OT: Too crazy not to share. Stunt Pilot.

[Robatoy]

Many of you have probably already seen this.... just nuts, I tell ya, just nuts.

[LRod]

loss of a wing, it seems to me (and I'm a pilot) would be an absolute and unarguable indicator to bail out--if possible and the forces would make egress extremely difficult even for that. Those airplanes don't have Martin-Bakers.

There's no training for that sort of thing (wing loss)--how could you practice for it? And you'd have to practice at least a little to get the sort of result depicted.

Now that's all from the aerodynamics and physics standpoint. Take a look at two things in the video: touch down and engine stop. Both of those are very model-like and very not-real-airplane like.

Having said all that, if it's real, it's, well, I guess "incredible" pretty well covers it, either way.

Also, the posting of the link doesn't reflect on your views about anything. Just thought I'd get that out of the way.

[Robatoy]

There is a bit of 'low-mass abruptness'. The part that makes it somewhat suspect is that it plays out perfectly in front of that camera and that there are no other views of the same incident. Still, pretty cool.

LOL...one can't be too careful these days..

[Robatoy]

I looked and looked and looked some more. Played it slow, imported it into iMovie, ...

I tell ya. If it is a fake, it is the best I have ever seen. Note the elevators at the very end.

Still, my suspicion is not put to rest because there is no other coverage that I can find. That is odd.

[LRod]

Well, the first cut is pretty obvious, in my opinion. At about 0:16, just after he spills over the top of the first vertical maneuver, the real plane "jiggles" out of frame, and then we pick up the model as it comes back in frame.

We see the wing come off, but from then on, all that can be seen of the right wing is the root. Where are any of the cables or wires which would have been left from the break?

Also, as the model comes down in a spin, it is spinning left. All the aerodynamic forces on a real plane at that point would make it spin right (all the lift on the left wing--think half a maple seed--I know you've seen 'em).

The cut back to the "real" plane is probably at about 0:53 just after "touch down" (extremely model like, by the way), but the cameraman jitter at the merge doesn't match the action.

Although I'm certainly not an A&E (mechanic) and haven't seen the insides of all the airplanes in the world, generally ailerons are rigged in a loop of cable with the stick in the middle. Lose one aileron cable and you've usually lost both ailerons. The maneuvers in that clip were not possible without some aileron control--even if only one.

And finally, as I alluded to in my other post, I cannot imagine a scenario where a pilot could have a catastrophic failure such as losing a wing and be able to work out the control commands necessary to make any kind of recovery. Maybe if he started out at 30,000 ft, but he wasn't much above 2,000 in that, certainly no more than 5,000.

Where I'll give the creator great credit is in doing the coordination necessary to get some very similar flying scenarios out of both model and real a/c to make possible the merging of the footage.

And I suppose one shouldn't rule out some CGI, as well. I'll bet some money was spent on that project.

[Robatoy]

Indeed. I noticed that as well. That would have been a good point for a transition.

Very good point. I hadn't thought about that.

HA!.. LOL.. But maple seeds don't have engines. And that, perhaps illusion, of that whole mess hanging off a prop like a Hammerhead.. Just before reaching zero airspeed, the pilot inputs full left rudder (slight right aileron and forward stick are required as well to correct for torque and gyroscopic effect) to cause the nose of the aircraft to go from pointing straight up to straight down... he could have been very well practised in that one, no?

Air-race stuff might be a whole different ball game. I don't know.

I still think that a guy with a real feel for his machine, at a gut- level, and many practised hammerheads behind him could...and I emphasise 'could' maybe have pulled this off.

I'm looking at this whole thing as possible, and you are thinking 'no way'. You are most likely right. And I read a LOT of Bigglesworth books as a kid. Biggles drank the coolant from his Camel in the desert to stay alive, and then flew off again. *S*

[LRod]

Found some discussion:

?qid=20081030140510AAqZPAb

[Robatoy]

I think I been had. The clarity of the Killa Thrill logos gave it away in the end. I still root for the underdog...unless he's..