Alan Szabo crashing the Avant Aurora IRCHA 2006

I have good look at the Avant head and watch some great flying before a lock out makes Alan Szabos helicopter do the "Chicken Dance"

[@dougsrccom]

That was the best chicken dance I ever saw. Nobody gets away without the occasional Crash, not even Alan !!!

[@digitalgrunge]

Even his crashes are graceful. Can't believe there wasn't more damage. Great video!

[@Schevron]

I really like the comment from someone at the camera when the heli stops moving: "It's dead Jim!" really cool :-)

[@Winston51249]

It's hard to believe that anybody can fly this good to begin with. Awesome awesome awesome flying skills! Unfortunate crash though.

[@0TOM007]

His piro rolls are soo smooth! He just phones up his sponsers and gets a new one.:P

[@yohoneybee]

OUCH!!!! Alan YOU ARE THE BEST, Even with this big crash. YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!

[@7byseven]

i love the avant

[@jasmine2501]

Wow, you're right! Good ear :) You can hear it strike. As one of my buddies says - the helicopter is the only kind of aircraft with the capability of crashing into *itself*.

[@jasmine2501]

It does, and it takes a long time to re-connect. Something mechanical went wrong here though - you can hear it break. The audio looks to be in perfect sync for the rest of the flight - the blade farts are all at the right times. So I'm thinking that sound of something breaking in mid-air is a blade strike or a link broke or god knows what.

[@lfryder]

It means that someone cut the controller on the same channel and his conroller was "locked out". Basically someone cut on their controller without asking the channels that Alan was on.

[@gluino]

A low-tech method is to set up the throttle to be spring-loaded to close, and choose a servo that turns relatively freely when there is no power. But the drawback is higher current draw from the servo to overcome the spring tension.

[@toyyou2jp]

Thanks for your sharing, world RC champion.

[@jscott1000]

That will buff right out and be as good as new

[@robbie77300]

its a rotor strike of tail boom, high negative collective with backwards cyclic caused blades to hit boom. battery for reciever sometimes gets disconnected and cant shut down engine which is in near full throttle for idle up flying,

[@kdanagger6894]

Not a lockout - there was a loud pop. It was mechanical. Sounds like something hit the canopy on the inside - like maybe a link broke or popped off. He seems to have lost pitch control at that moment.

[@SilasoftheLamb]

something defently broke! You can hear it in flight. Maybe that is why he is flying the align 700. The Avant is still a sweet heli though. Nice skilz by the master.:)

[@sfyrisJOYaerials]

He means boom strike man (when the blades hit the boom, not the ground)). And yes there is a sound of a boom strike just before the accident.

[@jasmine2501]

That is amazing - hurts to watch. Doesn't look like it was too badly damaged though - a testament to the workmanship on it. Definite radio lock-out - if not, he would have been able to kill it right away you would think. I've seen this once in real life, and the guy was able to kill the motor with the radio right away.

[@SixOThree]

I don't think the audio is synced correctly in this video so that sound may be misleading.

[@robbie77300]

battery disconnected when heli hit the ground i mean. Hitting the ground is caused by rotor hitting the tail boom. can hear it strike just before impact at 5:38. its not radio lockout.

[@Beamshipcaptain]

This was not pilot error, it was a mechanical-failure of some type, some part failed; you can hear something come loose during a backflip at 5:40, and the the loss of altitude, resulting in a crash. He pushed the machine too hard, something could'nt handle the loads. Not a lot of damage for crashing in idle-up, and a 'dying-chicken' subroutine.

[@maxpower700]

really good flying.. boom strike ? i thought it was the head? but now when i look again.. yeah.. to much pressure on the machine :) that means a hell of a pilot ^^

[@skscally]

The heli looks to have held up well for chicken dancing. I am not sure that it was a boom strike as the boom does not have a dent in it or bent. I was thinking maybe a link popped off.

[@th0rg0d]

The boom does look really good for a boom strike. I think they all agree it was a boom strike though. Did you see those tail blades? Go V-Blades!

[@XCraftllc]

Boom strike I guess? What do you think was the cause? It definitely didn't hit the ground.

[@biscuitboy2007]

wow...sustained chaos on the floor!

[@pmgodfrey]

- @ smidge146 - I'm not sure about the whole arm, but it would do significant damage. If it managed to take your arm off it wouldn't be a clean cut like a saw. There is a tremendous amount of kinetic energy in the main rotor. Even impact from a slow rotor head causes severe pain and bruising.

[@E-sk8Fr]

funky chicken :D

[@luisg877]

actually watching in live performing is totally different than a video, it's 100 times better

[@speedstangsixtyfiv3]

NICE FUNKY CHICKEN!

[@Kidlat432]

that's why they call it the helicopter in breakdance

[@pmgodfrey]

From 5:38 to 6:10...I can do that all day. He sure is one heck of a pilot... The guy who commented about the boom striking the ground...yeah, okay...but the boom was pointed straight up when the accident occurred. Not even the rotor blades made contact with the ground. Malfunctions happen -- it's happened to me plenty of times during my flights.

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!!! Chicken dancing!!!!

[@IBeHoey]

Are there others that can compete with him, or is he in a league of his own?

[@psindrup]

It crashes in the air, before it hits the ground - that's for sure. Boom strike? Could be. Peter

[@vanepico]

How the heck do you know it was a lockout? it was too close to the ground to tell it was unresponsive, he probably doesn't crash much tho :) great flying :D

[@Gamah1991]

Sound isn't out of sync. If you watch the video and listen to the heli or the talking it's clearly in sync.

[@justinRkeaton]

@matjefferson it a inverted funnel there fairly simple to do if you can fly inverted at all , practice practice,

[@smidge146]

Reckon the blades would cut off your arm?

[@matjefferson]

Hi does anyone know what the move at 1.53 until 2.0 is? its amazing, how does it keep in the air? i cant try it if i dont know how to do it?!

[@Gamah1991]

Wrong, the blades did not touch untill after the heli already made a bad sound... it was in the process of ascending from a traveling flip and boom, something gave out.

[@wichotez]

to much skills for that heli :P!!!!!

[@fiddlerpin]

If a prototypical helicopter flew like that I'd shit my pants!

[@TheTruthHurtsYup]

The Trex 700 flies just as good if not better and is a heck of a lot cheaper to operate.

[@cbrian4]

Dude his blades weren't even close to the ground when it happened. It was clearly a boom strike.

[@badastinner]

boom wasn't even bent not sure what the cause was the description says lock out

[@wcwickedclown]

i heard it to .

[@ChefWakler]

Wasnt it dangerous to be so damn near when it was doing this amazing dance? ^^

[@kogibankole]

looks like a linkage popped off to me...

[@SvenOkonomi]

Hes a pro, so im just going to assume his radio got shot upon impact. Throttlecut would have helped so tremendously on this poor thing.

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!! Aber eins muss, man sagen: Tanzen konnte er!!!!

[@scottytheace]

what does "lock out" mean

[@fortsw5050]

ЖУТЬ!!! зрители даже наверное не сразу поняли чем, это может закончится для них....

[@chiavernwei]

What radio was he using?

[@robbie77300]

definitely not lockout. at 5:38 the rotor strikes tail boom. Heli hits ground. The impact disconnected the reciever battery. Engine left running at idle up speed with no control to shut down

[@8682morts]

good point well put there roughworm, if you watch....even the main shaft takes an almighty beating, but is still intact. These heli are built to take the shit these days.

[@Schevron]

something must have come loose. The heli wasn "near" the ground at the first hitting noise. I don't think it was a boom strike, it wasn't that much of a hard manouver.

[@gossengov]

Aye its a boom strike, happend to me 1 time (raptor 50) that happens some times, and its not the pilots fault, it shouldnt happen on such expensive machines at all, Actually my opinion is that the warranty should cover the repairs.

[@madeljacky]

Thats a boom strike all right. Shit happens.

[@basimpsn]

He still flying it after the crash lol

[@justinRkeaton]

seemed like the heli wasnt running good at all the whole flight, didnt sound good,

[@irwinfc]

i believe it was a boom strike that caused the crash.

[@christianflieger]

Es hat sich warscheinlich ein teil gelöst!! Anlenkung oder so. Oder es ist beim flug, ein servo kapuu geanngen!!!

[@SoooondreF]

It couldn't have been a boomstrike.. if you look at the end og the film, the boom isn't even damaged...

[@Gavs_rc_hobbies]

he didint crash he was making it do break dancing!!

[@girrocks12345]

That would set him back a few hundred. It most likely snapped the swash plate and head in half. For the Align pro carbon fiber blades..it will set him back another 60$. The canopy is another 100$. All in all this was a good 300$ crash. I dont know about any of the electronics or the engine....or even the fuel tank. It may even be a 400-500$ fix. You dont know until you get to actually see it up close.

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!! Es ist warschinlich ein teil, abgefallen, oder es hat sich die anlenkung, von der Taumelscheibe gelöst!! Also eins muss man, lassen Tanzen konnte er!! Chicken dancing heli!

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!! Aber schade für diesen schönen heli. Ob die Kupplungsglocke etwas abekemmen hatte? Aber eins muss man sagen: Tanzen konnte er!!!!!! Chicken dancing!!!!!!

[@jnmia1]

dont you just LOVE nitros?

[@christianflieger]

Cooler Crash!!! W have one 90er Nitro Helicoper. self-developed!! Full 3-D!!! Carbon, Alu!!!!

[@Duckyistrippin]

that heli seems to respond really slow... or szabo was taking it easy on it... im definately thinking alan out szabo'd the heli, it just couldnt take his madness anymore!

[@CSDCHI]

Flybar paddle strike on the canopy caused this crash!

[@stoneweapon]

Nice skills but I am always scared if this kind of low level 3D flying is performed on my flying field. Those RC-Helis are perfect killers if they hit somebody or if a part of the blades hits someone. I personally don't like RC-Heli's because they are just dangerous.

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!!!!! Warscheinlich ist ein teil abgefallen, oder es hat sich ein gestännge von der taumelscheibe gelöst!!!!

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!!! Aber schade für den teueren heli. Aber er wird warscheinlich Gesponsort!!!

[@mckrackin5324]

Tough tail boom and skids.lol...

[@ArguZ72]

Someone put it out of its misery ;)

[@christianflieger]

Aber eins muss man sagen: Tanzen konnte er!!! Warscheinlich hat sich ein teil, oder so gelöst!!!

[@christianflieger]

Cooler Crash!! Aber schade für diesen teuern und schöner Heli!!!

[@abysalhydra]

many people can compete with him

[@christianflieger]

Cooler Crash!! Aber schade für dieses schönen Heli!!!

[@M0rdH0rst]

It's dead, Jim :D

[@christianflieger]

Es vist warscheinlich ein teil, abgefallen und das teil ist zwischen die Rotorblätter gekommen. Oder es hatt sich ein Servo, gelöst oder irgendetwas ist zwischen die Rotorblätter gekommen!

[@markuschelios6891]

There are plenty of decaffeinated brands that are just as tasty.

[@abysalhydra]

lol ye thats what i thought because after the first crack sound the heli sinks like a bitch. not very assuring seeing the "BEST" heli having a boom strike

[@christianflieger]

Coller crash!! Aber schade für diesen teueren und schöne 3-D heli!! Aber eins muss man, sagen tanzen konnte er!!!

[@goldslinger]

Boom strike, IMO

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!! Aber schade für diesen schönen und teueren heli!!!

[@christianflieger]

Coller crash!! Aber schade für diesen teuern und schöner heli!!!

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!!! Aber schade für diesen schönen und teueren Heli!!!!!!

[@porousorificePilot]

Terra level chaos ! someone shoot it .... it's the humane thing to do!

[@RoboTekno]

owned! lol

[@moralllo]

yea thats all u herd from wen it chrashed to end, anoying. but gd flying

[@christianflieger]

Cooler heli crash!! Aber schade für diesen teueren und schöner Verbrenner heli!!

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!!! Aber schde für diesen teuern und voll 3-D Kunstflugtauglicher heli!!!!! Aber eins muss man lassen, tanzen konnte er!!!!!

[@lighturpl3]

mech failure...

[@13Anko]

I tell you.. electric is better.. HAHAH

[@54spiritedwill54]

Even his crashes are graceful. Can't believe there wasn't more damage. Great video!

[@christianflieger]

Cooler crash!! Aber schade für diesen schönen und teuere heli!!