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Is there any publicly available information yet which may shed some light on the cause of this accident? Just a week or so after this tragic accident it appears that a Pitts had an engine failure near Camden. I heard it landed safely thankfully.
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I Might Stall If I Turn Downwind. Myth Busted.
Mazda replied to farri's topic in Student Pilot & Further Learning
An aicraft can stall at high speed. I've also seen zero on the ASI and counted a bit, but the aircraft is not yet stalled. The aircraft sure will stall with the stick forward, I've done it. If the pilot has only been taught to push the stick forward to recover, they could end up holding the aircraft in an inverted stall. The aircraft will not be stalled (upright or inverted) if the critical angle has not been exceeded - so if you are ever unsure put the stick in a neutral position. It then cannot be in an upright or inverted stall. -
Airsick at least there is a runway 30 at CB, that wouldn't be too bad! It was lovely in Sydney today - high 20s, very little wind. :thumb_up:
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Oh Bob, I didn't go online yesterday so I've just seen this. I'm so sorry the yellow pill is no more, but like everyone else I'm pleased that you are safe. Was this near the Oaks?
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If only it were the luxury of 1000 knots! "Reheat, reheat, go!"
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I was taught to use 6 minute markers like Yenn. At my 100 knot cruise speed, that also works out to be 10 miles. The best of both worlds? :thumb_up:
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Flying by the seat of your pants It's good to learn the feel of being in balance. When flying straight and level apply rudder and feel how your bottom is heavier on one side. Confirm this with balance ball, use rudder to re-balance and feel how the weight is the same on both sides of your rear end. Try it again with the other rudder. Remember that feeling. If you ever feel your rear end getting heavy on one side, you'll know you are out of balance without even looking down in the cockpit. Correct with rudder, confirm with the ball. It works when turning. Look out first (including behind you because you are turning that way, and above and below in case anyone is climbing or descending), then smoothly roll with reference to the horizon while looking out and through the turn. Keep the turn balanced with rudder. You'll learn to feel it, and a quick glance down can confirm angle of bank and ball centred. Hold the nose on the required attitude and let it cut a level path around the horizon. The steeper the turn, the more you'll need to pull it around that horizon. (For really steep turns it feels like you roll to a certain bank angle then keep that bank on and pull the aircraft around the turn).
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Heartfelt condolences to all of your family.
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Darren if it was an engine failure, the Pitts glides like a brick. Maybe they were going for the road and hit a tree on the way down. Maybe they had jammed controls. Maybe anything. Fortunately one of them is OK, and that is the best news. Hopefully he'll shed some light on it when he is able to do so.
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I also heard that about no smell of fuel (maybe the same source?) but he is also the one who said he'd heard that the 2nd pilot may not have made it. I really wouldn't like to speculate about the cause of this one. I can think of lots of things that may have happened, but I really have no idea what did happen. My only hope is that if it is something that could happen to others that preliminary information is released quickly. The Nationals are on this Easter, not to mention others flying Pitts regularly. The ATSB seem to take a very long time though.
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Yes!! A big one! (But it is around my hips).
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That's a great point about responsibility Nev. I think we are taught to "obey" ATC so much that we can forget the final decision is always with us, and we can say we require a certain runway or that conditions don't suit. It reminds me of that terrible accident in the UK where the controllers overwhelmed a poor young student who ended up crashing. If you don't like what ATC are suggesting, say so. It is the safety of the pilot and passengers on the line, not the controllers!
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Flyer I hope that is right too. I have fingers, toes and everything else crossed that the second person is OK.
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I've now heard that both people may not have made it, but I don't know if that is true. Condolences to the families.
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OK Chris. When landing you would have a higher groundspeed, and may also have some crosswind from behind. Some tailwheel aircraft would be an absolute nightmare, especially if the wind happened to be a quartering tailwind. I wouldn't want to be in a Pitts S2A, it would be trying to rapidly swap ends at well over a normal freeway driving speed. For take off there would be a longer ground run and degraded climb performance. If I happened to be flying a low performance aircraft at MTOW on a hot day, from a high elevation airfield and perhaps with obstacles on the climb out, it could be problematic. Tailwheel aircraft are not fun in a tailwind. I once (and once only) accepted a slight tailwind for a take off in a not very difficult tailwheel aircraft and was amazed at how much longer it took for the tail to come up, how poorly it handled and how much longer the ground run was. I wouldn't like to do that again.
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Fantastic!
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Darren in the US airline aircraft do not get priority, it is first in first served. The Rex pilots have flown GA too and no doubt realise that a 10 knot downwind in some types is an accident waiting to happen. If I was established in the circuit in such an aircraft, as pilot in command I would not compromise the safety of MY passengers by landing in conditions unsuitable for my aircraft. If I chose to accept the tailwind, the resulting accident would be my fault as PIC. However having said that, if you read my earlier post, you'll see that of course I adjust my circuit to allow them in out of courtesy. Here's one that I thought was a bit rude though - it wasn't RPT but it was a bigger aircraft. I called taxying for a certain runway. No reply. I called entering and backtracking, no reply, circuit clear. I entered and started backtracking, then an inbound Chieftain called up nearby, saying he was going to join for the reciprocal runway. I told him I was already backtracking on the other runway. He joined midfield crosswind for his preferred runway, and I ended up climbing out upwind with him on final - yes, facing me. I had him sighted the whole time and he had me sighted so there was never any chance of us colliding, but I thought it was bl**dy stupid.
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It sounds great! Unfortunately I wasn't there, but there's a trip report on where I was on the GA site.
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The rule is NOT to give way to them. The regulations actually state that they have to give way to circuit traffic, so in theory they have to give way to us. However, like others on here I'm more inclined to adjust my flight to accommodate them. I try to do this out of courtesy. However those pilots are not the ones paying for fuel, so they should consider the private owners who do. It still costs us to wait, and it sure can compromise safety if we are forced to change circuit direction to accept a tailwind. Merv, as I've said before, your best defence is to look out. Put away your nav gear and concentrate on the circuit. Look above, below, closer, wider, extended legs of the circuit, straight in approach paths. Radio is great and can certainly help in the circuit, but don't think the aircraft on radio are the only ones in the circuit! If there is no Unicom or beep back there's no way of telling that your radio is working either. Saabs are big things, easier to spot than smaller types. They have two crew on board and (again, in theory) they should not have both crew head down in the cockpit.
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Keeping your eyes out of the cockpit when you haven't got the traffic sighted is vital. The whiz wheel is a great tool, but I wouldn't recommend using it when looking out for traffic!
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Facthunter that is very true regarding some sort of confirmation you are on frequency. Doesn't Taree have an AFRU though? Merv, is that still the case? If there is an AFRU there the airline crew should have been very suspicious if they didn't get the beep. That's another reason they should have checked the frequency. The TCAS obviously only works if other aircraft has a transponder, which not all do. The biggest lesson here is to look out! Radio alerting is a real help but it isn't the only answer. There could be aircraft without radio, on the wrong frequency, or people giving incorrect position reports. I've often heard people saying they are inbound from the south when they are actually heading south (i.e. they are to the north), and I've heard people fudging circuit calls saying they are "turning base" when they are closer to turning final.
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People in aviation reform have been trying to introduce offset tracking for many years for exactly this reason. The plan from way back in the 1990s was for aircraft (on IFR two way routes particulary) to track something like 0.2 miles to the right of track. I think there was even an AIP sup out on it at one time. The only reason it was never really accepted was because some airline pilots thought that "professional" pilots should be bang on track, flying right in the centre of the airway. There was enough resistance to stop it being universally accepted. It's not quite such an issue when flying VFR from random airports to other random airports in VMC when you can see out of the window!
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Merv did you contact the ATSB?
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Ultralight crashes, bursts into flames at Morwell
Mazda replied to a topic in AUS/NZ General Discussion
It's terribly sad. -
Another thought - please don't be too angry with the Rex crew because pilot can make that sort of mistake, even multi-crew airline pilots. (Although I don't think he should have spoken to you like that). I still think it would be a good idea for you to lodge a report with the ATSB.