But bad stuff happens to good pilots too: Jonas bends Capella.

[Garfly]

(Click the YouTube icon - after hitting play - to access the "Comments" section on the main site.) 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2020 by Garfly

[Thruster88]

I hope he wasn't letting his girlfriend manipulate the controls again🤔🤨😂  enjoy his channel.  

Edited October 11, 2020 by Thruster88

[Jaba-who]

According to the video he was flying and the girlfriend was not. 

I enjoy his you tube channel though I am in two minds about whether he is a “good” pilot. They do a lot of risky stuff  - well riskier stuff than I would do - eg pumpkin dive bombing an old caravan, landing and taking off on a snow covered mountain top in near IMC visibility and a lot of gravel bar etc landings that don’t appear to have been checked out properly first.

I accept some of the stuff he does is legal there - low level flight apparently is legal in the USA - but still a lot is pretty risky. 

But as I said  though I do enjoy watching his channel though. 

[Bosi72]

I like watching his/their videos, lots of fun. Very sad to see the crash, but aircraft can be repaired/purchased, lives can not.

 

Also kudos to sharing what happened and lessons learned from the accident.

 

 

[cscotthendry]

I had the exact same thing happen to me (without the crash) when I took a friend up for a flight.

It was a windy, gusty day and I got to the point he describes where you're so close to the runway, you start to concentrate on the runway and lose focus on the airspeed. 
Either my aircraft is more forgiving than his, or I reacted quicker because I managed to recover my situation with full throttle and pushing the nose over.

In retrospect, I think I flew through about a 10kt wind shear and my airspeed must have been close enough to stall speed that when we flew out of the gust, the left wing stalled and started to drop. At first it felt like an uncommanded left turn bank. I put a little pressure on the ailerons (wrong thing to do, I know) and the plane didn't respond as I expected, so I immediately firewalled the throttle and pushed the nose over. Thank goodness for training.

Now, I watch the airspeed like a hawk on short finals.

[Student Pilot]

He said the problem was not watching his airspeed so he stalled. It is important to know all the other pointers to airspeed, safe flight without an airspeed indicator is possible.

[Jaba-who]

22 minutes ago, Student Pilot said:

He said the problem was not watching his airspeed so he stalled. It is important to know all the other pointers to airspeed, safe flight without an airspeed indicator is possible.

Nope sorry but I disagree - short short  final is not the same as flying at altitude. forget “other signs” those are for when you are thousands of feet.

 I once had a hard landing where I dinged  my jabiru up. Pretty much  the same scenario with slight differences. After a long day flying I was tired. Coming into my home strip, in my mind the plane was already in the hangar and I was having a beer with the rest of the guys who’s been flying that day. Wind was down the runway at the far end windsock but a bit gnarly  and crosswind / rolling over the trees on the left at the near threshold. Came in full flaps and slow ( for the windsock at the far end) when I should been faster and crosswind configured for the near end. 

Had the inevitable roller which either slammed me into the ground or changed the airflow over the wing to a stall pattern and I dropped like a brick instantly and bounced from about two metres high. I  powered on but all too late -  torque turned the aircraft and stalled and dropped a wing. Back onto the ground but going sideways. Pulled off the power as I was now pointed  at  the same trees Rolled off the now leading main wheel. Wing tip and prop hit the ground. All over. 
 

But my point is that it happened so fast that there were no warning signs of going too slow apart from the view outside and gauge which  I wasn’t watching.  When you are teetering on the edge of too slow and something happens (like a downward roller of wind) you cross the low speed line way before the other signs of anything going wrong start to happen. And even if it did, your reaction time and the time for an action to take effect are too slow to help. 
Short final is all about being on the numbers before the event, not looking for secondary signs that can’t help you anyway. 

Edited October 12, 2020 by Jaba-who

[kgwilson]

Airspeed is your friend. keep an eye on that until you cross the fence & get into ground effect, then forget all the instruments.

[Bosi72]

The importance of ASI and having a minimum safety speed is paramount. 

For example, how does it feel when driving a car and slowing down from 110kmh to 50kmh ? It feels like a walking pace, but 50kmh can kill.

Similarly with aircraft immediately after the landing and let's say 35kts roll feels like slow and safe, but it is actually ~70kmh which can still kill.

All above relates to our feelings based on ground speed. However an aircraft rarely flies ground speed as there's always some wind up, hence the feelings will be distorted even more.

Personally, I always trust ASI more than "feelings". My safety speed is Vs0 x 1.4 

 

Taking off with full flaps is a good test whether a wing will drop or stay level. Just make sure start retracting them on time and in stages.

 

Safe landings!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Bosi72

[SplitS]

Why do you think he is a good pilot???

The fact he is standing in front of a broken plane seems to indicate something different.

[kgwilson]

I think he's an OK pilot but this is not the first plane he has bent. He used to make & sell drones until the market became saturated & now makes a living from producing you tube videos. It also helps to have a good looking girlfriend.

[Garfly]

41 minutes ago, SplitS said:

Why do you think he is a good pilot???

The fact he is standing in front of a broken plane seems to indicate something different.

 

Maybe because I fear that it could happen to my 'good' (non-hoon) self.

Yes, the plane's broken but things are seldom what they seem.

 

But anyway, yes, he's very much on the extreme sport end of recreational aviation. Which means he takes many risks and he's developed a lot of skills.  But I would not, personally, call him a hoon, at all. To me he's a 'good' pilot. You can make your own judgement by watching the vids on his channel. 

There is a good discussion of his self made 'reputation' in the YouTube comments of this video. That's why, in the original post, I recommended clicking through to see those. 

Another of Jonas' talents is as a consummate video story teller.  As he tells it, he gets into more trouble than an aerial Ned Kelly.  That's why he cops a lot of flak and also why he gets a lot of clicks.

Edited October 13, 2020 by Garfly

[Datson]

As airspeed is so important I wonder why indicators are not usually mounted just below the usual line of sight. That's what we do with race cars, mount all vital gauges/lights up high so they are as visible as possible without interrupting normal vision. Just a thought, some things about aircraft seem a bit strange.

[Garfly]

Angle of attack indicators (better for purpose than ASI) usually are up on the glare shield.

Audible stall warning horns are often thought of as surplus to requirements on recreational craft.

Maybe they should be brought back.

 

You could check out 'Backcountry182's channel.  He relies on both of those heads-up aids in marginal conditions.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2020 by Garfly

[Datson]

A lot of cars used a programmable bar of different coloured lights for when maximum engine revs are reached the red lights can start flashing. Something similar could be used on an aircraft for, say, angle of attack with the desired angle indicated by green lights.

[Garfly]

 

Something like this, maybe  😉

 

 

https://www.flightliteracy.com/angle-of-attack-indicators/

[Student Pilot]

21 hours ago, Datson said:

A lot of cars used a programmable bar of different coloured lights for when maximum engine revs are reached the red lights can start flashing. Something similar could be used on an aircraft for, say, angle of attack with the desired angle indicated by green lights.

Or you could go on the ques you already have such as:

 

Noise, slower you are the less noise

Control pressure, slower you are the less pressure

Control efficiency, slower you are less effective

Angle of attack, position of the nose compared to normal flight

All these things add up as total aircraft response, one alone can indicate

 

All these things vary from aircraft to aircraft to some degree, to know the aircraft your flying is very important. If you only fly half a dozen times a year you are going to be more than rusty(Apologies to Rusty, I don't mean you 😁). A switched on experienced instructor should be able to teach these things. I do think a simple AA indicator in your line of sight would help you recognize all the other things that indicate slow flight.

I'm not saying totally avoid looking at your airspeed indicator just listen to what the aircraft is telling you. After some practice you can approach without an airspeed indicator safely.

Fire away!!!!!

 

 

[Downunder]

For these young kitfox flyers and youtube "stars", it seems a right of passage to smash up a few aircraft.

It gives them "street cred" and clicks on their videos boosting their popularity and bank accounts.

Turning rather safe flying into an "extreme sport" .

There is a theme happening here and It won't be untill a couple are killed that they back off pushing the limits.

Then again, if your livelihood relys on getting those views, then the limits need to be constantly pushed.

 

 

[planesmaker]

A stall on final? Good pilot? Really?

[Garfly]

Yup, I believe so.

But the friends here who've offered us tales of their own lapses,  I know are good pilots.

That's the point. 

 

[cscotthendry]

IMO a “good” pilot is one who doesn't take unnecessary risks.
Flying, for humans, is dangerous enough as it is. Why make it more so?
That said, there are pilots whose jobs are to take those risks. They're called “test pilots”. Read anything by or about them and you'll quickly find the lengths they go to, to minimize the risks they must take and the mechanisms and procedures they put in place to protect themselves when a risk becomes a reality.
Pilots who do risky stuff (like flying a trike 6 inches over the surface of a lake) are, IMO, NOT “good pilots”. Those who do risky stuff with passengers on board are, again IMO, “bad pilots”.
I wouldn't presume to judge the pilot in the video by looking at one video. But what happened to him also happened to me. It wasn't risk taking. It was loss of focus on a critical flight parameter ... pilot error.

[Jaba-who]

2 hours ago, cscotthendry said:

IMO a “good” pilot is one who doesn't take unnecessary risks.
Flying, for humans, is dangerous enough as it is. Why make it more so?
That said, there are pilots whose jobs are to take those risks. They're called “test pilots”. Read anything by or about them and you'll quickly find the lengths they go to, to minimize the risks they must take and the mechanisms and procedures they put in place to protect themselves when a risk becomes a reality.
Pilots who do risky stuff (like flying a trike 6 inches over the surface of a lake) are, IMO, NOT “good pilots”. Those who do risky stuff with passengers on board are, again IMO, “bad pilots”.
I wouldn't presume to judge the pilot in the video by looking at one video. But what happened to him also happened to me. It wasn't risk taking. It was loss of focus on a critical flight parameter ... pilot error.

Yep. In my case - the same. Not while doing something inherently riskier just pilot error in combination with the dreaded “human factors”. 
 

However, not to let Jonas off the hook completely, his other videos show some aspects of flying I’d consider risky and showing evidence of not being a good pilot. 
But his capabilities shouldn’t be judged necessarily on this event which I would argue doesn’t represent a departure from normal ( albeit not ideal) piloting. 
 

[facthunter]

A good pilot is someone you'd trust your wife and kids with.  Nev

[kgwilson]

1 hour ago, facthunter said:

A good pilot is someone you'd trust your wife and kids with.  Nev

That rules Jonas Marcinko out.

[Bosi72]

4 hours ago, facthunter said:

A good pilot is someone you'd trust your wife and kids with.  Nev

That's why my family is study Bob Tait books 🙂