You never know quite what will emerge from a Flite Fest built tent. Here's what did in 2018.
Flite Fest this year was, like all years, packed to the brim with ambitious projects and spectacular flights. Although not all went as planned, it was a joy to see each one of these builds come to life. Here are some of my personal favorites.
Epic Crashes of Flite Fest Ohio!
Before we dive into each build, here's our video on the ones that didn't end too well - there were still smiles all round!
Epic Builds
Undoubtedly one of the most beautiful builds at Flite Fest this year was the enormous flying wing pusher that took flight (albeit for a short time) during one of the sunlit evenings. This thing was massive. I went to watch it power off the runway by standing high up on the spectator benches. As it lifted skywards and flipped backward, there was an almighty crash as the huge airplane came down on the paved runway. This is what Flite Test is all about folks!
The humongous Bloody Baron was another monstrous machine that, sadly, met its end in the bean field. What a crash though! Shortly afterward, a fire erupted from the mangled airframe.
One of the biggest aircraft in the combat events this year was called Stan XL. Stan was an (as the name would suggest) extra large four-engined airplane that dominated many of the sessions. One incredible moment saw a wing embed itself into Stan's fuselage! Later it fell from the behemoth and flew away unharmed.
Credit goes to Rotor Riot pilot LeDrib for this fantastic quad footage. If you want to see his summary of the whole event, check out LeDrib's video here.
This project is a B-36 in the making. It was being put together in one of the build tents when I arrived on the scene to ask questions. The project was headed by Brad Goodall who told me that the beast would be powered by 10 (yes, 10!) brushless motors to get airborne. With an ambitious 18ft wingspan, the build wasn't quite complete by the end of the festival.
Seeing all of these crazy contraptions inspired me to have a go too. This cumbersome looking airframe is a lifting body design. You can look out for an article and video on this entire project from start to finish in the near future. 
Article by James Whomsley
Contact - james@whomsley.net
Log In to reply