Originally Posted by Mithrandir

3 point attitude??... right wingtip, nose, left wingtip.... (Sure as heck wern't level)
sorry... I am having trouble buying the pilots story....
but hey.. who am I right?
he he he he

Same here. 3 points = top right wingtip, bottom right wingtip and the I-strut between the wings

Earle

I am glad he wasn't seriously injured..... Too many have died in the past few years

I think he may have hit his head on impact- so he might not have his own facts straight. I got hit by a truck as a bicycle messenger and I couldn't remember crap about what happened for weeks afterwards. I was wearing an expensive helmet, but it still left a 2" deep dent in this guys hood. I was baffled when they released me from the hospital, and I found a police citation in my pocket a week later (running a red).

If you think about it, hitting wingtip first is about the perfect way to spread out the impact, and use the airplanes structure to dissipate the forces around you. If he hit nose first he would have been a gonner. Heck- even if he bellied in he probably would have broken his back!

Lucky!

So much is going through my mind right now.... Positive....negative... So many opinions.... Buck is a friend... An excellent pilot... As Earle and others said... Very lucky. As far as NTSB... No faith they with get it right.... Past experiance of 29 years I the airshow industry speaking.... But who am I to say. I need to take a deep breath before posting here..... If at all after thinking about this .....

Remember In your posts.... We are talking about a person here.. Not a model...not an ARF...not brand X or Y.... A human being. Someone's husband, father, son.....

Just sayin.....

MC

Originally Posted by Matt Chapman

So much is going through my mind right now.... Positive....negative... So many opinions.... Buck is a friend... An excellent pilot... As Earle and others said... Very lucky. As far as NTSB... No faith they with get it right.... Past experiance of 29 years I the airshow industry speaking.... But who am I to say. I need to take a deep breath before posting here..... If at all after thinking about this .....

Remember In your posts.... We are talking about a person here.. Not a model...not an ARF...not brand X or Y.... A human being. Someone's husband, father, son.....

Just sayin.....

MC

So True!

I think everyone is glad he wasn't seriously injured....

I suspect perhaps the reason many have a somewhat cavalier attitude in this thread is due to the fact he wasn't hurt too bad... If it had been worse... prolly the discussion woulda been different...more sympathetic...

Indeed... a persons life is involved....

I would bet anyone a $5.00 gift card to McDonalds you nailed it exactly re: the NTSB!!

Originally Posted by Mithrandir

So True!

I think everyone is glad he wasn't seriously injured....

I suspect perhaps the reason many have a somewhat cavalier attitude in this thread is due to the fact he wasn't hurt too bad... If it had been worse... prolly the discussion woulda been different...more sympathetic...

Indeed... a persons life is involved....

I would bet anyone a $5.00 gift card to McDonalds you nailed it exactly re: the NTSB!!

I respectfully disagree: The Beast, Brian Janson.... And many others that were not as lucky were dissected and picked apart within hours of their accidents....
All this, while in the past, high profile RC pilots that lost high dollar planes at high profile events had threads started about the cause....and within hours of those threads being started, the thread was pulled by the website.... We are talking RC planes....no life lost....just a model ...maybe someone could have learned something. But shut down.... All the awhile, with hours of the death of an airshow pilot or air racer, all the speculation is tossed out withoutregard to family, friends, facts and in some cases , good taste.
Again... Just an observation. But please remember, unless you were there...in the seat, A 24 second video doesn't give you the facts you need to attaine such strong conclusions.

Once again... Just my opinion. I hesitate to post my thoughts anymore due to some flames I have received in the last for doing so... But, I think in this case, ,I have some basis to post an opinion

I have said my piece.

Have at it.

Originally Posted by Matt Chapman

I respectfully disagree: The Beast, Brian Janson.... And many others that were not as lucky were dissected and picked apart within hours of their accidents....
All this, while in the past, high profile RC pilots that lost high dollar planes at high profile events had threads started about the cause....and within hours of those threads being started, the thread was pulled by the website.... We are talking RC planes....no life lost....just a model ...maybe someone could have learned something. But shut down.... All the awhile, with hours of the death of an airshow pilot or air racer, all the speculation is tossed out withoutregard to family, friends, facts and in some cases , good taste.
Again... Just an observation. But please remember, unless you were there...in the seat, A 24 second video doesn't give you the facts you need to attaine such strong conclusions.

Once again... Just my opinion. I hesitate to post my thoughts anymore due to some flames I have received in the last for doing so... But, I think in this case, ,I have some basis to post an opinion

I have said my piece.

Have at it.

Matt,
I have intentionally stayed out of this one because of the self imposed arm-chair RC pilots that come out of the wood work with their off the cuff comments. After several years of full-scale flying including aerobatics (I am not in your class) I have come to the conclusion that most of them run at the mouth and don't have a clue what they are saying-----FG has seemed to have become a say what you want forum without regards to your comments. I cringed my way through the video and was very happy to find out the pilot survived the incident. I will not comment any further----good luck with your shows!

Originally Posted by Mithrandir

awe c'mon Greg... what fun is that?

I just don't see fun in speculation related to a person's life, character, reputation, etc. Whether the NTSB gets it right or not, they are more capable to investigate and report out root cause(s) than anyone on this forum (no disrespect intended to the full scale aerobatic pilots on here, Matt, Earle, etc)

Greg

Originally Posted by Matt Chapman

......Once again... Just my opinion. I hesitate to post my thoughts anymore due to some flames I have received in the last for doing so... But, I think in this case, ,I have some basis to post an opinion

I have said my piece.

Have at it.

Matt - So THAT'S why you have a Nomex suit, eh...

Keep flying safe my friend! As you know all too well, it can be a very unforgiving endeavor.

Earle
PS - I think I'm starting to get the hang of this IMAC stuff. Get a bird together and I'll teach you a few tricks .

Originally Posted by Pistolera

Matt - So THAT'S why you have a Nomex suit, eh...

Keep flying safe my friend! As you know all too well, it can be a very unforgiving endeavor.

Earle
PS - I think I'm starting to get the hang of this IMAC stuff. Get a bird together and I'll teach you a few tricks .

Earle..... "tricks"? These are precision aerobatics! Not tricks!

Originally Posted by Matt Chapman

Earle..... "tricks"? These are precision aerobatics! Not tricks!

Matt, I watched your"tricks" at Rockford and enjoyed every minute of them! Along with all the other guys and their "tricks".

First, I think all of us are nearly as thankful as Mr. Roetman and his family that he survived his encounter with "Murphy", and at least based on the public reports will fully recover from his injuries.

Second, while most on this thread (and in the rest of the world) are not fully qualified to evaluate what happened, they are here because they care about flying, and are in their own way working through what happened. Spectators identify with performers, and bad experiences affect spectators too.

Third, anyone who has been through an extreme incident, or been involved with someone who has, knows that the memories of those involved are not 100% reliable. Things were happening fast, and the CPU involved got slapped around a good bit. Buck says he is really glad he had a helmet. I am sure that the broad facts that Buck remembers are correct (loss of prop pitch etc), but the timing could be off, and details such as how close he got to leveling the craft before impact might be inaccurate.

Fourth, the video presented does not allow much more than speculation, as it doesn't actually show ground impact, and doesn't have definitive detail in the air.

Fifth, if the NTSB isn't good enough, there is no way anyone will ever know what really happened. There are frequently minority opinions in accident investigations. The "truth" is in the eye of the beholder.

Given all of that, I haven't seen anything in this thread that was hurtful, or disrepectful of Buck Roetman, his family or his friends. Just a lot of back yard gossip on a topic (aviation) that fascinates the members of this forum.