Most jet model write-ups end with a tidy landing and everyone pleased. This F-16 goes the other way: it covers a whole session, from a ground run through a full aerobatic routine, right up to the failure every turbine pilot fears, the engine stopping mid-flight and leaving no thrust at a critical altitude.
The airframe is a 1/8 scale F-16 Fighting Falcon from a FlyEagle Jet kit, driven by an older-generation Kingtech 80 that uses gas starting. Taking off the top fuselage hatch reveals the micro-turbine, the speed controllers, receiver boards and wiring, plus transparent bottles holding fuel with a yellowish tint. The exhaust nozzle carries an illuminated LED afterburner ring.
The flying is the standout. Once the dorsal panel was secured, the model taxied across a mowed grass strip and lifted into clear skies. It then flew fast passes, banked turns, a stretch inverted and low sweeps over the field, all while a chase drone filmed from the air. An FPV drone tracking a large turbine jet is a detail worth praising on its own.
Then the session, flawless until that point, turned: the turbine cut abruptly and the jet came down off the runway in tall grass. Several people walked in and carried it to a paved path. The cause has not been stated, and Club d'Aéromodélisme de Ribérac asks viewers to offer their own theories. With the INTERCLUB 2026 meet in Ribérac set for June 27 and 28, I hope this airframe is back in the air by then.
Project by Club d'Aéromodélisme de Ribérac. Watch it on their YouTube channel: