Arion Lightning EFATO at Shepparton Airport 6/2/22

[turboplanner]

An Arion Lightning had an engine failure after takeoff at Shepparton Airport.

The Pilot suffered minor bruising.

ATSB confirmed the pilot was the only person on board.

Source and pictures: Channel 9 News

[FlyBoy1960]

News said engine stopped at about 100 feet.

[onetrack]

A 2009 Arion, Jabiru 3300 powered, with TBI. Changed hands in April 2019. Good to see no major injury to pilot, and the Arion cockpit design appears to be crashworthy.

 

https://www.planesales.com.au/details/Listing/Single-Engine-Propeller/4650/2009-Arion-Lightning-Aircraft

[kgwilson]

I have not heard anything good said about TBIs but of course that may not be the cause. The engine will not run on air or water either. Only 75 hours in 10 years to date of sale in April 2019. It will be interesting to find out how much flying it has done since.

Edited February 6, 2022 by kgwilson

[turboplanner]

54 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Good to see no major injury to pilot, and the Arion cockpit design appears to be crashworthy.

 

A long nose can sometimes be an advantage.

[FlyBoy1960]

1 hour ago, kgwilson said:

I have not heard anything good said about TBIs but of course that may not be the cause. The engine will not run on air or water either. Only 75 hours in 10 years to date of sale in April 2019. It will be interesting to find out how much flying it has done since.

it is made it all the way back from Western Australia where it was for sale so it must have done okay then

[facthunter]

They are not a motor that takes sitting unused well. You'd have to treat the cylinders with an inhibiting oil mist through the plugholes.  Nev

[Thexder]

I witnessed the crash and it was not engine failure. It was pilot induced stall on take-off.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Thexder
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[kgwilson]

That explains the wreckage a lot. If it had been an engine failure so long as the pilot was competent and got the nose down quickly the aircraft would likely still be in one piece based on the flat terrain & dry grass. A stall at 100 feet or less is going to end in a pretty hard smack into the ground. The Lightning is pretty slippery & I assume WOT at stall. Not enough height to recover, but really good that the nose & engine absorbed a lot of the energy to allow the pilot to walk away.

 

As they say any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Of course it was not a great landing because the aeroplane can not be used again.

[Thruster88]

Just about the only rule that matters in simple day VFR recreational flying is dont stall the xxxxing aircraft.  

[Thexder]

1 hour ago, kgwilson said:

That explains the wreckage a lot. If it had been an engine failure so long as the pilot was competent and got the nose down quickly the aircraft would likely still be in one piece based on the flat terrain & dry grass. A stall at 100 feet or less is going to end in a pretty hard smack into the ground. The Lightning is pretty slippery & I assume WOT at stall. Not enough height to recover, but really good that the nose & engine absorbed a lot of the energy to allow the pilot to walk away.

 

As they say any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Of course it was not a great landing because the aeroplane can not be used again.

That is a pretty perfect summary of what happened. Luckily it hit canopy up and the engine took the full force of the impact and thus he was able to walk away.

 

Like I said, I witnessed it and spoke to the pilot afterward and this is what happened:

 

- Quartering left tailwind on takeoff (~5 knots)

- He said lots of right rudder used as left turning tendencies were taking him off the left side of the runway

- He pulled back on the stick prematurely to get off the ground and avoid runway excursion

- He mistakenly pulled back harder as the plane was buffeting near stalling (assumed a mistake in panic)

- The plane wing rolled to the left turning him 180 degree as his wing scraped the ground and then his prop hit the ground

 

Other factors that I can see are that this appears to be a near new plane to him, slippery laminar flow wing, poor choice of runway with the quartering left tail wind.

 

Truly amazing he hopped out and walked away with but minor bruising on his shins.....very lucky man!

 

Note: Jabiru engine was not a contributing factor and news media reporting 'engine stall' was laughable.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Thexder
spelling

[facthunter]

IF you stall, You FALL It would be quite a thud.  Any tailwind take off runs the risk of getting a bit of windshear and the tailwind increasing as height is gained  Nev

Edited February 7, 2022 by facthunter

[Bosi72]

Accelerate whilst in ground effect...

[Marty_d]

4 hours ago, Thexder said:

...news media reporting 'engine stall' was laughable.

Trouble is "stall" to anyone but a pilot means your engine stopping because you're trying to start off in third (in a manual of course - remember them?)

 

So perhaps not surprising they conflate the two.

[kgwilson]

I can imagine a couple of Petrol headed boguns discussing this. One turns to the other & says "Why didn't he just plant his boot & drop the effin clutch, wouldn't've stalled then, effin wanker."

[Thexder]

Just now, kgwilson said:

I can imagine a couple of Petrol headed boguns discussing this. One turns to the other & says "Why didn't he just plant his boot & drop the effin clutch, wouldn't've stalled then, effin wanker."

Ironically, there was a car show on at the airfield with 50+ classic cars on display....no doubt this very discussion was had by the car boffins who witnessed it. 

[facthunter]

Not everyone that drives a car can fly a plane. Nev

[Thexder]

12 minutes ago, facthunter said:

Not everyone that drives a car can fly a plane. Nev

It turns out that not everyone who fly's a plane can fly a plane......

[turboplanner]

1 minute ago, Thexder said:

It turns out that not everyone who fly's a plane can fly a plane......

A lot of smartass comments here, but not a lot of facts yet; you'd think that's what you would get from skilled pilots, CFIs, Airport Managers, and the pilot involved.

 

[Thexder]

9 minutes ago, turboplanner said:

A lot of smartass comments here, but not a lot of facts yet; you'd think that's what you would get from skilled pilots, CFIs, Airport Managers, and the pilot involved.

 

Settle princess...that time of the month? 

[facthunter]

I mentioned windshear. Don't I get a Star stamp? WE have a witness who has spoken to the Pilot. That's a  rare and valuable contribution.  Nev

[Thexder]

14 minutes ago, turboplanner said:

A lot of smartass comments here, but not a lot of facts yet; you'd think that's what you would get from skilled pilots, CFIs, Airport Managers, and the pilot involved.

 

When you say "facts" do you mean like Facebook fact checker facts, or facts from someone who was there, witnessed the crash and spoke to the pilot confirming exactly what happened?

[Flightrite]

Shame it’s not a lot harder to get a plane drivers ticket! I’ve always said it’s too easy! Too many crash/die due poor quality “tick the box” training! I hope the driver learned a very valuable lesson, and others!

[Thexder]

39 minutes ago, Flightrite said:

Shame it’s not a lot harder to get a plane drivers ticket! I’ve always said it’s too easy! Too many crash/die due poor quality “tick the box” training! I hope the driver learned a very valuable lesson, and others!

In my personal opinion, its not the lack of training, its that pilots are human and therefore make mistakes, become complacent and start to bend the rules....I've seen many 1,000+ hour pilots do silly things because "I've got a thousand hours and the rules don't apply to me".

 

I've seen guys take-off 20kg over weight because "I've got a big engine and she'll lift anything" when they haven't considered the forces on the plane during turbulence, or guys think the yellow arc on the ASI is the turbulence penetration speed. 

[turboplanner]

1 hour ago, Thexder said:

When you say "facts" do you mean like Facebook fact checker facts, or facts from someone who was there, witnessed the crash and spoke to the pilot confirming exactly what happened?

Well so far that's all on a par with stalling the engine; you didn't think trying to take off downwind might be significant?