Abort net for jungle ops.

[phr8dawg]

I have a buddy doing flights off a 1,200 foot strip with a dropoff either side in a STOL C206. Has anyone ever considered an abort net or arresting cable design for dropoffs? I'm thinking of a rope net or maybe a nosegear cable trigger which pops up
a cable to restrain the mains. We are trying to save both him and the aircraft. Some damage is
expected. This is not a commercial operation, by the way.

Any ideas or experiences?

PS: Reverse JATO bottles are NOT practical!

 

[BushwickBill]

Oh come on. I don't mean to sound practical but how about not doing it at all....?

 

[Seadogrun]

I have a buddy doing flights off a 1,200 foot strip with a dropoff either side in a STOL C206. Has anyone ever considered an abort net or arresting cable design for dropoffs? I'm thinking of a rope net or maybe a nosegear cable trigger which pops up
a cable to restrain the mains. We are trying to save both him and the aircraft. Some damage is
expected. This is not a commercial operation, by the way.

Any ideas or experiences?

PS: Reverse JATO bottles are NOT practical!

I think the answer to this problem isn't technical/equipment, rather risk assessment/management. How much runway does the plane "need" to land. If he is regularily using most of it it would probably be a good idea to take a better look at the operation and see if it's worth it. If the plane uses 500ft of runway it may be OK just to operate as is.

Now if your buddy is going to go with an arresting cable just make it static. No need to over complicate it. If he not off the ground or stopped by the time he reaches the cable it will stop him.

 

[erj-145mech]

The landing gear attach points will not withstand an arrested cable restraint. I may keep your buddy's airplane from going over the edge, but the airplane won't be of much use after that, unless they can perform structural repairs at that location.

 

[phr8dawg]

Net

He insists it's a safe site. The plane takes about
500 feet up or down, but I worry about wet grass
or slippery mud using up the remainder. He has
1,400 hours of STOL operations. Too scary for me.

 

[NW_Pilot]

I have a buddy doing flights off a 1,200 foot strip with a dropoff either side in a STOL C206. Has anyone ever considered an abort net or arresting cable design for dropoffs? I'm thinking of a rope net or maybe a nosegear cable trigger which pops up
a cable to restrain the mains. We are trying to save both him and the aircraft. Some damage is
expected. This is not a commercial operation, by the way.

Any ideas or experiences?

PS: Reverse JATO bottles are NOT practical!

Tell him to not be greedy and leave some if the dope behind! If he is lucky he can make a second load.

 

[SPilot]

laughing out loud.

 

[TheInsider]

I have a buddy doing flights off a 1,200 foot strip with a dropoff either side in a STOL C206. Has anyone ever considered an abort net or arresting cable design for dropoffs? I'm thinking of a rope net or maybe a nosegear cable trigger which pops up
a cable to restrain the mains. We are trying to save both him and the aircraft. Some damage is
expected. This is not a commercial operation, by the way.

Any ideas or experiences?

PS: Reverse JATO bottles are NOT practical!

Some damage is expected? Sounds like a drug-run to me....

 

[TWA]

It's been a year, do we get any followup? Is he still alive/awaiting trial? BTW, what country did/is this taking place in?

 

[phr8dawg]

FYI: We lost the aircraft due to a mechanical failure unrelated to the airport. Everyone got out. This fine Cessna product saved 42 lives in a charity operation and carried some 130 NGO volunteers before extreme age caught up with her. See GreatCommissionAir.org.

 

[avbug]

Sounds like you guys were a mishap looking for a place to happen.

I've hauled heavily loaded 206's out of all kinds of short strips in canyons and over and around obstacles, but your description smacked of carelessness and a foolhardy attitude. Lost the aircraft...hardly comes as a shock.

What failed (other than the operators)?

 

[phr8dawg]

Same old avbug.

 

[avbug]

Unable to answer. You failed, then?

 

[phr8dawg]

Saaaaaame old avbug

 

[avbug]

Really quite irrelevant. You wanted a safety net for a runway too short, with a nutty idea for arresting gear for a Cessna (having rejected the even less brilliant idea of "jato bottles"), then destroyed the aircraft using an inexperienced pilot (you??)...and appear reluctant to reveal what this "mechanical" problem was. Were you doing your own maintenance, as well? If by saaaaaame, you mean I haven't destroyed any airplanes lately...you'd be right. To bad you can't say the saaaaaame, isn't it?

 

[phr8dawg]

Wow...
While the esteemed Mr. 'bug continues on a somewhat flatulent discourse of blame-shame-flame, I would invite anyone else to visit our website or go to IAMAnet.org to see what other organizations are doing. Most are little-known to the greater aviation community, but they are all serving in their own way. That is what matters.

 

[avbug]

Hopefully they're doing it a little more safely than you. Having spent several years doing missionary work myself, I've little tolerance for those who do it stupidly or with abandon.

 

[phr8dawg]

You have little tolerance for anybody.

 

[avbug]

Inconsequential. I didn't destroy your aircraft. Apparently your folks did that. Once again, how did this happen, exactly?

 

[Daveman]

You have little tolerance for anybody.

God's gift to aviation. Oh, sorry, he thinks he is a god.

He know's some technical things, I'll give him that. He lacks the heart tho...
Pappy wouldn't approve of him!!! There's an army of Avbugs tho..........................................................................................................

 

[avbug]

He lacks the heart tho...
Pappy wouldn't approve of him!!!

"Pappy" probably wouldn't approve of the stupidity outlined by phr8dog here, or the destruction of the airplane, either. Then again, "pappy" didn't do something nearly so stupid as what's cited here.

I have a buddy doing flights off a 1,200 foot strip with a dropoff either side in a STOL C206. Has anyone ever considered an abort net or arresting cable design for dropoffs? ... We are trying to save both him and the aircraft. Some damage is expected... Reverse JATO bottles are NOT practical!...He insists it's a safe site...Too scary for me...FYI: We lost the aircraft due to a mechanical failure unrelated to the airport.

Lacks the heart, you say? Lacks having destroyed an airplane per this thread, too. Does destroying an airplane constitute heart, or will simply acting stupidly do it for you?

 

[phr8dawg]

Same old avbug

 

[avbug]

That's all you have to say, having destroyed an aircraft, rambled about jato bottles, catch nets, arresting cables for light airplanes, inexperienced pilots, and attempting to justify it in the name of missionary work?

Perhaps best you simply slink away again.

 

[phr8dawg]

Insane old avbug

 

[avbug]

You've nothing to contribute to your own thread.

Insane might be crashing one's airplane while contemplating using rocket assist to get in and out of airstrips which you think require arresting cables and safety nets...but then that's you, and your organization, isn't it?

 

[phr8dawg]

inane old avbug

 

[avbug]

Without the stupid quips, can you contribute to your thread, or are you unable? Clearly you're without defense, leaving only raw stupidity on the table. Have you nothing to say but mindless jabs?

 

[highnpressurizd]

I'm curious too, what happened? Who crashed? If it was a genuinely unforeseeable mechanical failure why not let us know what it was? I don't doubt the end intentions of said organization, but think of how many more people could have been helped had this airplane not been lost. Your immature responses to avbugs questions and unwillingness to give more details about the situation contradict your earlier assertions that this was a legitimate safety conscious operation.

When learning the ins and outs of flying in Alsaska, the owner of my outfit told me to never abort a takeoff from the shorter strips once you've started. If you did, you'd end up in the water, trees, over the edge etc...regardless His point being, if you decided to commence the takeoff, you decided, given the current conditions, you could make it. Having a "net or cable" on your strip (excepting aircraft carriers here) implies that you have doubts about "making it" before you ever start the engine. I'm sure some (likely even avbug) would not consider my former employers advice sound, but I think the resoning behind his advice is applicable here.

 

[phr8dawg]

'bug prefaces his posts with hostility and insults toward other FI members. Why should I bother giving him a respectful answer. He is a flamebaiter.

Since you are asking, the right flap cable snapped where it went around the pulley. This failure was documented in a Canadian A&P document, but there are no references in Service Bulletins or ADs in the US. Read the website article. The Cessna 336 hit flat uphill, flipped, then vaulted over its own tail before stopping. The windshield popped out. All the seatbacks failed aft. And then everybody got out. This was a nonsurvivable crash and everybody walked away. You can't tell me it wasn't a miracle.

The net post was mostly in jest, and came out of an involved and humerous discussion we had one night. I didn't expect to be attacked for it. But as someone on this site once said, " at Flightinfo, we eat our young." That's too bad. Fly safe.

 

[avbug]

The aircraft in question for the short field with the nets and rocket bottles was a 336? Your stock just went down another couple of notches, and the stupidity meter is nearly pegged. Wow.

So the flap cable failed...which still doesn't explain why the airplane crashed.

Stainless cables, perhaps? Much more subject to failure, harder to inspect, different techniques. Stainless, or carbon?