Giant Foam A-26: Full Video & Lessons Learned at Flite Fest 2024 

Ben, There is no need to apologize. You did not let me down. You demonstrated how well engineered and built the A26 really was. This is part of the hobby. It was magnificent to see that beast fly in person. She will fly again when the time is right. You take care of your family and yourself and we’ll talk about this project when it’s time.

Don't be too hard on yourself! You're a great pilot all the way and enjoy seeing you fly. Thumbs up my friend

Sorry for the crash but thanks so much for the inspiration. Also thanks for also sharing your lessons learned and things to improve. You have provided me with so much direction and even better safety procedures. Thanks again I hope to make it out to flight fest next year. 👍🏾

I do hope you repair the A-26 and put it back in the air. It really took the hit well. The plane is so impressive in the flight!

I was listening to Ward Carroll's podcast today, interviewing two Navy pilots about carrier aviation mishaps. Two things they said hit me in the gut: Carrier aviation procedures are basically written in blood; and, The more time aviators have to practice in a calm non operations environment, the more prepared they are to do a better job when the going gets tough in ops or things start to go south. Thanks for sharing your guts and your conscience with us about this, I think anyone who's paying attention is learning some good lessons! And thanks for doing so many things that the rest of us will probably never try, we are living vicariously through your efforts, I am very thankful!

Hands down the best flying A-26 I've seen! It looked awesome in the air. We've all had crashes like this that really hurt but I'm glad you're not giving up on the plane. One day the spark will ignite again to put it back in the air.

It’s a shame that the runway was so close to an unforgiving corner field. You are spot on about currency. Don’t beat yourself up, you created a fantastic model, regardless of materials used, it was spectacular. Your model building has incredibly evolved from foam board to the A 26

You were always amongst the most ambitious of us builders in the Flite Test community alone. The aircraft and flying are fantastic as always! Regardless of the mishaps. That said, assuming I finally make it to a Flite Fest in 2025 we’re going to *ban signs.* I’ll petition the Bixler’s myself if I must.

Thanks for sharing! Building a quarter scale B25 and all helpful hints.

Flight Fest needs more signs around the runway. Ones that warn you of the danger of crashing into the signs.

A very valuable video Ben. I really appreciate the debrief, and the raw feedback. I felt all that when I saw it clip the sign. I am so glad it kept safe from the audience. You made an incredible plane. You should continue to be proud of. Joe and I know the feeling of a little ROI with the 2nd noob Wonder last year. (And this one flight with the twin re-build this year.) please rebuild and join up at Nall. Talk soon friend.

Two things I see with this and other of the larger projects that go to Flite Fest.. 1st to everyone saying the signs are too close and the spectator line is too close. Remember this runway set up is NOT for planes of this scale. It is intended for much smaller craft. Airframes like this one are special permissions given to proven pilots like Ben. 2nd: I have said it since I learned this flying quads.. USE THROTTLE % timers. They are far more accurate and MUCH better and safer for your batteries. Yes it takes a little time to dial them in perfectly but once you do it a few times you get a feel for how much to adjust the timers to get them more accurately matched to your batteries quicker.

Thank you for the transparency👍 Man we’ve all been there but you were carrying a load of expectations on this project. Hopefully you’ll not put that much on yourself next time. We’re still gonna look forward to your vids and the excellent content.

Really cool plane. Awesome job with the build. The crowd is so close to the runway. Never seen anything like that before.

HIGHLY recommend the cheap investment in telemetry receivers! I do this on my seaplanes, as the risk of dead-sticking out in the middle of the lake in the winter time due to depleted battery is a huge threat. Battery voltage telemetry is super cheap and easy to add on to most receiver setups. For that matter, using FPV flight controllers for these large builds would pay huge dividends in safety as well. That said, thank you Ben for your transparency! I was shocked to see you clip that post as well as it sure looked like you were lined up well. The perspective of those large airplanes is very deceiving!

Schönes Flugzeug 👍

Great seeing you again at FF. I said a quick hello to you in passing. T-posts…. I have hit one with two planes on two separate occasions. I feel ya! Hard to learn to fly/plan tens of feet before the plane. Keep up the fantastic work!

Looked like the real plane. Not over powered and very smooth realistic flight controls

Very nice looking plane and smooth flyer! If it were me, I would have felt much more comfortable positioning my body further down the line near the touchdown end of the runway. The perspective might have been more friendly. Wish I could have been there.

Bummer with the landing but its was a beautiful flight.

That big beautiful plane needs a tail cam.

awesome project, would FPV have helped you have better depth preception of this large plane and landing allignment?

You (and we) learn far more from our failures than our successes. Step away for a bit. Then, implement those lessons and make the necessary changes.

suggestion try lining up on the runway next time

Not the best place to put a sign..

Sorry, but I also think that the location of that sign is worthless!

Big airplanes are deceiving,, all aspects of flight,, glad it wasnt too bad!

RCCA.

Learn to land on the runway and you won't hit signs off the runway! So many spend time burning holes in the sky and NOT practicing approaches and landings. Make the plane do what you want it to do not the other way around! All my students practice approach after approach after approach and speed awareness. Sorry to be negative but I'm just sayin'

Terrible approach!!!

crashing is part of the journey, thanks for sharing ur journey,, and also thank for ur contributions to the rc flight community,,, like the f16 build u created and shared.