Disaster Stories
Merry Leap Year Bonus Day!
I’ve been sidelined for a couple of days with an eye infection but I plan to venture out to Baylands today.
Meanwhile, here are two of my favorite R/C stories.
Mike Nadler told me this Best Crash Story just the other day.
A Pulverizing Mishap. A few years ago, he belonged to a group that flew on a leveled section of a dump site.
One of his friends flew his plane over his head and, as happens, lost orientation and control as the plane passed behind him.
Unfortunately, the plane landed in the bed of a passing dump truck.
As they watched with growing horror, the dump truck drove up a nearby hill and parked, then a loader dumped a ton or two of crushed rock on top of the plane.
They followed the truck to see what happened next.
Shortly, they saw the truck stop and tilt its load of rock and gravel onto the ground.
When they looked for the plane, they found only some toothpicks and a bit of covering on the top of the heap.
Hard to imagine a more thorough act of demolition, unless perhaps you fly near an active volcano.
I read the other story on RC Groups back when I was still making every mistake you could make while attempting to fly a radio-control plane.
Almost every mistake, that is.
The Wrong Move. Someone started a thread soliciting “Your Most Embarrassing Moment.”
Among the predictable tales of absent-mindedness and bad decisions, one flyer recounted this:
A new flyer, he stepped up to the flight line, airplane in one hand, transmitter in the other.
He took a deep breath, tried to calm himself. Checked that his antenna was extended. Reviewed his flight strategy:
- full-throttle takeoff
- reduce speed when the plane is in the air
- gain altitude
- keep the plane well in front
Another deep breath, then he reared back and gave it a mighty throw.
Alas he threw his transmitter, not the plane.
Tags: Airplanes, Crashes, Flying, Life, People, Radio Control.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Laughing out loud!!!
February 29th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
I’ve heard repeatedly of people who set their plane down behind their car with the intent of pushing the trunk release button to load the plane there in, forgot, and backed over the plane.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Wolfberg Compactor
A friend of mine owns a VW rabbit convertible in L.A…
One day we finished flying, he stowed all the planes in the trunk, including a 3 meter glider with a two-piece wing. It just fit in the trunk from fender to fender.
This happened to be hot nice day…
He got in the car and proceeded to un-lid the car (take the top off)…
This car was a fancy version, everything’s electric, so a push of the button, the motor came on to retract the roof.
For a small car like a Rabbit, the roof retracts into the trunk…
Thus the name “wolfberg compactor.”
March 5th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
I was flying my PCW once when Roger Mihara started getting ready to fly his Banchee. Since it seemed only polite (and Roger is fun to watch) I decided to land. But my PCW got into ground effect and just would not slide in — until at the last moment it stalled out, flipped to the side and slammed right into Roger’s plane.
Try to do a guy a favor … I can still remember the look of disgust on his face. No damage done, but still. Ack! Sorry Roger…