Engine failure & hard landing video

[Old Koreelah]

Its true Lyle. Diesel ok, no hisseys. Flight tests ok so warbirds over Wanaka in a couple of days. All as you say. Chas

Good to hear, Chas. Your diesel Jodel needs its own thread. One issue I am interested in is how you cope with fuel wax during temp changes.

 

 

[Teckair]

O the ROAD part - but landing on something which is not flat/smooth while having engine power AND finding it difficult is in itself problematic.

Have you done it yourself? With a tail wheel? I suspect not. At one time I needed to land on a road multiple times, I checked the part of road in question on the ground first for wires and obstacles. Before landing I circled above the road to try and make sure there were no cars coming from both directions this was not as easy as you might imagine. Then when you think it is all clear, (and I had to wait for traffic to clear some times,) you had to get down on the road as quick as possible before more traffic came along. Despite these precautions one time while I was taxying to a driveway I had permission to use a car did appear and drive under the wing. I found the easiest part was the actual touch down but there was so much more to it than that. There are many different road situations some better than others but to make a blanket statement as you have done just backs up my earlier statement which I got condemned for from several people.

 

 

[flying dog]

At one time I needed to land on a road multiple times,

 

That doesn't make sense.

 

At ONE time you needed to land on a road MULTIPLE times.... Hmmmmmmm.

 

Irrespective if I have or not, I was meerly (?) pointing out the self evident problem in the original statement.

 

If the situation dictates you need to land, and you - as PIC - have chosen the road, then you have to commit to it.

 

If it is not a good option, then pick a better one. Don't quibble on about "I have and you haven't" and go on about the difficulty. YOU chose to land on the road. NOT ME!

 

Learn from other people's mistakes.

 

You won't live long enough to do them all yourself.

 

 

[Captaincoop]

First thing he should have done nose down, that should have been instinct, next tighten the bloody harness as tight as you can. I didn't see him try to re start the engine or look to check fuel valves etc. Maybe he new more about the amount of fuel he had or lack of it that meant both those things was only going to waste his time. No radio maybe so no mayday. Low level turn with no engine when not required, bloody madness. He survived by luck and that's not the way it's meant to be. What should he have done can be summed up in one sentence, take control of the situation, aggressively if required and make it happen. He should have side slipped that plane to the flare and given himself the whole paddock to sit it on the ground. So to sum it up He let it happen. He did not take control he let it happen. BAD. Have I had an engine fail yes I have. Did I do any better well no not really. I did well with some things BUT I failed to take control to a level that is required to save me and my plane. Like him the opportunities were there and I didn't take them I allowed things to roll on and hope for the best. He through luck and only luck didn't get hurt, I wasn't that lucky but lucky enough to not be dead.

I though first actions were to raise the nose trading airspeed for height until best glide speed, then lower the nose to maintain that speed. At least that's what I was taught and what I taught when instructing. Harness, yes (don't know why it's loose in the first place) running checks to start the engine again at low level....maybe, but couldn't that distract from primary task of flying the aircraft? Don't know that right answers but it's great to see this guy post his video, certainly has us all thinking which may save one of us one day.

 

 

[Teckair]

At one time I needed to land on a road multiple times,That doesn't make sense.

 

At ONE time you needed to land on a road MULTIPLE times.... Hmmmmmmm.

 

Irrespective if I have or not, I was meerly (?) pointing out the self evident problem in the original statement.

 

If the situation dictates you need to land, and you - as PIC - have chosen the road, then you have to commit to it.

 

If it is not a good option, then pick a better one. Don't quibble on about "I have and you haven't" and go on about the difficulty. YOU chose to land on the road. NOT ME!

 

Learn from other people's mistakes.

 

You won't live long enough to do them all yourself.

There was a period of time when flooding was problem.

 

some of the x-spurts on here don't know what they are on about.

I now stand by this comment and withdraw the apology for making it.

 

 

[Teckair]

I though first actions were to raise the nose trading airspeed for height until best glide speed, then lower the nose to maintain that speed.

Correct for only some aircraft with a low inertia, high drag ultralight it is nose down immediately.

 

running checks to start the engine again at low level

Probably not an option for half a VW as they are usually hand/prop started.

 

 

[Hargraves]

I,m only a low hours pilot but I very much remember that hight eaquals time eaquals safety and I think in this transit flight that was the salient and prime mistake made. I would thank this pilot for having the character to allow us to learn from this accident and I,m very glad he,s ok

 

 

[Teckair]

I,m only a low hours pilot but I very much remember that hight eaquals time eaquals safety and I think in this transit flight that was the salient and prime mistake made. I would thank this pilot for having the character to allow us to learn from this accident and I,m very glad he,s ok

You might be low hours but you are right on with your view.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Aren't forums great. :) Good on this guy for getting it down and walking away. Thats all that matters.

 

How people handle, or think they would handle, emergency situations such as this is really just theory isnt it. Until you have been put in the situation you cant really say with any assurance how you might react. What is good about this video is it demonstrates very well, some good flying, and also some not so good. One thing to notice is that at altitude, the pilot seems relatively calm, all control inputs are smooth, rudder and aileron are co ordinated nicely and there is no sense of "panic" ...Until, the ground started looming up. We call this "ground rush" and when it starts this guy starts to use more aggressive control inputs, and they become less organized and co ordinated, to the point where he almost stalls in a steep turn.. Its probably good wing design more than anything that kept the thing flying at that point. The point to take here is (as others have said) is that when practicing for these situations, try and make sure you do all your set up at altitude, and expect the ground rush to be there. Plan to do as little as possible during the late phases of the approach. This should eliminate the "human' element which may cause you to start pushing and heaven forbid PULLING on things!!!!

 

Well done mate!!!

 

 

[storchy neil]

fact

 

landing in a paddock

 

flight over paddock 1000 ft agl second look 500 ft agl checked out for power wires seen along fence line picked spot for touch down

 

third look 100 ft agl

 

what I did not see was the power wires that ran at an angle to the house

 

set aircraft up for landing 40 degrees flap fuel pump on 45 knot asi at 25 ft agl some thing made me look up as this made me pull back on the stick

 

that action made me at the same height as the two power wires that took off my nose wheel the wires missed the prop had I not looked up I would have landed under the wires

 

don't panic

 

ground was the last thing I wanted to hit at this stage I gave the rotax full power and flew away about two ft off the ground still having full control off the aircraft I flew to the strip five kl a way

 

now I knew that I had no nose wheel as there was a great bang under my feet to confirm that I flew along the strip so the shadow off the plane I could confirm I had no nose wheel

 

still don't panic

 

landing glide approach 65 knts fuel off all power off tighten seat belts door ready to open about to turn final when oh shit the what if factor entered the though pattern what if the wires took off the right hand wheel to cant see it

 

little panic

 

fuel on start motor fired up 40 degree flap nose up to wash of speed 40 to 45 knots keep nose wheel up land on left wheel wash off speed finally right hand wheel is on the ground fuel off keep nose in the air

 

the one thing I had not practiced was how long it takes for fuel to run out when landing the motor wants to keep going at 1800 revs it dragged the plane at a barb wire fence 4 ft channel and a road

 

every time I reached for the kill switch the nose wanted to go down

 

now is when the thought process went to panic a little still having some rudder control I should have steered off the strip into grass but no I instead reached for kill switches with that nose on to ground prop strike on to nose nearly on to its back hindsight is wonderfull neil

 

 

[facthunter]

We will always think of ways it could be done better in retrospect. Nev

 

 

[Guernsey]

Stone the crows Neil I was so engrossed reading your post that even I panicked, fell off my chair, and nearly squashed my little Pomeranian dog.

 

Don't worry though, I gave up flying two years ago.

 

Alan.

 

 

[Teckair]

And that was just the start of his problems.

 

 

[dsam]

Thankfully, I've never set up an approach into a (previously un-seen) wire, but I've had 2 instructors (1 gliding & 1 power) advise me that the best instinct is to dive under, rather than stretch a glide over a "surprise" wire near landing flare.

 

As a student glider pilot in the 1970's, I watched a fellow student make the mistake of stretching a too-low approach because of a wire. He stalled low, and cartwheeled well short of the wire. Thankfully he only had bad bruising when I ran to the wreckage, but the glider was a write-off. That was another lesson I learned early in life.

 

As a result, my normal approaches are typically set up a bit too high, and a bit steeper on short final, side-slipping if/as required to keep the approach safely above un-seen wires near the threshold. If I ever have an actual engine failure, I hope my training and experience (and the habit of a steep approach) makes the best of the circumstance I'm presented with. Safe flying everyone... we can all learn from the experience of others.

 

 

[gibby]

Its quite funny reading the should of could offs about incidents on this forum but every situation is different, there are so many variables that can change the outcome and unless you are in that situation its pretty hard to judge pilots decisions and actions, aircraft type makes a big difference some glide very well, some glide like bricks, some are over the fence at 40 knots some at 90 knots, wind direction and strength maybe gusts or turbulence. I am sure anyone that has been in this situation would love to have another go and rectify all the mistakes they made. If you can survive engine failure unhurt but destroy your aircraft that is a good outcome, you can not by your health!!

 

 

[Bats]

And that's how we all learn - rather people air the dodgy advice their mate imparted at the bar and have the error of their ways explained to them (politely), than have gravity impart the lesson. I learn a lot from these threads, even if it's what not to do sometimes. :) Getting people talking and thinking about these things can never be a bad thing in my book.