19 thoughts on “Impossible landing with one wing”

  1. This is a fake – you can tell the plane is CGI as it lands. The camera also shakes as if the plane is somehow making the ground shake – the wake of the plane’s prop would not extend the way the camera makes this seem..

    There is -absolutely- no way for a plan with a heavy prop and engine spinning in one direction to not spin out of control when one side of the plane comes off – There is nothing to stabilize the structure from rotating opposite the prop’s direction. – You have to be able to keep both sides of the craft on the same stabilization curve in order to keep it under any control at all. This just isn’t possible with the wing configuration, along with where the aileron is on the remaining wing.

    Want to know how I know this? I’ve been a pilot for 22 years with experience in 7 types of aircraft, including sport racers similar to what is in the movie…

    I would certainly suggest our bitsandpieces friend at least amend the title to say that it’s a fake..

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  2. This could have been done with an R/C aerobatic plane… They can often stand on the rudder like that.

    But yes, this is very fake

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  3. If you view it as a representation of a full sized ‘real’ plane, the video is a “fake.” However, as pointed out, this type of stunt flying is possible with a small radio controlled plane and the bounce during the landing is characteristic of light weight RC planes. So it is unlikely that this video is the result of computer generated imaging. The last few moments of the video show a person in what appears to be a real, full-sized plane. That leaves only two questions for me. Where in the video were the switch(s) between model plane and real plane made and is it simply a difference in the power to weight ratio that makes this impossible for a real plane to accomplish?

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  4. Landing a model airplane of that design with only one wing is very possible, as I have seen it done. A full-scale aircraft would not have the power-to-weight ratio required for the low altitude slow knife-edge maneuver just before landing, much less the torque and maneuverability required to bring it level just before touch down. And if it did succeed in that, it would have been a very hard landing, likely causing the landing gear to fail, and I doubt the pilot would have been able to walk away (without back injuries, anyway).

    It looks like the whole thing was done with a model airplane, just by looking at the scale and proportions of the surroundings and the abrupt movements of the aircraft (characteristic of something very light) especially how it left the grass undisturbed. Probably only the final segment where the hatch opens and the guy runs in was fake. Notice the guy running never actually reaches the airplane and the guy inside never gets out. That’s a sequence that would have been difficult to create effectively.

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  5. I can only agree with the sceptics above based on about 8 years working on military aircraft and 15 years as a light aircraft pilot. But it’s entertaining!

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  6. to all the naysayers, what about the F-15 pilot that landed his plane with only one wing, that was filmed by the military and no hoax. One of the latest versions of the old birddog with a 6 cyl supercharged engine could climb straight up. this was a military version. the civilian one could only have a 4 banger.

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  7. Looks to me to be an Extra 300 aircraft as opposed to a Zivko 540 and knowing what they’re like the prop doesn’t stop that quickly after the engine being shutdown but also the rear wheel dissapears then reappears in the grass which would make me believe it’s a model switched with a real plane at the end.

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  8. I agree this is probably a fake, however it could be done and has been done with RC. The RC video I saw didn’t land on it’s wheels, but may have been survivable were it full size. The same principles apply to full size as RC. What I find disturbing is the closed mindedness in the postings and how little “experts” understand about what makes a plane fly and the forces involved. Torque and P factor would be working opposite each other on the wing with torque probably being the greatest and would be easily manageable with the massive prop wash and the aileron of the remaining wing.

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  9. how about checking with the FAA I would imagine dropping a wing from the sky and a near possible mishap would have to be reported.

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