Revisiting The One-Wing Landing Video, Just For Pilots

While the very popular YouTube video of an aerobatic aircraft seemingly landing safely after losing its right wing appeared sufficiently unrealistic to most pilots, it’s impressive editing (and poor resolution) did lend it some credibility and enough to lead us to create a video critique; but we did leave out one key point. AVweb has previously explained that the video is a promotional piece for a clothing manufacturer, but in catering to that broader audience, there is one more technical piece of information we left out of our video critique. It’s a bit more complicated than mismatched paint schemes, but is truly the nail in the coffin for the video … and for any real pilot flying an airplane like the one depicted. And so, here’s the test. Have another look and pay close attention to the still frames — particularly the one that frames the aircraft’s nose as it rolls out after landing. Take a good look at that wing, or rather where that wing used to be, and see if you can remember how an aircraft’s wing is constructed. There’s something important missing from that wing root. Important enough that you’d not fly an airplane without it, and if you did, you’d be right to expect results similar to those in the video. We’ll give you a hint: It’s nothing to fight about.

Remember that spectacular one-wing landing that caught fire on YouTube a couple of weeks ago? It turned out to be a hoax, albeit a very interesting one. For all its clever editing, the video had some significant technical blunders. Look closely, and there's something (other than mismatched paint and improbably physics) important missing from that wing root. Important enough that you'd not fly an airplane without it, and if you did, you'd be right to expect results similar to those in the video. We'll give you a hint: It's nothing to fight about.

Take a look at our dissection of the video here.