Pilot makes emergency landing on Tasmanian beach

[dsam]

Top Stories: Pilot makes emergency landing on Tasmanian beach

 

http://ab.co/2hy84rN

 

 

[dsam]

Looks like the pilot is ok and the aircraft will be repairable.

 

 

[turboplanner]

Good on him; thought it through, kept the aircraft flying, and when things did go south, had slowed enough under control that the result was minor.

 

 

[red750]

Four wheel drives have a lot to answer for.

 

 

[kaz3g]

Looks like the pilot is ok and the aircraft will be repairable.

Pilot makes emergency landing on Tasmanian beach

 

My AUSTER had a similar mishap down there about 40 years ago with a Gipsy engine at the time. Eventually rebuilt with a Lycoming again but a 160 HP instead of the original 130 HP.

 

Kaz

 

 

[SSCBD]

Its the Governments fault, sand was not smooth and raked.

 

 

[alf jessup]

Good outcome in the end with no injuries

 

If he wanted hard packed sand he needs to land in a bunker at the Sale golf course as they are always rock hard

 

 

[facthunter]

You would have to be a bit lucky to pull it off without the nosewheel digging in. He's ok and the plane can be fixed. Hope they don't damage it too much in the recovery. Nev

 

 

[fred cenko]

He could have saved his plane from flipping over and eliminating any damage to his plane if he would have landed the plane more to the right of the picture on the harder packed sand unless it was high tide when the incident happened and he only had soft sand to land on I am guessing.Glad he is ok.

 

 

[BLA82]

Without taking any credit from the guy for making the landing would admitting he didn't have enough fuel reserve for a alternative strip be a good idea to the media:loopy:

 

 

[facthunter]

I thought doing an outlanding, rather than pressing on was part of our philosophy and training. and judgement It's just this strip didn't turn out suitable under the circumstances. Some sands wet or dry won't support a vehicle of a certain type without bigger tyres and lower pressures and maybe a tailwheel configuration. Nev

 

 

[nomadpete]

I wouldn't knock him. Out this way, there are very few alternate airstrips, and plenty of mountains. Without us speculators knowing exact layout of the fog, probably he may not have had the luxury of clear air to a better landing area.

 

I'm well South of Sandfy, and he was heading North of there. Believe it or not, I believe he saw different sky from me.

 

Two days ago we had cloud that often dropped to ground level. I heard a chopper. Following the sound, I got a glimpse of it way below my verandah, following the river between 500' hills. I estimate he was no more than 100' agl. The weather was similar here yesterday. Today has high cloud base. Where he was would have been different but my point is that Tassie weather can change very suddenly, and locally. I prefer to give the pilot credit for assessing weather at the time, but getting caught out with a unpredictable change. BOM cannot predict everything.

 

And although the outcome wasn't perfect, it was very good.

 

 

[facthunter]

If you attempt a landing on any surface which isn't regularly serviced and inspected (used) there is a degree of uncertainty. That's why we are taught precautionary landings and why we have a stall speed limit. The idea is that the plane may be damaged but the energy to be dissipated is manageable and you have a good chance of being OK.. This risk is preferred to going into bad weather which you will often encounter if you do a lot of across country flying. Tassie is a place of rapid unpredictable weathers happening where the only place to go would be the other side of the Island and to get there you would have to go through crook stuff so not safe for a non IFR plane with no anti icing.. Islands have a lot of moisture forming low cloud and fog unexpectedly. Tassie weather is something else at times. Sorry Tassie Devils, that's how I've found it .Nev

 

 

[Tasmag]

Tassie weather is definitely changeable, all the more reason to arrive overhead with more that 30 mins fuel. Quite a few strips an hour away from St Helens that wouldn't have been obscured by sea mist.

 

 

[farri]

Generally! beach sand gradually gets firmer, towards the ocean... Sand above the high tide mark is usually the softest and the coarser the sand, the softer it`s likely to be.

 

In my opinion,done correctly, landing closest to the water would give the best chance of a successful landing, however, even so, If it`s an incoming tide, the AC many not be able to be retrieved.

 

 

[facthunter]

"Generally" is the KEY word there. There can be a large variation. Some will approach the concept of "quicksand" and the slope makes directional control difficult as does the softness of the sand if it's more on one side. Nev

 

 

[farri]

Absolutely! Reason I used "Generally". It becomes a challenge, to read the condition of a beach, without local knowledge.

 

Control may be difficult, the key word here being "difficult" but difficult to what?....There just isn`t a "one fits all" method! it`s up to the pilot to make the decisions, however, the method used ( again generally ) determine the outcome.

 

 

[fred cenko]

I used to watch these planes take of and land many times back in my surf fishing days.,of course exercsing caution is always a priority on different types of surfaces.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2YaPQzMEZE