Water Torque Roll – Barry Finck flys on the edge!

Check out this great video of some risky and talented flying by Barry Finck at the Sun Valley Flyers field this year. You can see he almost loses his plane when the tail feathers take on too much water, but some expert maneuvers prevent the loss. Enjoy!

The First AddictionRC.com Video

We have a lot of fun at the field, especially when it’s quiet and the weather is perfect. Sometimes I am fortunate enough to have my camera and we catch the fun on video. I hope you enjoy Dustin’s beautiful plane (Aeroworks 50cc) and his amazing flying. We certainly did!

PLEASE NOTE: The video is edited together from many shots, so when it looks like I grab the camera right after he lands, its because I cut out the time spent walking out to the camera. The music is brought to you by the Tempe band Ghetto Cowgirl. Now click play (and be sure to watch it in HD!)

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There will be many more videos to come.

33% RC Yak Midair Collision with a .40 size trainer!

What happens when two planes, one very large and the other small, meet in the sky nose-to nose in mid-flight? Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. In the RC hobby it is common practice to treat these types of events as a “no harm, no foul” thing. In this case both pilots shook hands and walked away with a story and a desire to fly again.

The real amazing part of this story is that the pilot of the Yak was able to land the plane after the collision. You and I can only imagine what that must have looked like: A loud collision, pieces everywhere, one plane in pieces falling towards the ground, and a large Yak with its nose in shreds pulling up and coming around for a clean landing. WOW! Congrats! A few parts and some minor repair and the Yak will fly again soon. Unfortunately, David did not beat Goliath in this case, and the small trainer is a goner. Oh well, it’s all part of the fun.

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(Photos courtesy of Marty Jones)

Caught a crash on video.

I had some great flying this weekend.  I took a lot of video, and here is a highlight.  I hate to see this kind of thing, but it happens.  The good news is that the jet will fly again.

At the Sun Valley Flyers club in Arizona, I caught the unfortunate crash of a beautiful F-16. On a landing attempt the pilot decided to go-around. However, the Jet ran out of fuel, causing a crash. The Jet is repairable, and I am sure I will see if fly again.

Why does it look like pilot error? Jet engines take a while to spin up. So when the pilot decided to go-around, he expected a few second delay before the plan began to accelerate. Unfortunately, with no fuel left, the acceleration never came. With a prop-powered plane it would be immediately obvious whether the plane was out of fuel or not. You can see the Afterburner lights (red LEDs) on full-blast, indicating the pilot was giving full throttle.

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