Engine shook itself off the mount during the Reno Air Races, but the pilot was able to fly it right up to just a few feet over the runway before it stalled. He walked away in good condition, and the plane was even repaired and went on to race for another 20 years before being destroyed in a crash in 2003.
The prop broke and Larry got excited landing it to fast, he went off the cliff at the end of the runway. The gear broke his ankles. We hauled it off the hillside that is the last I saw of it.
This is some simpsons level of shit hauling it off the hillside lol
That's only if you don't do what ATC says. It's still possible to follow ATC to the letter and still fuck up the plane. Most big jets record the G force on landing. If it exceeds a threshold the plane gets grounded and needs to be inspected. Newer planes this is all being live streamed back to a central maintenance system so if you land it hard, the plane itself will rat you out to your boss.
It bears mentioning that these race planes are required to have safety cables on the engine for just this type of incident. If the engine falls completely off, the plane would be pretty much guaranteed to crash due to the CG shift. If it's dangling off the front, it should still be controllable enough to get it back to the ground although the landing won't be pretty.
^ this guy knows his stuff! Although, I actually think that rule may have been added AFTER this incident but I can't remember, and I'm not willing to dig through the old versions of the rule book to figure out when it was added. But it was added for exactly this situation.
Not really, no. One of the propellor blades came off/came apart. This creates a huge imbalance of the prop and creates enough vibration to rip the engine off the mount.
Oddly enough, its very similar to the way they make a phone vibrate. It's a little weight spun really fast on an electric motor. Same principle anyways.
These motors don't actually make all that much horse power. The stock O-200 makes about 100hp. Obviously they don't run these in a stock format. But, its not like they are making thousands of horse power.
To add a little more interesting detail to this SHITuation, because of this issue(where the front falls off) the engines in a lot of air racers actually have a safety cable added. This safety cable connects the engine to the airframe incase the mount breaks like this.
This is almost always caused by a propellor coming apart in flight. Obviously propellors are balanced to an unbelievable degree of accuracy. So if the blade comes off of one side, it creates an immense vibration that almost instantaneously rips the engine off of the front of the airplane.
Well if that much weight departs the vehicle in flight(lol), obviously the airplane is now so tail heavy, flight is no longer possible resulting in a definite crash. The cable was added so if this happened, at least the weight was still attatched and you could make an attempt at a survivable landing.
I do not remember off the top of my head if Chuck Wentworth had a safety cable on this airplane when this happened to "Flexi Flyer". It is possible the engine just stayed attatched via the fuel lines, throttle cable, and other control lines.
No, no. There's no environment. Its been towed outside the environment. There's nothing out there.... except sea and birds and fish and about 10,000 tonnes of crude oil... and the bit that fell off the front....
Well there are a lot of these planes going around the world all the time, and very seldom does anything like this happen. I just don't want people thinking that planes aren't safe.
My local sportplane field averaged 1 fatality per year, with 50 planes using it as their home field. That's a 2% annual fatality rate. So if you fly for 25 years, you have a 50% chance of dying in your sport.
During a couple decades of flying I personally watched 10 pilots die in crashes, all but 1 obviously preventable. My opinion of people's survival instincts went down continually during those years.
There are so many dumb ways to die as a pilot. I mean, come on guys, don't do departure stalls, don't fly with half-empty fuel tanks. They never learn how to use trim, never learn power-off flight, or never learn best glide speeds.
The knowledge is out there. Wolfgang Langewiesche's Stick and Rudder has been in continuous publication since 1944 because some pilots think staying alive is a good thing.
I'm German and get it too. BUT I know only about "the front fell off" thing from Reddit some years back. Probably non-redditor Germans wouldn't get it.
Scroll down to 9/15/1981: https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=195456
Engine shook itself off the mount during the Reno Air Races, but the pilot was able to fly it right up to just a few feet over the runway before it stalled. He walked away in good condition, and the plane was even repaired and went on to race for another 20 years before being destroyed in a crash in 2003.
JFC he lived!
Yep, right up until he died.
This is some simpsons level of shit hauling it off the hillside lol
Hauled it outside the environment
Into another environment?
And his wife?
To shreds you say?
I hardly shredher!
To bits you say
Nice.
And he took the plane out again!
Any landing you walk away from is a good landing. Any landing you walk away from and can use the plane again after is a Great fucking landing.
When I fly commercial, I say any landing that doesn't result in a NTSB report is a good landing.
When I watch youtube videos, any landing that doesn’t result in a “number for you to call” is a good landing.
That's only if you don't do what ATC says. It's still possible to follow ATC to the letter and still fuck up the plane. Most big jets record the G force on landing. If it exceeds a threshold the plane gets grounded and needs to be inspected. Newer planes this is all being live streamed back to a central maintenance system so if you land it hard, the plane itself will rat you out to your boss.
It bears mentioning that these race planes are required to have safety cables on the engine for just this type of incident. If the engine falls completely off, the plane would be pretty much guaranteed to crash due to the CG shift. If it's dangling off the front, it should still be controllable enough to get it back to the ground although the landing won't be pretty.
^ this guy knows his stuff! Although, I actually think that rule may have been added AFTER this incident but I can't remember, and I'm not willing to dig through the old versions of the rule book to figure out when it was added. But it was added for exactly this situation.
"also the engine did not fall completely off." Welp, that's good I guess!
The torque literally ripped the engine out of its mounts! That's mental!
Not really, no. One of the propellor blades came off/came apart. This creates a huge imbalance of the prop and creates enough vibration to rip the engine off the mount.
Oddly enough, its very similar to the way they make a phone vibrate. It's a little weight spun really fast on an electric motor. Same principle anyways.
These motors don't actually make all that much horse power. The stock O-200 makes about 100hp. Obviously they don't run these in a stock format. But, its not like they are making thousands of horse power.
Did the pilot survive the second crash
Yep, with 2 broken ankles.
Plane was "hauled off the hillside" and the registration was cancelled. Most likely scrapped or is in pieces in a parts warehouse.
To add a little more interesting detail to this SHITuation, because of this issue(where the front falls off) the engines in a lot of air racers actually have a safety cable added. This safety cable connects the engine to the airframe incase the mount breaks like this.
This is almost always caused by a propellor coming apart in flight. Obviously propellors are balanced to an unbelievable degree of accuracy. So if the blade comes off of one side, it creates an immense vibration that almost instantaneously rips the engine off of the front of the airplane.
Well if that much weight departs the vehicle in flight(lol), obviously the airplane is now so tail heavy, flight is no longer possible resulting in a definite crash. The cable was added so if this happened, at least the weight was still attatched and you could make an attempt at a survivable landing.
I do not remember off the top of my head if Chuck Wentworth had a safety cable on this airplane when this happened to "Flexi Flyer". It is possible the engine just stayed attatched via the fuel lines, throttle cable, and other control lines.
Was the 2003 crash related to any repairs? Genuinely curious
I do not believe so. According to a witness on the Aerial Visuals page, the airplane had another propellor failure.
Did the front fall off again?
Hit some wind? Chance in a million.
In the air?
That’s not very typical, I’d like to make that point.
Too much cardboard derivatives in that build.
Hopefully they land it outside the environment.
Is that to protect the environment?
What environment. There's no environment there.
Well, what's out there?
Nothing.
There must be something out there.
There is nothing out there! All there is are birds, and sea, and fish.
And?
No, no. There's no environment. Its been towed outside the environment. There's nothing out there.... except sea and birds and fish and about 10,000 tonnes of crude oil... and the bit that fell off the front....
Hopefully without waves.
Well how was it un-typical?
Well there are a lot of these planes going around the world all the time, and very seldom does anything like this happen. I just don't want people thinking that planes aren't safe.
Well what made this plane unsafe?
Well I was thinking more about the other ones.
What other ones?
The ones where the front doesn’t fall off
It's a racing plane. Abnormal conditions and I would bet it had a ton of weight cut.
Also, smaller aircraft don't have the same safety record as larger passenger aircraft.
Well the front fell off.
Commercial planes are very safe.
Private planes are actually very unsafe. In terms of fatalities/miles traveled, private planes have ten times the fatalities of regular cars.
My local sportplane field averaged 1 fatality per year, with 50 planes using it as their home field. That's a 2% annual fatality rate. So if you fly for 25 years, you have a 50% chance of dying in your sport.
During a couple decades of flying I personally watched 10 pilots die in crashes, all but 1 obviously preventable. My opinion of people's survival instincts went down continually during those years.
There are so many dumb ways to die as a pilot. I mean, come on guys, don't do departure stalls, don't fly with half-empty fuel tanks. They never learn how to use trim, never learn power-off flight, or never learn best glide speeds.
The knowledge is out there. Wolfgang Langewiesche's Stick and Rudder has been in continuous publication since 1944 because some pilots think staying alive is a good thing.
True. Statistically this place should be fine.
Must have been made from cardboard, or a cardboard derivative.
Now I have to go watch that again
IKR every time this happens I go back to watch it again
There's not much that makes me proud to be Australian but the fact that Redditors will endless quote Clarke & Dawe is one of the few things that does.
Do only Aussies get this reference?
No. I'm British and I get it.
It's just reddit stock-in-trade at this point.
Nope. Some of us Americans get it. This and the Greek economy skit are hilarious,
I'm German and get it too. BUT I know only about "the front fell off" thing from Reddit some years back. Probably non-redditor Germans wouldn't get it.
Nope, am American and some of us get the internet here too.
It's an extremely popular skit. People used to send it to each other claiming that it was a real moment from australian politics.
i hope they tow it outside of the environment.
Source?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM
Well there’s allot of those things going around the world right now and I don’t want people to think that’s something that happens all the time.
Categorically suboptimal.
Typical for Reno…
I think that r/TheFrontFellOff would disagree with you.
What's untypical about it?
Because the front fell off.
Look I just bought this,I’d like to speak to a manager.
Proof?
Some airplanes are made so the front doesn’t fall off at all.
Wasn't this one built so the front wouldn't fall off?
Well obviously not.
I was thinking more about the other ones
Well, ease up, man. It only fell off once.
Right, it's not like the propeller fell off! ....https://www.aerialvisuals.ca/AirframeDossier.php?Serial=195456
More often than not they’re designed so the front doesn’t fall off.
Airplane’s number raises suspicions
For example, the droop snoot, it's a plane with a snoot that droops. This tricks the wind into thinking the front has already fallen
But it went outside its enviornment.
lol whoever downvoted you missed the reference.
Is that a new feature?!
Nice
Nice.
Nice,
Nice!
Nice
Nice
Nice
Self fellatio isn’t 69… come on this plane should know that.
Amateurs
/r/autofellatio
RIP another great sub
Thank you! I was thinking the same thing.
A little on-the-nose I'd say
Peyronie's Disease can be embarrassing for both aircraft and men. But it's treatable. Talk to your doctor to see what options are right for you.
Just ask Bill Clinton.
r/TheFrontFellOff
r/wowThisSubExists
Also
r/SubsIThoughtIFellFor
and
r/ofcoursethatsasub
3m later
“YOU CANT PARK THERE”
r/CantParkThereMate
3mins? More likely 3 seconds.
Wonder how C.G of the plane changed
So what happened in this case?
They had a minimum crew requirement.
At least 1 I would think.
Well the front fell off
I’m not a pilot, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. That isn’t supposed to happen and is less than ideal. Hope this helps.
A cloud hit it.
In the air? Chance in a million!
You can tell it's that way by the way that it is
Instead of just me and Rodney knowin it.
http://www.epi-eng.com/propeller_technology/propeller_vibration_issues.htm
Is that the new Tesla Model Air?
Well, there are regulations governing the materials they can be made of?
Well, no cardboard... or cardboard derivatives.
Like paper?
Papers out.
Cellotape?
INCORRECT. FRONT CLEARLY STILL THERE.
“Well yeah, that bit supposed to happen“
Nice
It fell off, it fell off…. It fell the F@&k off!
Dwight! Your bumper!
You don’t really need the front.
Fell off?
still works
Well a gust hit it.
We’ll the front fell off in this case but it’s very unusual
/r/TheFrontFellOff
I don't think it's supposed to do that
that’s not supposed to happen
You have unlocked REVERSE THRUST
Plane Number checks out. Nose is trying to make his way to Tail.
What are ya silly? Still gonna send it.
Yes. I get it. Good one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM
What a drag.
Happened a lot with my models. Needed more airplane glue.
“Yeah, this plane’s trashed.”
slurps ramyeon
That’s likely not supposed to have happened
Too much cardboard
Remember use the red loctite kids
https://theintercept.com/2025/12/09/congress-military-ndaa-right-to-repair/
Hey, you're gonna want to get that looked at!
Nice.
69 going down 420 knots…
This kills the airplane.
Read this is Tim Robinson's voice
Did a wave hit it?
Thing looks like it ate a lemon
Have you tried turning it off and on again
Suboptimal.
"The front fell off!?"
"Yeah he was pretty old."
69 😎
Boop
The snoot drooped
The fact that happened while it said 69-
nice
Nice
Reminded me of when Brian on family guy broke his face.
The snoot droops
Was it hit by a wave?
nice
And the number is 69 for some reason.
nice
I feel uncomfortable when i see a number between 60 - 69. It’s because of 67. I don’t handle my emotions well. I don’t like 67
69 is actually worse than 67 in terms of meaning, but at least 69 means something
Is it usual that the front falls off, 🤔 you’d have thought there would have been some rigorous testing to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen
Nice
Nice
The one where the front fell off, that's not very typical I'd like to make that point.
Some of them are built so the front doesn't fall off at all.
The front fell off in this case that's very unusual.
Happens when you go too hard during 69.
It ain't got no gas in it.
Not Nice
Just move it from one environment to the next in that case
I hope it crashed outside the environment
nice
Either that, or he tasted something really bitter
Just put it in reverse
Buckle up for the landing. Guaranteed to not go well
Well, This will not propel properly at all!
Those who remember 😏
ok, who broke that poor planes nose
This won’t end well.
He actually landed the plane...more or less...and it was repaired and raced again for a couple decades.
Aussie roll call: The Front Fell Off
Saw the title of the post and my first thought went there.
69
I know what's wrong wit it.. it ain't got no gas in it.
I instantly got reminded of this sketch :D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m5qxZm_JqM
69…. ?
Giggity?
nice