Jabiru down at Manilla NSW

[Guest SrPilot]

Did you take it out on a Starlifter? Nev

Well, I wore it home and sure I didn't swim. Been sitting here listening to Waltzing a couple of time - Slim Dusty, Judith Durham, and of course, a couple of recitals by Ali Mills. I love 'em all, but I must admit that Ali has a special style. Started to go out to my automobile to get my '91 Akuba so I could dress appropriately but said "what the heck." Kicked back and listened, and enjoyed. Now I'll try to find a copy of Ali's album, Waltjun Bat Matilda for my collection of great music. Can't listen to the didgeridoo all the time, you know. Actually, I have to prepare for a good night's sleep. Think I'll take the A22LS for hop tomorrow morning. But first, I'm off to Amazon, etc, to find the album - if I'm lucky.

 

 

[Hargraves]

Very glad to hear the pilot is only lightly injured. In reference to airframe structural integrity, on the limited available footage of the wreckage their appears to be very little frontal impact force affecting the cockpit space with the engine dissplaced at 90 degrees inverted to the horizontal axis which would indicate a very fortunate completly inverted forward energy dissipated short fall to the ground allowing final impact energy to be dissipated over both the fuselage and the wings, as most all high wing monoplane configerations would do in the same circumstance, and with hopefully the same result for the occupants. A very lucky result for our fellow pilot for certain but nothing that could not be expected in a well designed type airframe, cheers

 

 

[facthunter]

If it impacted falling inverted I reckon even with the belt very tight there would be neck injury and probably more damage to the fin and rear fuselage. The forward of doors area seems to be where the energy has been dissipated but I haven't studied it at length. It has to be recognised that the Jabiru's do provide more occupant protection than most others, and it's in their favour, but aeroplanes built to a strict weight limit can not achieve a lot in this area, and the aeroplane structure is built for flight loads primarily. Seat belt anchor points being strong is essential but sometimes lacking. I think they are 10G (from memory) Probably not enough. Nev

 

 

[Oscar]

Nev: I'm not trying to be a smart$rse here, nor an impromptu crash investigator, but I have had a very decent opportunity to examine a Jabiru that played dead ants..

 

I would hazard a guess that it hit with some forward velocity, but not a lot, and an attitude of around 200 degrees from normal, possibly a bit more. The separation of the engine from the firewall suggests to me that the brunt of the impact was taken by the engine; knowing the fin structure fairly well, I'll take a bet that it hit with almost no forward motion, as once the fin spar has been fractured, there is very little structure to resist a sliding impact.

 

I agree with your assessment of the seat-belt restraint capability in the case of a completely vertical impact ( and that's why I intend to put a full six-point harness in my own Jab.) Some forward component would have acted as, essentially, a 'belt-pre-tensioner'. Personally, I believe that a lap-sash arrangement is pretty damn poor restraint; in a forward crash, it twists the spine and neck. My glider flying and car racing all shared four-five-six point harnesses, and though I've never had to utilise their capability, I've seen in my car racing days,some pretty damn huge crashes up close and personal, and the belt arrangement is a huge component of survival.

 

However: proper belt locating structure is also critical. In the case of the Goulburn Sting crash (an aircraft which in my opinion has the occupant safety of a razor--wire entanglement within a crate of broken glass), the shoulder restraints for the four-point harnesses tore out of their substrate, in a crash that was demonstrably a low-angle contact with the ground. While the disintegration of the airframe around the occupants was horrific to see, the failure of the shoulder-belt restraints just on their own, would quite possibly have resulted in serious/fatal injuries even if the rest of the cabin structure had reasonably withstood the impact.

 

 

[planedriver]

True. But they'll bum a cigarette. That's why when I was in the USAF (and a smoker way back then) I carried an open pack on Spanish cigarettes in my pocket. When someone "bummed a smoke," I would give them one of those while keeping my U.S. cigarettes concealed in another pocket. After getting one or two of those things, they'd bum off someone else. They tasted like - and left the flavor in one's mouth - of what I always imagined the way smoking a cow plop would taste.

In my early days working and having recently started smoking, a fellow worker thought I was a soft touch, and in a very persuasive manner started bumming smokes off me several times a day. The firm's van driver who came from a gypsy family gave me a horse hair and said pass it through the cigarette with a fine needle an save it for him, which I did. It smelt crook when he lit it up. He was soon heard making unusual noises in the toilet and took the rest of the day off.

 

Sorry! Too much thread drift. Back to topic.

 

 

[red750]

Oh, wait, what is "yonks"?

Actually, Sr, dictionaries define "yonks" as being a British (lnformal) word, otherwise known as Pommie slang, and means "a very long time", as in "I haven't seen him in yonks".

 

 

[boleropilot]

just another wannabe carrier pilot who thought he was flyin' a Tomcat....

 

on a more serious note, I get the impression he had a whole lotta luck with the way things went after the wire strike

 

BP

 

 

[Oscar]

Luck, for sure - but he also had one of the statistically most occupant-safe airframes available, going for him. If you have consciously chosen your safety over ultimate price/performance and it saves your hide in an accident - is that luck, or good judgement?

 

 

[Hargraves]

I think i,d have to aggree with you in that regard Oscar. After all statistically they need to be.

 

 

[boleropilot]

OK, I get the good airframe being a component of the outcome here, but there were a LOT of factors that contributed to the end result, any of which being missing/different could have resulted in a far worse outcome.

 

The speed of the aircraft, the rate of descent, where the wire/s struck the aircraft, no fire (even though there was leaking fuel + broken power lines), the manner in which the aircraft impacted the ground, etc. - any one of these factors being different could have resulted in the aircraft cartwheeling down the 'strip in a ball of flames.

 

Having flown paragliders from Mount Borah I am aware of the potential for turbulence in the area - the pilot obviously knew there are power lines across one end of the 'strip, so the reason for the aircraft coming into contact with the lines seems obvious.

 

Bottom line is, sometimes the Earth decides to rise up and smite thee (why I gave up paragliding, actually) but sometimes things go your way - sometimes they don't. It's wonderful to see a pilot (albeit with a limp) walk away from such a potentially life-threatening encounter with terra firma.

 

BP

 

 

[sandman]

I believe this aircraft was for sale on the jabiru web site.