Another illustration of where the strength is in a fuselage of a commercial aircraft. Just like that Hawaiian Airlines jet that lost a section of upper fuselage several year ago, stressed out from the many take and landing cycle pressure changes and corrosion.. They made a movie about that event. Larry Jolly of model airplane fame did the model work for that movie, building a couple models to get through the production but only needing one for the job. Looked VERY real in the movie and he did some nice flying in it also. Haven't heard or seen his name mentioned in a long time in any of te magazines or web sites and wonder if he is still active and i what discipline. I think he has done it all from rC/L racing to R/C soaring and electric, helicopters and the movie work. The pilot of this one only initially reported that he lost the right engine, but he HAD to have had some idea of something else major with that big old hole in front of the tail end screwing up the handling of the airplane. At least some sort of cabin pressure alarm ? And it would probably handle like a truck with no power steering???
And I would not own a small GA aircraft without a ballistic chute if at all possible. This is another testimony to the value of one of those. The pilot is alive to deal with the oncoming insurance headache!!
Type at you later,
Dan McEntee