I built the WORLDS LARGEST RC Aircraft Carrier! Will I be able to takeoff and land on it? Get 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers (20% Off $99USD/year!): r1132100503382-eu1-my3dexperi...
Learn more about 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS for Makers: discover.solidworks.com/3dexp...
A massive thank you to the rangers, Ray and John, from Rudyard Lake for making this video possible. www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...
👉🏼 Patreon sign up / jameswhomsley
👉🏼 More info about projects projectair.co.uk/
👉🏼 Follow me on Instagram / jameswhomsley
⬇️ Amazon affiliate links to help you make your own projects: ⬇️
(these help grow the channel - every purchase gets me a small percentage of the sale, but it costs you nothing!)
3D printers
➡️ Beginner printer! Ender 3: amzn.to/3Dyd7lj
➡️ Ender 3 V2: amzn.to/3Oh9mFY
➡️ High speed printer: amzn.to/3KeSZbu
➡️ Ender 5: amzn.to/3DwkhXc
➡️ Favorite printer! Bambu X1: amzn.to/3QepQkt
➡️ Beginner Resin printer! ANYCUBIC Photon Mono 2 amzn.to/3OuOTyp
➡️ Favourite Resin 3D Printer! Creality Halot Mage amzn.to/43Cwxju
Drones I like
➡️ Mavic Air: amzn.to/3Q8rcgM
➡️ Mavic 3: amzn.to/3DuYcZ3
➡️ Mavic 3 Combo: amzn.to/3rMdcPJ
➡️ DJI FPV Combo Drone amzn.to/3ObWalo
KZhead Camera Gear
➡️ Main Camera 1 amzn.to/3KcRpXy
➡️ Main Camera 2 amzn.to/3YfzGEY
➡️ Mic amzn.to/43MTQqS
➡️ Tripod amzn.to/3rIewDg
➡️ Lights amzn.to/3qaDjPF
Action Cameras
➡️ Favorite! Runcam (small orange camera): amzn.to/44YI6ma
➡️ GoPro: amzn.to/3DuRkLd
➡️ Osmo: amzn.to/3rKoWlM
➡️ Memory card amzn.to/47hJWRc
Big thanks to Andrew Applepie for the music used in this video - / andrewapplepie
Evening Melodrama by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Mechanolith by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
DISCLAIMER: This video is purely for entertainment value. Personal use of video content is at your own risk. Recreations of experiments, activities and projects are the sole legal responsibility of the person(s) involved in replicating them. I can not be liable for any information or misinformation, wrongful use, damage to personal property, death or any circumstances that result from replication of any projects seen. Be safe!
Watch the next part here! (battleship conversion) - kzhead.info/sun/ZdKDlKigp2iEhZE/bejne.html
Really good, Thanks!
Always happy to use some time on quality content such as this. 30 mins of quality is better than 15 mins of pure fluff
I love the longer videos
Me
It worked well - it didn't feel long. And a lot of your projects could do with a bit more time to show them off.
Aircraft carriers in real life steam into the wind at a speed that is a significant fraction of the landing speed of the aircraft, and also align their heading to any existing wind. For a fighter jet coming in at 120-130 kts, having 25-30 kts of carrier-made headwind and anything from 0 to 30+ kts of additional headwind from winds, removes a large amount of relative speed. Looking at the scaling here, it is a bit like trying to land an 737 on a stationary Nimitz/Ford carrier in real life...
That damn inverse square law is probably ruining them from running something more to scale!
Agreed! It absolutely helped flying/sailing into the wind with our test flights!
On a semi related note, the largest plane landed on an aircraft carrier was a C130 Hercules (roughly the same size as a 737) on the USS Forrestal (about 30 metres shorter than a Nimitz class)
@@atToebiscuitPoor passengers - if there were any. 😬
@@atToebiscuit Yes, but a C-130 flies much slower on approach than a B 737. Probably 40-50 kts slower, which makes a huge difference. They also had a combined ship and wind headwind of 40+ kts. Landing roll decreases as the reduction in landing speed squared, so going from 100 kts to 60 kts reduces landing roll to just over a third.
I appreciate that there are people brave/crazy enough to do stuff like this for this 65 year-old kid to enjoy. Cheers, guys!
I'm a 70 year old kid. It was y dream come rue - I had a 28' old wooden inboard I was planning to convert into an aircraft carrier but the engine blew on it so I scrapped the idea.
more like completely stupid. obviously it's not to scale.
@@riskinhos No imagination huh?
@@riskinhos you are very fun at parties huh
@@samgamerx9172we should bring him to party
Just wait till a Japanese airplane see it.
That crazy 😝
Nah what hell
They never found the carriers, and sunk More by kamikazee than they did with their own ships or genuine air attack. At the end of the war we had 90 + carriers to japans 4 they had left
BANZAI!!!
私は日本の偉大な天皇のために、そして先の大戦で戦った祖先のために戦います。私は先祖のために犠牲になります！神風！i will fight for our great emperor of japan and for our ancestors who fought in the great war. i will sacrifice for our ancestors! KAMIKAZE!私は帝国空軍と私の名誉ある先祖の名誉のためにこれを行います!バンザイ！
You found exactly the visibility problem found in WWII with that warbird. The Fleet Air Arm solved it with landing immediately from a sharp left hand turn as finals so the carrier was visible out to the side.
wow I didnt know that
Captain "winkle" brown preferred crabbing in with it looking over the shoulder then straightening up for landing..however he was a ridiculously talented test pilot so probably not a technique for normal pilots.
@@poiujnbvcxdswq the corsair could not be landed on a carrier if it werent for that landing technique, it was quicky adopted as standard for all corsair pilots due to less risks with it.
@@charlestonianbuilder344 Well, it _could_ be landed on a carrier without the left hand turn approach. The actual facts that made the Corsair "dangerous" to land were the tendency to stall the left wing first at slow speed (solved by adding a stall strip to the _right_ wing so both wings stalled at the same time) and the landing gear being very 'bouncy' so that the aircraft couldn't be set down properly (solved by adding bleed valves to the gear oleo struts). What helped as well were changes to the cockpit, with the seat being raised quite a bit and the switch to a more bulbous canopy, both useful to give the pilot better visibility over the nose. However, the left hand turn approach did help to keep the deck in view for most of the descent towards the carrier. Pilots levelled out only for the last part of the landing procedure, being guided in by the deck landing officer.
they have every cool thing equipped on the fly, except the most important one: ILS.
Hey, I'm a 12 year old who loves aircraft, and have an rc plane of my own. Me and my grandfather build stuff for it, repair it and its really fun! I was inspired by you to make bigger scale projects even though I don't have the biggest area to do these things. I also don't have a major budget, so watching your videos makes me really happy as it allows me to get the joy of having a really big rc workshop. Have a good day
What a lovely comment. Keep following your passion and you'll have your bigger workshop and budget in no time!
Enjoy the time with your grandfather. They're special memories that you'll never forget, and they're good for the soul. I used to make box kites with my grandfather and I still feel warm and fuzzy inside everytime I remember us giggling together and being silly while we made them. If you want something quick and easy to build with your granddad, then have a look at depron rc planes you can make yourself. There are thousands of plans online, you can build an entire plane out of one sheet of depron (foam) and a sheet costs around £5. Add some carbon rods and some cheap rc gear and you have yourself a homemade plane for under £50. The rc gear can be used over and over again, along with the carbon rods, so in effect you have unlimited depron rc planes for £5 each plus some hot glue! Once you've built a few you can start to put together your own designs, it's really quite easy. I'd be happy to make some plans I designed available online somewhere for you if it interests you? Here's a biplane I did years ago, inspired by the Pitts S-2 Special: watch?v=ALy-dYU7yro Forgive the quality of the video. Phone cameras weren't what they are today way back in 2009! The red and white pixels are the plane!
@@TheXshot Thank you for the wishes!
@@----.__ I appreciate it, and I cherish every moment with my grandfather. I appreciate the advice too, I'll try it out and see if we can make it happen using that kit!
I'm 9 ._.
Landing a 1/10 scale plane on a 1/100 scale aircraft carrier is MAD SKILL!
As a military enthusiast, I saw something you forgot, that if you do another project like this, you should include. The object in question is the OLS, or optical landing system. A series of lights on the side of the flight deck that will look correct only if the plane is positioned correctly. Also, for such vessels that sit that high in the water, add a keel, preferably a folding one. That way you can sail without too much worry about wind, but you can still sail in relatively shallow waters. Also, just a suggestion, make everything heavier, the ship and the planes. This would increase the stability against many things, such as turbulence, even if it meant increased inertia. A heavier plane also means a much more firm landing, and less bouncing. Give it a try next time you attempt something like this.
I just spent half an hour watching a guy build an aircraft carrier - and enjoyed every second. damn these likes are coming in faster than a wildfire spreading
167 likes no replys? let me fix that
Pro tip: If you increase the speed to 2x, it only takes 15:54.5
But the 'carrier' isn't even CLOSE to the right scale compared to the aircraft??
The carrier probably needs to be 5 times bigger for it o be scale to the planes. However it was all well done.
@@g54b95 Just speed it up to 4x, and it only takes 7:77.25 minutes.
The difficulty for pilots to see directly in front of the Corsair made carrier landings challenging during their use in WW2.
Thats right...the entire airframe was almost scrapped for this reason. It wasn't until the Brits figured it out. Making a shallow continuous banking turn from downwind, base, to final was the technique...helped to keep the carrier in sight until landing.
did you watch devotion?
I love that plane so much i named my dog Corsair
@@xbpbat21x That is how I do it in Flight Simulator and it works a treat! The Corsair is a mighty bird!
I'm glad y'all figured out to drive the boat forward when trying to land, plus to be fair that makes it more realistic.
Well done! Congratulations to you for completing this huge construction project, developing the controls, and doing an excellent job flying the planes.
Not
He did not fly the planes very well
I walked into the room to find my son was watching this. I stopped and watched like a zombie; totally enthralled. I'd imagined doing just this when I was a small boy. You made it look easy - great work 👏
Try something like this with your son, you obviously have a shared interest. He's still a kid./
THAT WAS FANTASTIC!! Loved So Many moments of this!
Omg, is that really you, I’m such a big faannnnnnnnnn
@@totallynotanoob9244 Thanks brother! Love you guys too!
3hrs ago hi Sparks!!
He needed some aviators and Danger zone to complete the ensemble
Hi👋
I am an RC aircraft pilot since 1986 till todate. I have never seen anyone make that kind of flying skill and land and build the large RC aircraft carrier. Well done!
I have flown mostly RC helicopters. I have designed and built 1/8th and 1/4 scale 4-wheel drive gas trucks. My suggestion would be to have the deck a little longer and have a jet net to fly into or loose strings to slow the planes down, not a sudden stop. Another suggestion would be a high quality Remote controller where your movements can be trimmed down so you don't have so much jerking motion. If you can get the controller to be super smooth then your approach would be flawless and you could land more easily.
Nicely done! I think repainting the deck with a matte darker paint, would help with the sun glare. Ballast would probably also help the carrier be more stable and drift less. If possible a lower FOV on the FPV cameras, while setting them higher and more forward in the cockpit, would help with spotting and recognizing the position of the carrier deck when approaching. Also, adding rubber bands to the arrestor wires could help avoid damage to the plane from a very sudden yank in the tail.
Also moving the wires forward could help since the plane is far more likely to touch down i the middle of the carrier compared to the end where the wires currently are
I agree. There's a reason the flight decks are painted matte black with white markings. Also, the glideslope used is FAR too steep! Also, the faster the carrier is moving, the slower the apparent approach speed.
A lot can be done to improve the carrier. Thrusters on the ship would help alignment. A tunnel from port to starboard both aft and stern with a reversible turbine. Maybe even have the plane and ship communicate through some sort of data transfer that I have no idea exists or not.
He's also flying without ANY instrumentation and still managing to hit the deck with relative consistency, and the deck isn't even configured with a properly dedicated landing path. Real aircraft overcome the cockpit visibility issues with lots of additional sensors, like alignment beacons and GPS/INS to match heading to the runway. These models are so hard because they're fully manual, but you could probably butter this with an ardupilot plane.
Shut up know it all after the fact do nothing keyboard stroker
What a riot! Great fun. And properly narrated. Hanna, your LSO, deserves a medal!
Это было невероятно! Прекрасный полёт, и посадки, даже неудачная, тоже прекрасны! Я впечатлён. Люблю самолёты, и всегда мечтал о чём-то таком.
Suggestions for carrier part 2: Make carrier format long Add lights More plane Do it at night time Add heli landing
You were able to effectively build suspense from landing “fake” planes on a “fake” aircraft carrier That’s impressive Also the shots on the aircraft carrier and from the cockpits of the planes were really cool
There's nothing fake about those planes. They aren't full scale. They are scale models. Real scale models.
@@lamarw7757 bro takes everything literally 🤡
There's nothing fake about an RC plane. They're real flying models
fake? an rc plane is an aircraft there is nothing fake about it.
@@lamarw7757I think what he's trying to say is he made cool scenes just by using rc planes.. I guess thats why he quoted fake...
I'd love to see a revisit of this idea and maybe some improvements to the carrier. Maybe you could add a pair of deployable anchors so it can be steadied in the stream. Setting ship anchors will probably require some practice of it's own though. It honestly makes me want to make a huge RC ship that uses an electric trolling motor more than anything. That sounds like a fun winter project to be honest.
Keel. A flat blade down the middle would be a help
maby adding a fps camera on the deck could help with the landing
Can you make more larger a
Honestly what would help better is a more decent FPV camera, and not having half of your view obscured by the cockpit Even Pilot's vision's aren't that bad.
Keel all these RC guys think flat bottom=stable. But actually it doesnt. Make it twin keel or catamaran style if u want stability. And u can use sea anchor flaps under water/bow thrusters. That a slightly larger scale landing deck and elevators for storage is a must
It’s fun and stuff until your enemy sends out a f35
Kevin hast du nen Kinderwunsch
flying rc airplanes myself, I know how hard it is to aim for such a small target. truely astonishing, well done mate!
Very cool build! Along with your friend’s idea of an LSO, it would be fairly simple to build a “ball” glide slope light system. They use lights and fresnel lenses to give an indication of on slope, high, or low that you would be able to see in the FPV view. Might be worth a try?
These models are too susceptible to wind that simulating a glide slope assist would be pointless. The plane would be bobbing up and down from the turbulence of those trees and draft from the lake, and you won’t be able to maintain a steady glide slope
Nerds🤓
I love planes I like rc planes real plane testing planes in games and real life
@@rcskybums It would still give direct visual indication of being on target. He doesn't need the beacons for descent control, he needs them to know when he's aligned to the landing strip.
Greetings from the Papaplatte community. Even though your landing skills don’t match the ones from our german pilot Rüdiger, it is a great video. Keep up the good work, it’s looking awesome mate 🤝
This was one of the most wholesome videos I’ve seen in a while - I was so invested in seeing you try to stick those landings! Well done, and great piloting! 😅
Best use case for stereoscopic fpv vision so far! It'd be really interesting to see how much easier it makes landing 😁
My advice would be 2 separate cameras and a FPV switch. One of the cameras pointed from, for flying, and the other next to the landing gear, pointed a bit down... Then you're golden! The issue would be to do the same with digital FPV... Walksnail or DJI... Because then I don't think it's possible. 😕
Great 3d view of the cockpit! Just a regular FPV camera mounted on the top of the vertical stabilizer would be good enough.
@toolbaggers That would give you almost a 3rd person view of the flight!
Realistic Color Scheme(Change to Black top colors and realistic lighting of the deck and the FPV would POP!) and Viewpoint of a pilot so cool!
Since RC planes are a lot lighter than real ones, they are a lot more susceptible to wind. You could allow your carrier to adapt to this by utilizing a net instead of the wires, which would have more tolerances (depending on how large you make it)
If fact aircraft carriers have nets in case like the hook on the end is faulty, doesn’t exist, or has been lost.
@@MichaelWeisbrook i know early ww2 carriers had nets, but im not sure about the modern carriers
@@matthewwilson5019 they do
@@matthewwilson5019 they're used in emergency procedures all the time. It catches the aircraft from the front and is used when the arresting wire is unavailable for some reason
Really? Toy planes are lighter than real ones. Wow. Thanks for the input
For easier landing you need to install ,,Arresting cable"(If you don t know what is it, it's a cable that catches plane wheels for instant landing). You need to be rewarded for that hard work👍🤝
He _did_ install arresting cables though?
So cool! And this is only the beginning, kids will see this and dream of building their own. Thanks for the inspiration!
you needed Ultra Micro RC Planes. Also if possible anchor the boat front and rear.
This man deserves his own TV show! Something like Top Gear.
Funny thing that the lake this was filmed on is the same lake that the Top Gear lads tested their first amphibious cars in.
@@jamesfieweger8648 Oh yeah, I heard about that in one of the last vids.
@@Jazz-Man1910 I just remembered the name of the lake from the Top Gear episode. At the time I believe it was Rudyard Reservoir but it’s identified here as Rudyard Lake. I also recognized the boat launch.
Let's make a full-scale aircraft carrier for the next project, with a length of around 20 meters. It will surely attract even more attention than it does now.
Im envious of your future children man 😭. Keep that passion going!
Thanks for having me on man, and congrats again on pulling it off! Absolutely legendary
Thank you, Brendan! Anytime!
This is probably the most sick aviation video I’ve ever seen. Especially it being on a small scale. I love planes, specifically RC planes, so I can fly them, so just felt super realistic, and I like that. Amazing job!
Part of me is laughing at the realization that this Lad probably has more Aircraft Carrier Operator Experience than most countries in their entirety! Coolest vid I've seen in awhile!
Ikr
Brilliant all around! The epic video was an appropriately awesome documentary and conclusion for this one-of-a-kind massive project. As a filmmaker/editor, I can fully appreciate the level of dedication and skill it took to produce a 31 minute video. I love the extended format and would love to see more videos like this one.. With all that's happening in the world right now, it's a very welcome relief to know that I have one place where I can always look forward to projects (and people) that are as enjoyable and entertaining as they are educational.
Thanks for the lovely comment 🙂
@@Project-Aircan you use bombers on the aircraft carrier in the near future vids?🤔
You need to have a naval battle with "FliteTest" now!!!! Lmfao. Awesome project!!!
You want that prop about 4-6in under water. It'll give you a bit more "purchase" than if it's breaking the surface. Bow thrusters would help with "tracking" to keep vessel lined up while the aircraft are on approach. As well as steering. The camera may need to be under the cockpit. Such a fun project.
Wer von denen ist Papaplatte?
Der nicht filow
I think you should cut a few holes in the inside walls. The split in the middle of the boat would make it extremely unstable in case it sinks. If the hull is damaged, you could get a nasty list to whichever side the hole is located .
FINALLY! The first real attempt at an RC carrier operation on KZhead in years. Well done!
I know right? It’s always been my dream to make a to scale rc aircraft carrier and land rc planes to scale on it. I’d love to see a historically accurate one too
Jolly good job, lad. Started RC in the early 70s and I am still at it. This was a real treat - congrats to the entire team!
2:07 love the activate windows in the corner its a good touch
i think the biggest improvement that you could make is to have more arrestor wires or move them further forward. having to aim for that 1 exact point at the end of the ship made it even harder for yourself. But this was very enjoyable!
That Carrier is crazy awesome, I would have made a few tweaks, 1, drop the aft trolling motor or get a long shaft trolling motor so that it can better run the carrier forward. 2, add bow thrusters to help stabilize when the wind acts up. (Tieing them together with bow and stern motors can prolly be hooked up to a fishing spot lock that most fishermen use, allowing it to stay put automatically) 3, the spotter was crazy helpful, just like a real carrier you can add a HD camera facing aft for aiding in lands when the main boat isn't in line with the deck. Really really cool and prolly one of the best RC designs I've seen LOVE IT!
If you had a few of these, a few of DIY perks submarines, and some rc battleships you could throw together an rc navy. Combine that with a very calm lake and dozens of your closest friends and you could have some very fun rc naval activities. I'd love to see a community built for this
was really cool, but an edit that would be really useful is moving the arrester cables forward slightly instead of so close to the edge, and maybe span the ramp across the entire end of the carrier so launching and aborting the land if the cables are missed is much easier.
This video is so inspiring! It shows that you really can archieve almost everything if you really want it and have enough determination! It was beautiful to watch you fullfil this big dream and crazy idea with the help of your friends! These landings were amazing! Great Job! Keep on the great work!!
That was really impressive! Really ambitious project! It might be easier if the FPV camera was slung under the belly? I guess the obvious extension is adding bombs or torpedoes! Can't wait to see what you come up with to outdo this. Is this an official Guinness record?
I’m really impressed how durable these are RC planes are. Congratulations successful landing! Awesome 🎉
Meine Chicken Nuggets verbrennen!!!!!!!!😮🎉
Man, you are very smart and talented. And this looks like a blast.. What about building a carrier to the same scale as the planes? I know it was already a huge project, but it might have been easier to land the planes.
Im an aerospace engineer and you are one of my idols!
Same
You are his idol i guess, hehe.
Building a dream so many of us have had 🔥❤️. Awesome video James! And LOVE the longer format. When’s the TV show start? 😁
Thanks guys! I’ll keep at it!
@@Project-Air You gotta get that prop deeper on the water!!! You’re losing propulsion having the top bit out of the water.
"..apparently, not being able to see from the cockpit makes a huge difference..." Well said my RC friend! 🤩 AWESOME VIDEO!!!
Try painting your deck a bit darker non reflective grey with white landing stripes. The correct combination may take a couple of tries but should improve visibility from the air.
good job with the carrier! I know that it has been said already, but a problem you have is the arresting wires are to close to the back of the ship. If you look at a picture of a U.S. carrier, they are farther towards the center of the ship, to give the airplane a chance to touch down before even getting to the wires (the pilots shoot for the 2nd wire on the deck). Good job flying the planes!
I like the feedback people are giving you. This is a great video. I feel this deserves a retry with a bigger carrier, and maybe jet rcs. Also taking into consideration what some said about air speed relative to carrier speed in the water.
A suggestion i have might be to incerase the height of the wires that catch the planes which might make it a bit easier to land because I noticed that the planes always came in a bit high for them
Every single bit of this was super impressive to me. Getting an actual pilot that does this on video call? That alone felt like something out of a movie. Amazing.
Bro, this project was incredible and it was well put together, kept me on edge right through and I was cheering like a madman when you landed it! Amazing achievement! Didn't even realize it was 30 min! Keep it up man!
You should do a part 2 . And add some small thrusters on the sides to help with steering. You could then have a separate person keeping the carrier steady. Thanks for the fun!
Part three should be adding airsoft defence systems
That was amazing, congratulations. And the sponsorship made perfect sense, glad that they could help you.
This was incredible! Hope to see move vids of landings on the rc craft carrier.
Could you please do a follow-up video sometime when you take off and land your model F-14 on the carrier? If the wings don't swing out I understand, but if they did, I think that would be really cool. I really enjoyed the video, and want to make a smaller version myself.
I was not expecting this video. Did not expect this will be this good 10 out of 10.😂
Suggestion: Try making a working tailhook on the plane that will attach to the rope on the ship
OK. A few suggestions, from someone quite experienced with boat handling, & a bit about building them too, & also some flight experience. With such a high-bodied floating box, with very little draft, you'd have done better with either some sort of keel, &/ dual outboard motors - or at least, 1 outboard motor at the stern, & a bow-prop for easy manoeuvring, & making them independently controlled. I think that having some sort of autopilot steering guided by inputs from an onboard wind vane, with the changes in wind direction going to your onboard autopilot. The wind direction input would help with maintaining both keeping a steady heading, & keeping the aircraft carrier heading directly into the wind, which is most optimum for launching & landing aircraft; on aircraft carriers, the ship is turned directly into the wind to facilitate the aircraft taking off & the landing. This adds the ship's speed to that of the wind, allowing the aircraft a greater subjective airspeed. It also reduces that aircraft speed in relation to the aircraft carrier itself, resulting in a lower landing speed vs that which you'd have landing on the ground. But, aircraft carriers don't tend to launch & land aircraft while floating on a pond or lake! ;) - you commented on how the turbulence from the interaction of the wind vs the trees was causing an additional challenge. While I've never taken a real aircraft off from the deck of an aircraft carrier, much less land 1 on it, I've played many flight simulators, & it does take some practice - thank goodness it was on a simulator, or I'd have put quite a dent in the budget otherwise! It has been said that every (fixed wing) aircraft landing on a carrier is a “controlled crash” - the aircraft is flown in not far from stall speed, & 1nce over the aft deck, the pilot lets it “pounce” on the arrestor wires, & then throws the throttle full ahead, in case of missing the wires, so they can do a touch&go to circle around for another attempt, instead of falling off the forward end of the aircraft landing deck. As to your difficulty with being able to see the aircraft carrier landing deck properly out of your in-cockpit FPV cameras, welcome to naval aircraft carrier landings! I recommend trying to mount your cameras as far up & forward in the cockpit as possible; as you experienced, having a full field of view is most helpful! 1 of the main reasons that so many crashes of the F4U Corsair doing carrier landings occurred early on, was that ridiculously long nose, when trying to land on an aircraft carrier. Its approval for carrier operations was delayed for a while before various procedures, strategies & tactics were developed to help compensate for that while landing - & that also related to why the upgraded propellers went from 3 blades to 4, so that there was additional deck clearance, since all that tremendous power required a large-diameter prop to put it to good use. In full disclosure, I've worked in the marine technical service field for nearly 45 years, & have close US Navy ties, & am also an experienced UAV pilot. Quite a nice 1st attempt on your ambitious project!
Awesome project. Think there's room here for improvement and a follow up too. Looks like you still need to work out the FPV camera positioning for attack angle to sight the deck! How about using flaperons to reduce the approach speed on the planes without flaps? Maybe move the arresting wires and tower forward on the deck too to improve landing success without hitting the tower.
I have flown both the AeroScout and the 1.1 Trojan; I found the AeroScout to be surprisingly fun to fly, and the Trojan to have very low wing loading vs. other Trojans. Great choices!
CARRIER FLANK SPEED! I was screaming at my screen, lol. Real life carriers cruise into the wind. The faster the better, much easier to land with your relative speed to the carrier low! Ive dreamed of doing this for 20yrs, awesome job!
The scale of the planes with the aircraft carrier is comically hilarious! 🤣
Then faster your Carrier is going (Always into the wind) the more wind you have going over the deck, you could say that the more wind you have going over the deck the longer your carrier deck gets! Would it be that hard to add glide slop indicator lights “Call the Ball” Cool project, stay with it you are going to get it!!
you should add a ramp to the rear of the carrier so that your possible approach angle becomes a bit wider, with some slight mods im sure you could make the carrier far more stable and controllable in the water, maybe even a small bow screw and an automated system to keep it in a straight line. maybe some long flat planes under the boat to make it drift less relative to the wind. this is a really cool project and i would love to see a part 2 on this, it was a rather fun watch
Oh man, you make different stages of engineering in one video. Idea, development, simulation, electronic, verification and validation. I take off my hat of admiration about your video.
Very cool project! The easiest kind of RC plane to land in those circumstances would be a specialised STOL airframe like a Funcub or Tundra. A large foamie 3D airframe doing a high-AOA harrier landing would also come to a stop sooner than the pusher or the T-28. Flying LOS should be easier than FPV, as long as the pilot is close enough to have a good view of the deck, preferably from the side. Arguably, that's not in the spirit of a scale landing. Pulling the carrier into say a 10 knot apparent headwind would also help greatly.
Bloody brilliant. I want to see someone land a model jet on a model aircraft carrier though!
You need a rudder under the hull to prevent it from drifting sideways! Maybe two or three small ones lining the width would help it. More draft = more stability
And a keel or strakes/ribs. The keel is critical to keep a flat bottomed hull tracking straight. 3 lengthwise pieces of foam projecting an inch or so should work wonders. Don't overdo it... or you will have difficulty turning. Like the fin and rudder on an airplane... you need both. Fin/ vertical stab for directional stability & rudder for control. The motor has a small rudder on it already plus thrust vectoring, so try the keel first... Great project, outstanding video!
The fact that it actually works is amazing! Now you just need to bb guns
One can start to understand why one of the nicknames for the Corsair was the "Ensign eliminator" (Air and Space Magazine, June/July 2021). That long nose really did obscure vision on carrier landings, and the high center of gravity relative to the wings made it very tippy. The original purpose of the inverted gull wing design is lost with RC aircraft, as it was meant to allow larger propellers for more power on takeoff and to generally take advantage of the very powerful R-2800 engine, meanwhile keeping the landing gear short enough not to snap off on landing.
Pulling the carrier above stall speed of aircraft will help with takeoffs and landings. And have your fpv camera on bottom rear of a plane so you can see your approach IMO but very nice. Always thought about doing this
I love these longer videos becaus not only is it just the process and the final build but the engineering behind it is cool to watch.
I’ve been wanting to see this type of thing done for many years. A controlled anchor in bow and stern, set with the wind, would give you to stability in any proper position you require.
So, I was pondering the depth perception issue this morning, brother. You need LADMS! Landing Approach Depth Measurement System. Hang a camera either under the nose _or_ on the wing, so that you have a clear landing view. Next you'll need 3 fairly bright laser pointers. Mount all three on your glide-path for landing. One on centerline, then the other two on the wingtips. The idea is to have the outer lasers converge on the centerline beam at a known distance. Say 2-3 meters, or whatever you find works. As you approach you will see the centerline only, then the converging outer dots until they cross indicating you're really close. Hope this makes sense in text.
Addenda: laser alignment is kinda crucial. You may have to make something out of carbon fiber that can hold everything securely under the aircraft, and could be easily detached for testing or adjustments.
When we come in for landings there are reflectors on the ground (before the runway) that only show a specific color at a certain angle and position. Something to think about if you want to do this again. Work out the angle of attack that you want and it would make your life soooo much easier.
I've waited forever for someone to try something like this and I'm so glad someone had done this. Also it might've helped with glare on the t28 and corsair if the cockpit plastic glass was removed and the camera were moved more towards the nose. Also i hope we can see more videos of the carrier put into action. Maybe even see a edf jet take off and land from it
Congratulations on an absolutely spectacular project. To take it one step further, had you thought of a spin off project. Landing is everything. Had you thought about building a landing system where you can use visual aids the same way Navy pilots do, eg the landing lights on the PORT side of the flight deck. Through FPV, this would be impressive. Congrats again, really great video. 🙂
Coming from a rc flyer myself it is very helpful when you use plywood instead of tarp
Future of Great Britain Navy is in good hands!! More Aircraft carriers in coming!!
Wood glue does not actually take very long to dry it just needs to be held under constant pressure to dry stronger and faster. Clamps work best for this
(A) I love the long-format video. (B) I'm a devotee to the American CATOBAR carrier. But this was amazing! Great work. What happens if you run your jet car off that ramp?
Only seen this done a couple of times before but I think your aircraft were the largest, which would make things tougher for you - good job guys.
Having built a simpler version i can appreciate what you did. Check out first RC aircraft to land on an RC aircraft carrier I did 10 years ago. A lot harder than everybody thinks to land!
If you wanted to make the landing easier, you could throw ardupilot onto the carreir to get it to autonomously sail into the wind (or just sail a in a direction to get some headwind) and throw an ardupilot controller into the planes to make it way more stable during the landing process.
This was great!! Good job!! 2-3 landing and 3-3 take offs!! Amazing!! I truly didn’t think you get any on the deck!! Proved me wrong!! Bad ass flying man!! That practice paid off!! I would of choked… you did it!! Mission success!!
Navy Aircraft have a Hook that hangs down. And Aircraft carriers also have a cable that catches the Hook on the rear of the plane. Plus the Carrier turns into the wind when a plane is landing so there will be wind coming toward the aircraft which helps the plane glade in on a bit.
That is awesome! As someone who has split his head open with at 60 size helicopter I was a bit twitchy watching you fly those planes toward yourself. lol Great job thought. Next time, more bigger carrier and try a plane with brakes!