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Stearman down Shellharbour airport 09 Mar 2024


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Just after midday today 9/3/24 Stearman overturned on runway. No injuries reported

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Bit embarrassing for someone. They  were  (Boeing Stearman) the basic trainer in the US pre WW2. She''ll fly again.  That's at  HARS. The aerodrome I made my first flight in a vertical tail C 172 in 1958 near Albion Park Rail.. It was a TIF and the guy just let me fly it. 8+ years of aeromodelling must have helped. I knew NOTHING. I went into a bit of cloud and he said WE are not allowed to fly in clouds, so I just turned and flew out of it. Pretty cool dude, that instructor.  I  didn't even log it as I had no log book. Very much a spur of the Moment thing but I'd been hanging around planes at District Park and using their workshop for 4 years at least. before that.. Later when I got legal I took an aeromodelling mate up in a DH 82 and he flew it straight off except for the Landing. I reckon he might have soloed in a couple of hours at the most.  Nev

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I strongly recommend HARS by the way and the home cooked style food is excellent. It's staffed by volunteers who do it because they are devoted to the Cause.   Nev

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I dont think this is a HARS aircraft. Last I saw it was operating from Warnervale NSW. Colour scheme is for a recall aircraft.

 

 

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Its a Boeing; police are taking notes... "cause of incident; Boeing", "supporting evidence... castle nut found on ground at Crown & Kembla by member of public.... other circumstances noted; "windows and doors missing..."

Edited by Area-51
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2 hours ago, Methusala said:

Could this be a result of brakes locked on touchdown?

It could be, but highly unlikely. They can be a handful on sealed runways. The clowns running council airports see operations on the grass within the flight strip akin to hoons tearing up grass on their precious footy fields. They fail to understand these aircraft were designed to operate from grass / gravel fields and don’t comprehend the physics associated with tailwheel airplanes. I’ll guarantee this incident would not have happened had he been landing on the grass to the west of RWY 34. 

 

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How else does a tail-dragger flip on its back, in line with the centreline of the runway, except for excessive braking? New owner, still learning how to fly it, only bought it this year, and only just registered it.

If it had ground looped and flipped, I wouldn't expect it to end up in line with the runway - and I saw no tyre skidmarks that would indicate a ground loop.

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1 hour ago, Roundsounds said:

The clowns running council airports see operations on the grass within the flight strip akin to hoons tearing up grass on their precious footy fields.

Early in my time with the Volksplane I landed at Wagga for fuel. It was about 34deg with small thermals popping off the strip. I ve4ry nearly groundlooped with one wing lifting as the bitumen grabbed one tyre. Since then i carried an aversion to bitumen and landed on the grass.

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39 minutes ago, onetrack said:

How else does a tail-dragger flip on its back, in line with the centreline of the runway, except for excessive braking? New owner, still learning how to fly it, only bought it this year, and only just registered it.

If it had ground looped and flipped, I wouldn't expect it to end up in line with the runway - and I saw no tyre skidmarks that would indicate a ground loop.

Agree, what I don’t agree with is the suggestion the aircraft landed with the “brakes locked on touchdown”. 

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And a plane spotter who was photographing planes landing at Shellharbour, just happened to catch all the action, and is a star eyewitness.

 

He told ABC News he watched as the Stearmans tail came right up and over, halfway along the runway. He's indicated it wasn't a ground loop, and he said it looked like excessive braking.

 

WWW.ABC.NET.AU

A man and woman in their 50s have avoided serious injury after the 1940s plane they were flying overturned at Shellharbour Airport in NSW.

 

Edited by onetrack
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Interesting - The comments about gras V sealed runway.

 

I did the first few test flight hours in my tail wheel Sonex off a sealed runway - all good. Then I transferred the aircraft to an all grass airfield - all good.

Next 50 + hrs were all on grass. 

Just recently tried a few touch & goes, followed by a landing,on a sealed strip -  awful. All over the shop. Thought it might have been the slight down slope and the relativly narrow runway, throwing out my judgement - probably was BUT now you raise another possibility. 

I will have to do some (lots) more sealed strip landings, to get my skill level up to the equal of landing on a nice wide grass runway.

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What engine is fitted to it? It makes a difference to how nice to fly they are and when the throttle is closed the elevator doesn't have a lot of ability to keep the tail low as the U/C is quite long and the brakes quite effective. The prop tips look bent back.  Nev

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16 minutes ago, facthunter said:

What engine is fitted to it? It makes a difference to how nice to fly they are and when the throttle is closed the elevator doesn't have a lot of ability to keep the tail low as the U/C is quite long and the brakes quite effective. The prop tips look bent back.  Nev

Yep.

430895348_1183255716062677_1097908434494071202_n.jpg

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1 hour ago, facthunter said:

What engine is fitted to it? It makes a difference to how nice to fly they are and when the throttle is closed the elevator doesn't have a lot of ability to keep the tail low as the U/C is quite long and the brakes quite effective. The prop tips look bent back.  Nev

I believe a 275HP Jacobs with a CSU. 

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The Tiger had NO brakes  and the steel tailskid  wouldn't make it turn on a sealed surface  A lot are now modified. Brakes with the mainwheels a bit further forward.   Nev

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5 hours ago, Methusala said:

Mate of mine with a Tigermoth said,"Rubber is too expensive to land on bitumen."

A ground loop is more likely on a sealed runway, ground loops can be way more expensive than rubber. 

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