this were real and you had just captured the most amazing landing ever, would you shut the camera off where this video ends, or would you run to the plane and keep filming, especially capturing the pilot and the broken wing stub?.......

Well yes, that is the most suspicious part in my mind. If I had a world scoop of a true event, I wouldn't be just sticking on You Tube, I would be selling it to all and any news outlet and I am sure it would make international news.

However, if it was a fake, You Tube would be an excellent choice on which to distribute the footage

[BlueWaterSail]

It's a fake.

I'm an aeronuatical engineer, a private pilot, and also flew RC.

On real planes, the wings are bolted in such a way that a clean separation as shown in the video would be impossible. A structural failure of this magnitude would rip out a good part of the underbelly, and the wing would fold first, not just fly off.

BWS

[martinworswick]

Originally Posted by BlueWaterSail

It's a fake.

I'm an aeronuatical engineer, a private pilot, and also flew RC.

On real planes, the wings are bolted in such a way that a clean separation as shown in the video would be impossible. A structural failure of this magnitude would rip out a good part of the underbelly, and the wing would fold first, not just fly off.

BWS

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

[Stillraining]

True Holywood class work if it is Fake.

Pilot here myself


Who knows ..maybe this is what Hollywood's great do for fun on there breaks just to mess with our heads...