Written off but survivable

[PaulN]

Saw this news release from the States yesterday. A 2005 CTsw came unstuck with cross wind effect during T&Gs on Sunday. It seems the plane was blown off the runway, wing caught the grass with subsequent cartwheeling. A pretty horrible place to be but the single occupant pilot survived being discharged from hospital same day with very minor injuries, more shock than anything. If nothing else, it's a graphic demonstration of the effectiveness of the "safety cell" design of the CT cabin.

 

Paul

 

 

 

[Guest brentc]

Looks to me like there was no safety cell! I'm surprised they walked away from it. You don't expect an aeroplane to 'snap' in half from a botched crosswind landing.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Nothing a little bit of epoxy can't fix :;)2: Paul, that pic seems really pixelated?

 

 

[PaulN]

Paul, that pic seems really pixelated?

I "borrowed" it from another web site so no control this end.

 

 

[Guest David C]

Nothing a little bit of epoxy can't fix :;)2: ,

Yes a certain bloke over at The Oaks will have moulds made and have it back in the air in no time at all ... Just call 1800- makeamould ..

 

 

[pylon500]

Just call 1800- makeamould ..

Don't laugh, I've seen lots of this with fibreglass sailplanes!!

Just flop a mould off a good plane, then arrange all the left over crashed bits in the mould, and join together.

 

So, 21kts too much for the CT?

 

Arthur

 

 

[PaulN]

To aid understanding of this incident the following is a report offered by the pilots father. Makes for an interesting read and offers helpful tips for the rest of us, if we chose to learn from others' experiences.

 

Paul

 

RE: FDCT N22QT

 

My father taught me that that it isn't what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you know that simply ain't so. So before the many sources of misinformation fill the internet, I thought I'd give you some real information.

 

First, and most importantly, my son Daniel is fine, a few new cuts, scrapes and bruises. The rear bulkhead structure remained intact, Daniel remained securely belted in place, and the rest of the aircraft absorbed the impact. Your description of an intact egg in the middle of a debris field is most accurate. After the accident, Daniel was upside down. He released his seat belt, climbed out of the fuselage, a flagged down another aircraft. Then he called me to tell me that he was okay, but the airplane was pretty much destroyed.

 

Daniel is a student pilot, he has a total of 49.7 hours in his logbook, 18.1 hours in type, and had logged 55 landings. His logbook shows 8.1 hrs of solo in N22QT. His other time is in C-172 and a Diamond.

 

Daniel is 27 years old, and a Captain in the US Army. He is intelligent and an excellent student. He is relatively conservative in his self evaluation.

 

N22QT belongs to my wife and I. We ordered the aircraft at Sun & Fun within days of Flight Designs SLSA approval in 2005. We took delivery in November from John Dunham in Carson City, Nevada.

 

I am a Private Instrument pilot with 2000 hrs plus, primarily in complex single engine. About half of my time is in conventional gear. I have time in about 20 different types.

 

Daniel is unable to qualify for a standard medical certificate at this time. His medical issues are not a factor. Therefore he has been training for his Sport Pilot's License. In order to qualify someone on our insurance as an instructor, we sent a 1500 hour CFII instructor to Lancaster, Penn to be checked out in the CT by John Calla. In addition, we had the instructor fly an additional 8 hours to familiarize himself with the aircraft before giving instruction. And while waiting for this process to happen, Daniel obtained 4.8 hrs of instruction in a Katana. Prior to this instruction, Daniel had flown approximately 20 hours with me in the CT and had made numerous landings requiring little or no assistance. I am working on my Sport Instructor rating and used Daniel as a practice student.

 

Daniel training proceeded normally. He was well prepared for the lessons and made significant progress under the instructors guidance. By April 28th Daniel flew a "long" solo cross-country and completed the last requirement before his LSA checkride after 10.0 hrs of dual and 6.6 solo in type. Most of his practice was at Tipton.

 

On Sunday, April 29th at approx 00 EST Daniel took off from Tipton airport in Washington DC ADIZ. He had filed a flight plan from Tipton to the Deale practice area, and back. He departed the RWY 28 with winds 300 at 9. He proceeded to Deale and burned avgas for about an hour doing whatever student pilots do in a practice area. It was a beautiful spring day, slightly turbulent.

 

Daniel contacted Potomac approach and returned to Tipton airport. When he arrived back at Tipton, at about 10:30, the winds had increased to 9 with gusts to 14, from 350. At 10:30 I was 5 miles west of the airport walking out of church, and the wind was over 20 in an open area.

 

For those of you not familiar with Tipton, Tipton in a former Military airport also know as Fort Meade. It has one 3000 ft. runway, 10-28, and is surrounded by trees. When it's windy at Tipton the wind sock can dance about 90 degrees in the turbulance. The rotors and eddys off the trees can be interesting with any amount of wind.

 

Daniel considered going somewhere else to land but after considering his options decided that Tipton was as good of a choice as any. He decided to attempt a landing at Tipton. He flew the approach with one notch and maintained his airspeed around 60-65 because of the gusts.

 

Daniel would have landed with a crosswind component at or exceeding maximum. Crosswind was from the side opposite the pilot, "the light wing".

 

The landing was a challenge, and when he landed he was relieved to be rolling on the runway. For a few seconds at least he was rolling out. Because he had landed a bit long, and he needed to taxi to the end of the runway, he did not immediately apply brakes. Daniel specifically reported that he felt very relieved to have successfully landed. I estimate this relief probably translated into relaxing pressure on the controls, and possibly distraction of attention.

 

Within less than 10 seconds of landing, a gust lifted the right wing, then the entire aircraft, blowing the aircraft to the left and as the angle of bank increased the aircraft started to turn to the left. Daniel was now maybe 20-30 ft in the air, banking left towards the trees, heading 45% off the runway, turning downwind, well below stall speed. From this point forward, Daniel was just a passenger on his way to an airplane crash. In response, Daniel applied full power. The right wing continued to rise and as the aircraft rolled left. Within 200 ft of liftoff the left wing struck the ground with the aircraft moving 90 degrees to the runway. The left wing absorbed the energy by cleanly breaking the spar at the root.

 

Following impact of the left wing the fuselage rolled inverted and hit the ground at an angle greater than 45 degrees. The prop and engine were torn loose. It appears that the next impact was tail first because the horizontal stabilizer was stuck in the ground like a shovel.

 

The "egg" came to rest inverted with the right wing and engine groups loosely attached.

 

As reported above, the pilot released his belt and climbed out.

 

There were a number of contributing factors in this accident. The order I am listing these does not attempt to allocate relative importance.

 

1. Washington DC ADIZ - interfered with student training.

 

2. Washington DC ADIZ - interfered with students perception of options

 

3. Changing weather conditions.

 

4. Airport topography less than optimum.

 

5. Pilots Failure to use proper ground roll technique. IE. immediate application of brakes, full aileron into wind, -6 flaps on landing. resulting in loss of control on rollout.

 

The following are not factors.

 

1. Aircraft crosswind capabilities. (The aircraft was landed)

 

2. Student preparation (Student was aware of risks and acted appropriately)

 

3. Student judgement and self-assessment. (Student did attempt and successfully land in the crosswind)

 

4. Decision to add power. (Only added energy to the existing problem and relocated the debris field.)

 

Aviation is not inherently dangerous, but like the sea it is terribly unforgiving of inattention or neglect. Daniel did not have enough experience to appreciate the importance of reducing lift immediately upon landing in these condition. I firmly believe that this flaw in his education has now been completely remedied.

 

As soon as the dust settles, my wife and I will be purchasing another FDCT. It is an exceptionally good and honest airplane. I decided it would be an excellent trainer for my sons because once someone has mastered a CT, he can fly heavier singles with relative ease. The CT requires you to learn how to use all of the control surfaces correctly, to be an honest pilot. It may not be the easiest SLSA trainer to fly, but if you learn in a CT, you'll have very good skills and habits. I enjoy flying the CT, it flys as well as my C-180 and it’s easier to wipe the bugs off. I have found no gremlins in the behavior of the aircraft. It is a very capable aircraft when flown correctly. A FDCT is like a C-180, when the prop is turning, you need to pay attention.

 

Thank you for all your help and support. I’ll keep you updated if any other information comes available. The FAA visited the crash site immediately and will issue a report. NTSB didn’t care because there were no bodies.

 

Orlo Ellison

 

 

[bushpilot]

Gosh! What a quality report! Detailed yet succinct, and written in language that even I could understand... Some really sound lessons here.

 

Lucky guy to have a Dad so into aviation.

 

Chris