I once flew a radio controlled plane (an Astro Hog) that was over powered by 50% into a power dive, and half way through the dive it made a very loud "brrrrrappp" noise (much louder than the engine noise at WOT) and then I witnessed part of the empennage fall away. When I landed the plane, I found one elevator panel was missing, and the other was shredded, but still somewhat effective.
The distruction from the flutter was so fast there was no time to respond before the damage was done. This same plane in the same configuration had previously flown the same maneuver 20 or 30 times before. None of the control surfaces on this plane were balanced, the plans did not call for balancing, but then the plans did call for 50% less power. All other high performance or over powered RC planes I have built since have been modified for counter balanced surfaces. No more problems. jg
