Two interesting pics

[Guest SAJabiruflyer]

Got sent these today, pretty interesting pics. One can only hope all involved came out ok.

 

 

 

 

[Owi]

Crikey! What a snap pic #2 is. Yes - hope they're ok.

 

Pic #1 looks as if the photographer was hanging out the side of the plane. I wonder what was going through those two gents' minds ?

 

 

[Guest SAJabiruflyer]

Crikey! What a snap pic #2 is. Yes - hope they're ok.Pic #1 looks as if the photographer was hanging out the side of the plane. I wonder what was going through those two gents' minds ?

...you'd hope the last thing going thru their minds wasnt the other plane's prop!

 

 

[Spin]

I think no.1 was taken in South Africa, bloke in RHS is John Miller, the photographer who caught the extremely low B707 pass in Harare that has featured here before. Photo taken from a doorless C182 for one of the aviation mags, I think it did quite well on A.net as well. The same team have a similar photo of the first RV12 completed over there as well, may have a copy somewhere in my photofiles.

 

No.2 is quite a well known action shot; nose dragging RV suffered nose leg failure at a fly in, somewhere in the UK from memory. I saw somewhere that the aircraft had been repaired and was flying again.

 

 

[Guest SAJabiruflyer]

Good to have some background, they were in amongst a heap of other photo's in a PowerPoint I got sent.

 

 

[av8vfr]

I have seen #2 before...some comments were "tail dragger that hit the brakes too hard" and the "nose gear fail".

 

But for me the interesting items are the map on the canopy and the full flaps.

 

It does look like a wing stall, nose-in incident, considering that the first prop blade seperation has just occurred in the pic, where a nose over would have sheared all 3 blades to get to this pitch attitude.

 

Even at taxi RPM the prop would have had several bites at the ground before it gets vertical like this pic.

 

I don't know the outcome of this event and google-ing DRM (rego in pic) hasn't shed any light.

 

This photo, none the less, our reaction that would represent any of us in exactly the same situation.

 

 

[Spin]

I did a little more digging around, photo 1 was taken by John Miller and features ZU-RRV.

 

Photo 2 was taken in the UK in 2007 and apparently shows an RV-7A, G-CDRM turning over. I found a photo of the aftermath, according to the caption the aircraft was rolling out after touch down when the nose wheel dug into a soft spot on the runway, the leg failed and over she went.

 

 

 

[av8vfr]

Cheers Spin,

 

Must have been a quick roll, but glad it wasn't a stall-dive as it appeared. Seems like I wouldn't be a good accident investigator after all....lol

 

I hope no life injuries were an outcome of this event. The plane can be re-built..

 

Matt

 

 

[Spin]

It seems in this case the photog got it right, eye witnesses to these things are however notoriously unreliable because they tend to interpret what they have seen or half see. Here is a link to accident investigation report - I see they reckon the surface was dry n firm, undulations caused the nose gear to flex and the fork to dig in. Probably the source of much of what you hear about Van's supposedly delicate nose gear?

 

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Vans%20RV-7A,%20G-CDRM%2010-07.pdf

 

 

[RetiredRacer]

Hi Guys,

 

Here is a video, first showing the repaired RV7a, the crash and some stills of the incident. Vans Aircraft posted a statement saying that the owner contacted them with drawings etc of how he was going to install a larger wheel to the front leg. They advised him against this as it would put more stress on the front leg.

 

 

 

[Spin]

Thanks for the video link RR, I hadn't seen the other photos in the series - wonder whether the photog made any money from those? I found a copy of the RV-12 shot which copied the pose in #1 - seems some of the same team from SA Flyer were responsible.

 

 

 

[eightyknots]

Hi Guys,Here is a video, first showing the repaired RV7a, the crash and some stills of the incident. Vans Aircraft posted a statement saying that the owner contacted them with drawings etc of how he was going to install a larger wheel to the front leg. They advised him against this as it would put more stress on the front leg.

 

I first saw that nose-in-the-ground picture early this year and I was wondering how this happened. The video explained it well. Thank RR!

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Hi Guys,Here is a video, first showing the repaired RV7a, the crash and some stills of the incident. Vans Aircraft posted a statement saying that the owner contacted them with drawings etc of how he was going to install a larger wheel to the front leg. They advised him against this as it would put more stress on the front leg.

 

Vans should just send him a tailwheel kit. problem fixed.

 

 

[Aussie Steve]

"Out of Airspeed, Altitude and Ideas".....all at the same time!!!

 

 

ANY LANDING YOU CAN WALK AWAY FROM IS A GOOD LANDING!

 

 

 

IF THE AIRCRAFT WAS REUSABLE IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN EXCEPTIONAL LANDING! Is this what they call impact absorbing structure?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spin]

And I bet the foul fiend had exceeded 60 deg of bank too!

 

That sequence of photos is amazing, all the more so when you consider that the pilot got away with a cracked vertebra and made a full recovery - something to be said for a good composite airframe perhaps?

 

 

[Aussie Steve]

Yes Spin..a very lucky fellow. He could have "at best" become a quadraplegic !

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Good chance that rig saved him from further back injury.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Ouch, It hurt to look through that sequence. I'm sure the composite structure did a good job of absorbing impact forces. Wondering just how he got in the position in the first photo however, too slow airspeed resulting in a wing drop and stall ??.................................................Maj...

 

 

[Spin]

 

Should answer your question Maj - not pretty!

 

 

[pudestcon]

Looks to me like he had a problem and released from the tug to recover the situation - very unstable looking when returning downwind, as if fighting the controls.

 

Pud

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Possibly a premature tow-line break leading to a rather untidy attempt to land safely old chap !...............................Maj...

 

 

[Spin]

Dug up a bit more background on this one - I had thought, watching the video that he was dropping pretty fast on downwind, putting him in a position of not much airspeed, very little height and possibly not too many options either right where he began his turn onto runway heading.

 

I now read that he had been doing rolls behind the tug and had ended up with slack in the tow rope and deployed the airbrakes right before he released. They remained extended for most of the downwind run, hence the steeper glidepath, not sure if that was intentional but whatever, the nett result was insufficient surplus energy at the base turn and the inevitable bang, much like the classic stall-spin in a botched forced landing. I wonder whether the unusually high ground speed on downwind caught him out?

 

 

 

 

 

[Aussie Steve]

Dug up a bit more background on this one - I had thought, watching the video that he was dropping pretty fast on downwind, putting him in a position of not much airspeed, very little height and possibly not too many options either right where he began his turn onto runway heading.I now read that he had been doing rolls behind the tug and had ended up with slack in the tow rope and deployed the airbrakes right before he released. They remained extended for most of the downwind run, hence the steeper glidepath, not sure if that was intentional but whatever, the nett result was insufficient surplus energy at the base turn and the inevitable bang, much like the classic stall-spin in a botched forced landing. I wonder whether the unusually high ground speed on downwind caught him out?

 

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Good work Spin. Yes he looked to be trying to preserve what little inertia he had left to get himself into the wind and ran out of it.

 

We had a Supa Cat end up the same way at YKAT a few years ago with very much the same result. The classic turn back to the runway with insufficient height with EFATO.

 

Actually the tug looks very much like a Super Cat in the vid.

 

 

[kaz3g]

I have seen #2 before...some comments were "tail dragger that hit the brakes too hard" and the "nose gear fail"..

It seems like it is an RV7A that had a nosegear failure

 

kaz