Giant-Scale Beech 18 Crash on Maiden Flight

[@iansummers6945]

My heart skipped a beat as that left wing dropped…. Sorry for your loss as it looked a real knockout model.

[@maxj0930]

Knockout got knocked out. Sad day, genuinely feel the loss, as a fellow aircraft modeler and Beech 18 fan.

[@gazratjackson]

Pull back on the stick to go up, Pull back on the stick more to go down

[@jonathanparle8429]

Haha! 😁

[@chipcity3016]

Yup, The crash was the result of excessive angle of attack induced by the pilot who pulled too much elevator. Only excessive elevator input can cause a plane to stall. Aispeed is only related to lift, not stalls. Ignorant pilots focus on airspeed. Lastly a plane can stall at any air speed but only one elevator position and one AOA.

[@thefreedomguyuk]

​​@@chipcity3016Theory as interpreted by a flight SIM enthusiast ? Kinda true, but a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous ?

[@garrykennedy5484]

@@chipcity3016 It was unbalanced. Tail heavy. No amount of down elevator would have helped. Maybe if he got enough speed, but he didn't/couldn't.

[@vg23air]

tail heavy

[@nanooseguy327]

a simple C of G check before surely was done?? Surely would hope so. Maybe not though... Also before a maiden .. if in doubt have the model a touch nose heavy. Tail heavy is the death of any aircraft.

[@oldschoolmotorsickle]

The camera person thought to capture not only the crash but the Walk of Shame with the wreckage. Ouch.

[@jaygee5693]

Yes, it makes a nice change when the cammer doesn't have a nervous spasm at the critical moment.

[@thecoffeeguy5276]

Beautiful airplane. Accelerated nicely on takeoff but appeared a tad tail heavy after liftoff. Tragic.

[@ppgforme]

@@paulhicks6667 Oh, it's tragic. Just ask the pilot who built it. It really is heart braking.

[@adienowed6366]

If anything is tragic,it's the pilots lack of appreciation that sufficient airspeed is crucial to maintaining controlled flight.

[@Fleetwoodjohn]

CG off a bit?

[@tungstenkid2271]

CG is absolutely critical with models and fullsize, a C-130 loadmaster once told me he had to use a pocket calculator to make sure it was in the right place. PS- with models the correct CG position on typical non-swept wings is between about one-quarter and one-third back from the leading edge.

[@pauleyplay]

@@tungstenkid2271 Not a bad post . C130 with tanks & Skids calculator for sure. My 185, If it fits n the door we are going. Not all planes are critical. Good call on CG with most wings

[@DESTINYFPV]

Just a tad I would say .

[@theargonauts8490]

A lot of those scratches will buff right out 👍

[@TheRCAviator]

The pilot wasn't paying attention to the angle of attack and let it get too slow. Also, you must resist the temptation to use the ailerons when the plane is about to stall because the down-going aileron can cause that tip to stall. You must keep the ailerons centered, lower the nose, and use the rudder.

[@angryskipper]

Reminds me of the 80’s and early 90’s when all the RC planes were gas powered. I Loved the sound of the 4stroke engines and can almost smell the fuel!

[@TestPilotPaul]

They’re still like that. I like them too. Thanks for stopping by

[@angryskipper]

BTW, my condolences on the plane! Been there and done that. It was a pretty plane, sorry you lost it.

[@Retiredatlast65]

Climbed too steep to soon, and then a hard left with no air speed ? Makes you wonder if he has any experience?

[@TheEwingTube]

Just curious? Retired 5Y? Still working 5Y, if that makes any sense.

[@Snagglepuss1952]

The type of aircraft and the quality of the build would indicate at least moderate experience, you would not build and fly a model this advanced as a first aircraft. I agree with one of the other commenters, critically tail heavy. Tail should have risen way sooner, the poor pilot had little of no show of getting her on the ground any less damaged. There is video on KZbin of a full size commercial passenger aircraft (twin prop, low wing, with 14 passengers) having the same problem, the plane did the same thing but all souls were lost. Very sad model crash but he gets to fly again. Commiserations from a fellow R/C pilot from NZ

[@pauleyplay]

Well Said !

[@herryrachmad333]

Seem tail heavy a little bit

[@jameslester3861]

Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett were at the controls.

[@danielpaulson8838]

Sorry for this loss. Don't know why I got it two years later. That's heartbreaking to see ones long shop hours destroyed so quickly. Beautiful plane. It looked good on roll out but the pilot made errors. Big planes that are close to scale in operations, need scale space and techniques. I'm sure it's redundant in the comments for me to say the roll out looked good and takeoff looked okay. But then the pilot went into modest powered sport plane mode and try to fly that relying more on the prop power than the wings lift. Steep climb, rapid turn and flaps were still down during final stall. Recipe for disaster. I mentally pretend I'm in the cockpit. But you can't have people standing next to you talking to you when you do that.

[@kevenpinder7025]

I'm reminded of a Mythbusters episode where thye bought an RC helicopter to test out a theory. They bought it at a high end RC store. While they were checking out they asked if it came with a guarantee. The salesperson said, "we can provide a guarantee for RC helicopters. We guarantee that you're going to crash it."

[@RARenfield]

You can't out-pilot a seriously aft CG without a ton of power. The kind of power to weight that a 3D plane needs to hover. This was a classic tail heavy ending. Very good work by the pilot at minimizing the damage by getting her level before impact. Could've been much worse.

[@pauldaniel1714]

Too true! I was the video guy that day and may have heard one of the engines sag. I've flown lots of twins and that usually doesn't end well as was the case here.

[@pauldaniel1714]

Also, just curious. I uploaded this video 2 years ago but just recently it's getting lots of traction. Where did you find it?

[@RARenfield]

@@pauldaniel1714 YT has some funny algorithms. Probably means I'm watching too many RC videos. ☺

[@chuckeberth4370]

So sorry to see that happen. I lost a Top Flight C-47 the exact same way. Thought I had it balanced and didn't. Good luck on your next build.

[@GRW3]

Wait and balance. Wait until you fly it to see if you need to balance it, is too often the approach. Adding the needed weight just seems to be a show stopper for some people.

[@offshoretinker]

Wait?

[@alanartwww]

True, if it needs two pounds of lead in the nose to balance, then add the lead, no exceptions.

[@yachtcaptain7320]

The problem with full-scale R/C planes is that they fly exactly like the real plane. This B18 beauty seemed to be a little underpowered and tail heavy. Hopefully she was fully rebuilt !

[@winstonchurchill3597]

I was thinking push,push,push - in layman's terms, get the nose down.

[@speckitis]

Ouch. I had a similar experience.... I spent the better part of 5 years building a scale Extra. On its maiden flight, it flew like it was on a rail, very precise. Then it's receiver went bad (this was back in the day of crystals and FM frequencies). Heart breaking when it cratered. But, it learns you some patience.

[@tungstenkid2271]

I've lost count of the number of vids of planes (r/c and fullsize) crashing because of inside wing stalls by turning at too slow an airspeed.

[@karhukivi]

I suspect the operator wants to keep the plane in sight and makes the turn too steep.

[@rustyforrest5660]

Yep, I crashed a great flying stunt plane that way. The wind was blowing about 20 mph and on a downwind pass the plane went by going so fast it scared me so I throttled way back. Then the inside wing stalled on the hard turn trying to get back upwind.

[@adienowed6366]

Lack of sufficient airspeed-pure and simple.

[@Solarphonix]

yep agreed

[@chipcity3016]

Both wrong. The crash was the result of excessive angle of attack induced by the pilot who pulled too much elevator. Only excessive elevator input can cause a plane to stall. Aispeed is only related to lift, not stalls. Ignorant pilots focus on airspeed. Lastly a plane can stall at any air speed but only one elevator position and one AOA. Simple really.

[@adienowed6366]

@@chipcity3016 We're not wrong! Whilst you gave a correct and lucid detailed definition,my reply was a simple exposition of your description,which most model pilots would struggle to fully understand,given their seemingly general lack of knowledge of simple aerodynamics. I speak as a full size pilot of many thousands of hours and 60 years of model flying,including twins.

[@eriglebrundelabouexiere472]

Not enough speed before pulling the stick...Allow her to roll longer next time...

[@hendrikdebruin4012]

What next time?

[@cjc1103]

Looks like it was underpowered, or the engines weren't producing full power. Then a stall in the turn. First flights can be tricky, CG, trim, breaking in engines.

[@dlkline27]

Oh man, what a heart breaker to see such a beautiful model destroyed, and on the first flight too. Aggressive climb (tail heavy?) seems to have put it on the verge of a stall (note wobbly flight) but it seemed to recover before the left wing dips. Perhaps it didn't recover. Sad.

[@TestPilotPaul]

The plane was balanced according to what was given and the pilot flying has saved more planes than you can imagine. Yup it was sad. Thanks for stopping by.

[@starpawsy]

This is why I will never by an RC model. My mental health could not cope, not so much the loss of $$$$, but the loss of the many hours of work.

[@kpkndusa]

Yep, me too. Seen it happen too many times.

[@julesviolin]

After seeing this and other crashes I think I would buy one ready made 😅

[@johnhess351]

Tail heavy maiden flights seem to be the norm while nose heavy is more manageable. It seems like more people would purposely err toward nose heavy and do a couple of high speed hops first when there is so much at stake.

[@philiphatfield5666]

These things can happen on a first flight. My Dad and I built a Sopwith Camel in the late 1970's, and our take off was just like this one but the battery pack became dislodged and headed toward the tail and our crash was similar to this one. My Dad loved building and repairing these things as much as he enjoyed flying them, so he took the usable pieces, added new pieces, did a better job of securing the battery pack, and we flew that Camel for five years.

[@boneseyyl1060]

Yea my Dad was like yours. I think he probably enjoyed the building and repairing a bit more than flying. Always hard to take something you put so much care in building and risk it in flight. But that's what they were for, so that's what he did. By the end his favorite plane to fly was a Piper Cub, lol.

[@johnnichol9412]

I don't know why we need the slow replay, it was "flying" too slow to start with accentuated by hauling back on the stick when taking off thereby trying to defy gravity and then dragging the tail around in the turn.

[@normaasennord4513]

Tail heavy?

[@lefthandedluke]

Almost stalled going into the wind, so was very slow then turned left down wind with very little airspeed and dropped the wing. And the rest is history as they say.

[@stevenhaynes1031]

My day is now ruined. I bet you love the advice from all of us experts. I feel your pain......

[@williammcivor45]

Eeie!! So sad.. Sorry about your loss..

[@dancingtrout6719]

ouch

[@karhukivi]

Apart from climbing out too steeply, the plane appears to be flying OK until the steep left turn and accelerated stall. I had to pull steep turns until the plane stalled as part of my flight test 40 years ago, but we did them at higher altitude!

[@pauleyplay]

Wa s not a accelerated stall .That was a stall from the time of liftoff. Rear CG & poor flying

[@karhukivi]

@@pauleyplay If you bank an aircraft to 45+ degrees you will get an accelerated stall. I have a pilots licence and did lots of them while learning, including for the flight test.

[@pauleyplay]

@@karhukivi So if I bank my 185 45 degrees or more it will stall ? I didnt know that !

[@karhukivi]

@@pauleyplay Depends on your speed and you ought to know that if you fly aircraft. If you bank it to 90 degrees, then good luck to you! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn-TfYl4m8uSa8k

[@pauleyplay]

@@karhukivi so happens when I roll my Cessna upside down ?

[@ThreenaddiesRexMegistus]

Damn! That’s a real shame! Way too steep on climb-out and washed off any airspeed leading to a classic wing drop. It’s hard to see all that effort wasted. It was a lovely model.

[@donaldparlett7708]

Typical stall scenario with a tail heavy bummer

[@AliciaMedenwald]

That's so heartbreaking he must have hundreds of hours put in building that Beautiful plane.

[@vg23air]

and its tail heavy

[@jhonsiders6077]

That was the same stall that jocky did at Fairchild AFB with the B 52 just not enough speed .

[@nvpoolshooter]

Only RC videos I watch. Crash videos. I really like the crash videos where they have 1000's and 1000's of dollars invested in their planes and then crash them. 😅

[@TestPilotPaul]

Let me guess, you like going to nascar races too:)

[@nvpoolshooter]

@@TestPilotPaul hehehe Nah. But I understand crashing your RC plane goes with the hobby.

[@desmondsunflower-d1m]

lol! dude, that's so dark.. have some compassion!

[@nvpoolshooter]

@@desmondsunflower-d1m Watching 'fail' videos on KZbin is pure gold. 😆

[@bitemykrank1970]

That was a real shame to see, obviously underpowered, but why? Either the engines were too small, the props were too big or the tuning was way out. I assume from the detailing on it, the builder is fairly experienced, so I can only assume it was a mistake or oversight. As soon as the model left the ground the pilot was in trouble, his best option would have been to reduce power and fly straight ahead until it landed again, but at the time, he made a poor decision and it cost a nice model. My sympathy to him.

[@ZelenskyTheMadClown]

It was verging on stall from start to finish. I don't know much about RC flying but why didn't he pick up some speed before banking her?

[@johnnullmyers914]

Looks tail heavy not enough flying speed 😭😭😭

[@boneseyyl1060]

Probably tail heavy, yes but should have been able to get it down. Needed to fly straight and level first though to gain airspeed and trim up. Then a slow gentle turn. The high angle of attack, combined with low airspeed and a high bank angle were all recipes for a tip stall.

[@user-zn6gz4ub7w]

That is what I call a slide stall. Low speed and the wing almost vertical means the plane simply quit flying.

[@vet6822]

So sad. Always check the CG and it looked a bit underpowered. If you set the cg about 1/3 of the wing at the root,that will usually work for 1st flight.

[@jjsgarage3634]

Tail heavy. His elevator was what appears to be all the way down as if he was trying to desperately get the nose down. Beautiful bird, definitely hard to watch the ensuing carnage.

[@admiralbeez8143]

I’m beginning to think that there are great giant scale builders, and there are great pilots. But rarely both.

[@michaelmcgovern8110]

I thought you might have almost had it there just before you hit. Kudos for "flying it all the way to the ground" as the saying goes.

[@randydicotti3975]

This is why I would probably build something like this (if I could) and then just put it on a shelf as eye candy.

[@kevinjohnson386]

What do you think plain magnetic factors do a whole series of yes, break test?Countless other tests before they're stupid enough.Take off with the plane. However, in the military's defense, they're not stupid enough to put a pilot behind the off. And even then they don't. You know they keep the gear extended. They have chase planes now. Of course, I realize in modeling that's not possible but I certainly would have done some. High-speed taxi in test to see how the planes going to respond to its control.Not only familiarizing myself with the controls. You know, get up to the speed of take off but shut it down. Bring it back, do that several times until you feel comfortable enough. Take the plane off with a very shallow take off. Do not retract the gears and get your a** around the pattern and back on the ground. As quickly as possible. But it is always amazement and enjoyment when I get to see a video like this, when someone Rushed the process. Now you get to start over.I would say dumb a**, but you know, you were smart enough to build a model.You just did not take the appropriate flight testing is?Shall we say before maiden flight. At least that's what your youtube video says maiden flight of a beach eighteen. More like maiden.Fly to a dumb a** who didn't do anything and crashes.Brand new b j team model of course. Hey keep building and flying them like this.We need the youtube upload to keep everybody happy

[@thegardensentinel]

Oh no,,,,, wait a second. What is that, way over in the corner? Its a way off,, over there !!! Looks like a comfy armchair😮😮

[@dh-flies]

Too steep of a climb on initial takeoff. That's what caused the stall. What a shame. Gorgeous model

[@billmorris2613]

With more than 50 years as a commercial pilot with some model flying experience, this is a typical too slow and too low stall and spin in. But why? The aircraft seemed to be underpowered or the engines were not making full power, tail heavy, high nose steep turn into a down wind, out of trim, out of rigging to name a few. Probably some of a couple or more of the mentioned problems. Such a loss for a beautiful built aircraft. Does anyone know for sure the reason for the crash?

[@marktibbetts3799]

What a stunning model that was

[@Rocknranchman]

Turn back to downwind leg and air speed went to zip! This maneuver costs life’s of full scale pilots every year! Sorry for your loss! It was a scale maneuver though! 😂

[@jonathanparle8429]

It did not help that the airspeed was hampered upwind by the steep climb with flaps still deployed.

[@doublegman2457]

From a pilot’s perspective it looked like a classic engine failure in a twin engine airplane. I would hypothesize that he lost power on the left engine which caused the yaw and roll to the left. Classic turning into the bad engine raises stall speed and can’t be countered with aileron. Should have pulled back the good engine, leveled the wings and tried to raise the pitch.

[@mysock351C]

Both engines were working, which is why it was likely able to stay airborne for a bit to begin with. If I had to guess, it looks like the CG was too far aft. Its hard to tell from the video, but it looks like he was trying to get the nose down with the elevator once it took off, but there might have not been enough authority to do it and it eventually stalled. Hindsight being what it is given it was the maiden flight a few ground runs first to get a feel for the controls and if its balanced or not before the gear leaves the ground would have been my first instinct with a new RC model. Really sucks as I'm sure many hours went into building it, and I've had the same thing happen from not checking that all the controls move the way they should. Although in my case it was a store-bought kit and not something custom like this.

[@spottydog4477]

1. Failed to check COG. 2. Insufficient airspeed prior to take off. 3. Too steep climb out. 4. Failed to lift gear 5. Banked causing accelerated stall 6. Maiden flight - Failed to do short hop tests *Old men with too much money and too little knowledge of flight*

[@TestPilotPaul]

Appreciate your expert opinion

[@vg23air]

thrust could not overcome drag

[@thefreedomguyuk]

Well, that was actually what too often happens in real life. The notorious Beech "Doctors Loop".....😢

[@toAdmiller]

"That was some of the best flying that I've seen yet...right up to the point where you got killed..." Jester

[@fw1421]

He’s a great builder but lacking in the skills department.

[@rand49er]

Others are talking about CG location is off. Isn't that a fairly basic requirement before you take it up into the air?

[@clarkevanmeter2676]

If the plans showed the wrong CG point and the builder doesn't catch it you'll have this. Or maybe the builder failed to check properly. This model probably could have been landed successfully by someone with more experience- the reason all these commenters know it's tail heavy is that they've done this to themselves or seen it very close at hand. Scale models that use tail surfaces proportioned faithfully to the full scale are often only marginally stable, compounding this issue and making the CG range very narrow.

[@clarkevanmeter2676]

Ah, yes, the horizontal stabilizer was not scaled up much, if at all. This would be a difficult model to fly even when it's squared away.

[@Carwash301]

Nose heavy planes fly sluggishly, tail heavy plane fly once. Sorry for the loss.

[@tomarmstrong1281]

The size of some of these models mean that they could do serious damage to people and property if they get out of control.

[@gunggerdin1]

gained a bit of control (late port wing up) on dive enabled pancake.

[@rogerturner5504]

Rearward CG - the absolute easiest thing to get right using a piece of cardboard and a ruler!!

[@Bercyable]

Have seen videos of the same thing happening to actual full sized aircraft. That turn with low airspeed.. Not enough lift.

[@davidcaro8217]

There was a bit too much up elevator, not enough speed .

[@mikedunn7795]

Too bad,lovely model. Classic stall on takeoff. Electric motors are better than gas,as the response time is instant. You can always add engine sounds with a speaker setup.

[@barryhickman6911]

Was this at Joe Nall in Woodruff, SC?

[@TestPilotPaul]

Not sure. I'm not the owner.

[@Brian-hd4rf]

RC fact! If you fly, You are going to crash! MM quarter back says tail heavy and not enough forward speed and maybe a control stick error for just for a second that enhanced the left wing roll to disaster. I still have a PICA 60 size Spitfire that I spent a lot of time on that flew only 3 times and then I Put it up because It was tail heavy.

[@asommer518]

Why didnt you correct the tail heavy condition? And why was it tail heavy to start with? Did you do a CG test prior to maiden?

[@Brian-hd4rf]

@@asommer518 It was balanced but the overall plane weight was heavy. It made it sluggish.

[@asommer518]

@@Brian-hd4rf The pilot never let the nose down enough, long enough to accelerate before starting the uncoordinated turn. This is what kills pilots in manned aircraft. Classic and can happen to experience pilots

[@hotrodray6802]

Accelerated stall. In a 60* bank the stall speed increases by 40%. Classic stall spin. "Maintain thy airspeed lest the ground shall rise and smite thee."

[@unclejoe8279]

Airplane down!, returning fire, I got your back, thank you for your service LOL.

[@ramit439]

Classic stall off the left wing not enough power.

[@steelydanZ]

Did he practice some touch and goes (but in the sense of just leaving the ground) ??

[@pat14162]

CG arrière. Crash inévitable !!!

[@eliterry3785]

Beautiful model.

[@williamk5998]

At least no report needs to be filed with the NTSB. I'd guess the electronics and engines survived and the airframe can be built again.

[@TestPilotPaul]

The fun thing about flying rc. Nobody dies

[@gregoryeberly5302]

I’m going to cry

[@jeffquesenberry2769]

Stalled at takeoff.

[@karhukivi]

It was flying fine until he pulled a steep turn, 45 bank at 1:15 and almost 90 deg 2 seconds later.

[@txkflier]

Gee, you reckon it was tail heavy?

[@vg23air]

departure stall

[@karhukivi]

Steep turn accelerated stall.

[@vg23air]

@@karhukivi there was no steep turn, it was a departure stall leading to the stalled wing loses lift and banking over.

[@karhukivi]

@@vg23air The plane was almost halfway around the circuit but the operator banked it over more than 45 deg which is a steep turn, causing what is known to professional pilots as an "accelerated stall". It can happen any time a plane is banked too much, regardless of whether it is departing, arriving or just fooling about!

[@vg23air]

@@karhukivi i must not be a professional pilot

[@karhukivi]

@@vg23air You will be, don't worry! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn-TfYl4m8uSa8k

[@billyost1479]

A little love and glue... she'll be good as new.

[@craigwalters]

He was in trouble the second he left the ground 😞

[@TestPilotPaul]

Yup, too low, too slow and no place to go:(

[@vg23air]

tail heavy and not enough elevator throw to counter it and get it back down

[@2209009pm]

The climb was too steep, too soon not enough speed that looked like a heavy plane.

[@mottopanukeiku7406]

Ouch. Beauty of a model though. Hope they could salvage it.

[@TestPilotPaul]

Unfortunately, the owner decided to move on from it. The engines were salvageable. Thanks for watching. Just curious, where did you find this video? I didn't embed anywhere so just wondering.

[@mottopanukeiku7406]

@@TestPilotPaul I watch RC videos periodically and I like airshow clips as well. I think that pairing with watching Matt Younkin put his old Beech 18 through an aerobatics routine probably did it. Check out an IRL Matt Younkin airshow video, not to be missed if you are a Beechcraft fan.

[@Freedom1776usa]

I build em as well. No more. To much vested for a servo horn to pop off or what have you. Sorry for loss

[@MM-px9iv]

What could happen to an old fashioned

[@rcnelson]

Four Lilliputians were injured in this crash.

[@TestPilotPaul]

You funny mannnn 😅

[@CountCraigula]

Way too slow, and tip stalls will show. Never bank that sharp, low, and slow.

[@monty9463]

Absolutely stunning model.ayvevswallow your ego and get someone to fly it who has half a clue Otherwise an absolutely beautiful piece of work

[@WayneCook306]

I will say it again not enough ground speed, and it looks a little under powered.??

[@jims6323]

A real one crashed into a house in Fairview Pk, Ohio in the 60's. We rode our Schwinn bikes over to gawk at it!

[@aloysiusjones3985]

I ride my Schwinn push bike to my yacht club so I can partake after a sail. A jet aeroplane crashed into Port Philip Bay Melbourne around December last year. Interesting. 🇦🇺👍🍺🍺

[@randybird9979]

Pilot error

[@petemclinc]

Bad day at the flying club airfield...

[@mustangracer5124]

Tail heavy, flying at a stall

[@ricksclick]

[@sr633]

Sad to see that happen. Sorry.

[@marlinweekley51]

Classic stall spin

[@brax2364]

Bet his wife was really pissed.

[@dancingtrout6719]

omg wot a comment ..lol

[@johncrumpley8702]

Yaw and stall. Pilot error in my opinion. Scale planes are much more akin to their full-sized cousins. One can't fly them like a pattern ship.