boleropilot

Best news report of a light aircraft accident I have EVER seen. Factual and reasonably unsensationalistic.

 

 

Actually, the media did a pretty good job for once, perhaps upside down isn’t accurate, but I think we can all see that, and the aircraft did hit trees before hitting the ground, the aircraft has hit trees and has yet to hit the ground , so that means it hit trees before hitting the ground. The passenger is also a qualified pilot, not just a passenger, and finally, they were not trying to land at Yarram, they were trying to land in the open field just beyond the trees. The pilot’s only crime was to misjudge the aircraft’s gliding ability with a dead engine... and who really knows how well their aircraft will glide with a stopped prop? I know I wouldn’t. Stretching the glide leads to stall spin loss of control at low level. The best thing the pilot did was NOT try to stretch the glide. A controlled impact with trees is much better than a stall spin impact with the ground. Finally, we do not know what altitude they were at when the engine failed, we do not know the wind direction, the weather or any number of details that may have led the crew to believe that the paddock they were aiming for was their best choice. So please don’t judge what you think you know, just hope that the next light aircraft accident that hits the media results in a similar successful outcome. The aeroplane can be replaced, the lives can not.

FACTUAL?????? and is unsensationalisticismy a word? sorry did I spell that wrong? the media did a pretty good job for once? you've lost me m8, we live on different planets.

as for judging what I think I know, all I have done is to take into account the information presented and make some comments on that information - something that most members of this fine forum do on a regular basis, until we have ALL the correct information - and then we can say "aha, I was wrong, but from prior information given it was a fair assumption to suggest what might have happened"

I'm looking forward to more accurate facts on the incident

BP

mein Gott is there no end to the ridiculous garbage that is published by the "media" ??? the following are from the channel 9 reports - let me know if you can make any sense of these quotes from the "reporter", taking into account photos/video/pilot statements:

"the aircraft was left dangling upside down in the trees"

"the aircraft crashed into trees before hitting the ground"

"the plane is completely upside down"

it's a terrible shame the passenger was seriously injured from the fall to the ground after releasing his harness - perhaps the smoke in the cockpit convinced him a fire was a distinct possibility. the other question must be with the young pilots' choice of landing options - with what looks like reasonable options for a relatively 'safe' outlanding, focussing on getting back to the airfield may not have been the best option under the circumstances (photos show the aircraft crash site very close to the airfield). my instructor never ceased to check on my 'engine out' responses, constantly goading me to 'stretch the glide'. having said that, expecting a low hour pilot to make perfect decisions in a very stressful situation is probably asking a little too much. so glad they both got out of it with their lives, hope the passenger has a quick recovery.

as for the pilot - get back on the horse asap m8 and put this behind you, and learn from any misteaks you may have made.

BP

some interesting comments in this thread...first time I got on a horse I was appalled to discover the way I was supposed to stop it was to pull on a little leather strap and, as my instructor said, "hope for the best". didn't turn out well.

I've ridden a lot of motorcycles over the years, had many close calls - I was lucky. one thing about comparing flying to driving is that in the sky, 747s don't ever fly towards you at a closing speed of 200kph and miss you by - oh, about two metres. unless you make a tiny navigational error and end up flying over an international airport. at least you will know that the multi tonne machine that just flew past you in the opposite direction has a highly trained professional sitting up front - and that's all I've got to say about that.

from my old skydiving days: "geez Dave, isn't that dangerous?" me: "the most dangerous thing about skydiving is the trip to and from the airport!!!"

as for ladders - they are the most dangerous mongrel bits of gear I've ever used, but the last 'encounter' was purely 'operator error'

scenario: hmm, I need to drill a hole way up there - aha, I know, I will place the ladder on that platform that is about 1.5 metres above the concrete floor, then I shall use a ladder to get up there another 1.5 metres to drill the hole. now, what ladder shall I use - aha, there's a ladder right next to me, I shall use that. It's a piece of crap and very wonky, but it would take me all of TWO GOD DAMN MINUTES to go and get the brand new $200 one I bought to replace the crap one.

anyone care to guess what happened next? let's just say I don't recommend the injuries known as: cracked ribs, broken ribs, and punctured lungs....and yes, of course I ended up on the concrete, after first bouncing off the platform

my wife now jokes that when I say I'm heading off to the shed to do some work, she get's the first aid kit out and keeps a phone with 000 on speed dial handy. she never bothered to do that when I jumped out of perfectly good aircraft/rode motorcycles/flew my paraglider/flew my Drifter...

BP

ah it's just a little flu - just ask Bolsonaro (the Butcher of Brazil)

gonna be a LOT of deaths, and (according to The Butcher) the Amazon Indians aren't worth saving, even though they "appear to getting more human every day"

and one more small comment, just in case you weren't sure he is a moron - he's a Trump fan !!!

BP

There was one at Omaka near Blenheim in NZ, I did here they were making slow progress on restoring it to flying status.

yeah I remember walking through that one and thinking they had a long way to go - they were asking for donations so I put ten bucks in - twood be wonderful to see that big beastie in the sky again

BP

just ask the guys from Clifton, Lone Eagle Flying School, Trevor Bange CFI, they will know for sure

BP

We will never have military type circuits. There's a few reasons why we have traditional circuits apart from allowing multiple A/C to be able to join the Std circuit at the same time from diff directions one other main reason is being able to locate another A/C in the circuit from their position report especially whilst waiting at the holding point.

Can't see why it can't be done - if I'm turning onto base other pilots will look to that area and expect me to be there - they don't expect to see me doing a perfect little ninety degree turn and then straighten up - same goes for my call to say I am turning onto final - they will see me in a descending turn towards the runway and in a few seconds they will see me lined up with the runway. From my experience I have to say that it's unlikely to find an aircraft where they say they are, even in the circuit.

I know of pilots that deliberately move the aircraft offline immediately after liftoff to give them a better chance of getting back to the 'field if it gets quiet suddenly and as long as they have enough height to get back safely, it works for me...and them

I understand the 'military' turn after downwind can't be used at busy airfields, especially those with numerous training aircraft present. At the sort of 'field a lot of us fly at, for me it's a safer procedure and one I will follow IF I ever get the chance to slip the surly bonds once more

BP

one of the things I liked about the Drifter is the way they land, at least the way I was taught to land one - throttle off at end of downwind (at which stage the Drifter feels like it hit a brick wall), stick forward fast, I always kept the nose well down and flew fast (50 knots) all the way to threshold, washing off the last 20 knots in a three point attitude.

when I hear about this kind of accident it's just so upsetting, such a terrible waste and my condolences to the pilots family. I've read a lot about stall turns in the circuit and I wonder if it's about time we started introducing the 'military' circuit, with a nice big semi-circle after the end of the downwind leg.

RIP the Osprey pilot, tailwinds and clear skies m8.

B,P.

" Seeing a couple of guys have mentioned motorcycles, I will too - a long time ago, Kawasaki brought out a machine called GPZ900 - or something like that.. "

how would this go !.

[ATTACH type=full" alt="48PotKawasaki.jpg]53079[/ATTACH]48pot

spacesailor

interesting - my last motorcycle was the six cylinder 1,000cc Honda CBX - mein Gott you should have heard the sound that machine made at redline through aftermarket six into two exhausts - not quite as sweet as the recent V10 Formula One cars at 18,000 rpm but not far from it

BP

I used to work for an Aeromedical outfit years ago, got plenty of 'customers' from the crazies on bikes! The saddest part was witnessing the parents of said crazy mourning their brain dead sons!

gee, thanks for the insult, much appreciated....

BP

I once tried to break the speed record from Melbourne to Sydney. One had to fly over Essendon at 1000ft and over arrive Mascot at 1000ft. I was flying a Avon Sabre and climbed into a jet stream above 40,000ft. I managed to do it in 45 minutes 35 seconds, just 21 seconds outside the record. As far as flying slow, I was once flying over the great lake in Tasmania and my track to Devonport was 338 degrees. My heading to make that track was 270, yes 68 degrees of drift. My IAS was 130 kt and the wind speed was up round 80 +kt.

Hey Orf, I guess you heard about the Sabre that was doing some 'low flying' through the Gold Coast hinterland...

The pilot hit an unseen (obviously!) high voltage cable, snapped it but he managed to get the aircraft back to Amberley, where it is now on display at their museum

When you stand at the front of the aircraft you can plainly see the impact damage (repaired) across the middle of the air intake

Lucky guy, methinks, that pilot.....nearly ripped the canopy off

BP

Seeing a couple of guys have mentioned motorcycles, I will too - a long time ago, Kawasaki brought out a machine called GPZ900 - or something like that...

I worked for a motorcycle shop and my 'company vehicle' was one of these beasties

I wanted to see how it would go through the gears at redline, so I went up to the top of the Brisbane freeway, turned around and headed back down towards BrisVegas

Redlined it through the gears, in fourth it was still rock steady but getting scary fast - changed into top (6th) and glanced down at the speedo a few seconds later..

240km/h and it was still going - nearly needed an undie change after that.....

BP

There's one alongside a McDonalds somewhere in New Zealand - it's been converted to a 'diner', complete with a Perspex wall where the cockpit wall should be so you can see what remains of the dashboard - might have some pics of it somewhere.

Kiwi can probably tell you what town it's in

BP

that twin at saint marten - just crazy - I was yelling GO AROUND! before he even passed the half way point

on the flightsim I've landed here many times and it's always a great feeling when you get it spot on - actually quite hard to do in a light twin, btw

easy in a Twotter or Porter, after seeing that video I thought I could do better in a twin - took me quite a while to get it done - but I went around when it wasn't going to happen !!!

look at some of the videos on YouTube and see the way some of those Twotter guys fly down the hill on short final - terrific skills...

BP

sorry guys, I posted before reading all those already made - my bad

news report video (never to be believed of course) stated carbon fibre aircraft and an emergency parachute that "failed to open"

firies on site were wearing full breathing apparatus due to "burnt carbon fibre emitting material similar to asbestos particles"

BP

Would have been a doddle in a Drifter - brilliant piloting, with that kind of professionalism he's as safe as he can be in New Guinea...

BP

should have diverted - if the gear had come up through the wings there would have been one giant fireball - if that's how Emirates fly I won't fly with them

not flying any more, sad but....gotta say the thing that scared me most was who else was up there with me....didn't matter if it was near an airport, miles from anywhere, 1,000 feet or 5,000, I always thought that if 'it' happened that would be the cause. I had faith in myself and my aircraft, but the big unknown is simply whether or not I was going to be at the same place and time as someone else.....I'm just sayin'

BP

Please note I am commenting here only from flight simulator experience: I have written hundreds of flightsim articles for Oz aviation magazines, including Australian Flying, Aviator, and Australian Pilot. I always do as much 'real world' research on specific areas before writing articles, and NZ does have a certain reputation for slipping the surly bonds in such mountainous terrain. NZ authorities are aware of this and have published some terrific information on how to aviate safely in this environment in a 'small' aircraft.

The sim I use is Microsoft FSX, due to be replaced by a super duper new version this year. As with all flightsim stuff, if you want top class reality you have to pay for it - there are some brilliant payware scenery packages available for NZ, the one I use is Orbx. I wrote an article for Australian Pilot using the abovementioned software, for a navex from Te Anau, north alongside Lake Te Anau, west towards Fiordland and then north to Milford Sound. The interesting thing about this flight is that if you want to land at Milford Sound airfield from the east you have to turn right out of the last canyon, then fly a little along another canyon, do a 360 degree turnback to the left (in a canyon intersection) and then set up for final approach - all at low altitude, with huge rock walls at your wingtips. Not for the faint hearted.

Flight simulation is a game. No argument there. But if you want to see what it's like to fly in NZ, do yourself a favour and get into flight simming. Be warned - it is addictive...

BP

PS can a moderator transfer this post to the Flight Sim section for me? Thanks !

Bonus points if you can pronounce Whangarei correctly by time you get back here. (I'll be testing ewe.)

There's a bloke who flies a red Drifter out of Gatton who got into trouble at NZ Customs when he was trying to board a plane for his trip back to the West Island.

The Customs officer saw something move inside his rather large soft bag and asked him "what's in the bag, bro?" The reply was "just a wooly jumper".....

It certainly was - her name was Baaaaabraaaa…….

BP

g'day Clive - you've arrived in Oz at a very interesting time - remember the poem that mentions "drought, and flooding rain" - it left out bushfires!!! in fact you've turned up just after most of that nastiness, all that green stuff you can see on the ground wasn't here a month ago...

if you like 'country' flying with all the benefits that brings you might want to check out these guys at Boonah (about two hours drive from Brisbane, but a 'nice' drive, not through traffic).

https://airsportqld.com.au/

they do have aircraft for hire but the big deal is the scenery and the extremely quiet flying environment. There is also a club based on the airfield (The Flying Tigers) and they have a reputation of being one of the friendliest clubs in Oz. The gliding club based on the airfield makes weekend flying more interesting...

there's some lovely accomodation around Boonah if you're thinking about an overnighter too. I am biased, but imho Boonah is definitely worth a look.

happy flying m8, and welcome to Oz

Boleropilot

they're out there all right - I'll make this short because I may have already mentioned it on this forum - when I was at Oakey back in the '70s we had a problem with an old fella who didn't like the idea of the 'new fangled controlled airspace' right in the middle of one of his favourite tracks, from his place to his mates place...

every now and then he'd turn up, he started to fly low (I mean fence height) in the hope we wouldn't spot him. I was in the tower one day when he was spotted, the controller said "Johnny, is that you out to the north of the 'field? - you know you're supposed to get clearance to fly through here" - and (believe it or not) a voice came over the radio 'nah it's not me mate, I'm not anywhere near Oakey today'....

they decided they would go out to his farm and have a man to man with him - in the process they stumbled across an 'old' Cessna, 180 I think, cobbled together with fencing wire and looking like something out of a junkyard - apparently he was very proud of his 'old girl'. They noted the rego and later found out it hadn't been registered for over 10 years....

BP

thank the Lord - scared me for a minute...

my poor old 582 (3,500 + hours, a lot of them spent chasing sheep and checking bores) has been sold as a basket case due to needing a lot of work, including new skins

sold to a consortium of Drifter Drivers, one of them a genius by the name of Manfred.  she's been rebuilt in Boonah and looks like she came out of the factory yesterday

as for a Drifter for me?  at this stage the only one I will be in command of is the 6 foot wingspan radio control model I will build - soon !  with electric power no less.....

I happen to have a nice little 200 metre landing strip in my back yard, so.....