Agricultural Aviation

[RightPedal]

Avbug, Please explain the high speed emergency dump. I think I know, but you do it so well.

Or were you being fecetious? Or were you trying to be little more elegant in saying he simply stalled?

And, I'm not implying that you were being a smart a$$ either. I need, and respect your imput.

 

[bugchaser]

Hey RP, I too knew him well. I agree that he was a great guy and it really hit me hard when I heard what happened. I was working that day and had to climb back in after I found out. When you have something like this happen it makes you really examine your own flying and your priorities. Just know that he had his bags packed and is where he needs to be. Keep Molly and the family in your prayers.

Tailwinds

 

[bigbird]

I think avbug is a total smart ass....The guy lost a friend, just shut the **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** up..

 

[avbug]

If he stalled out of the top of a turn...well, that happens. I gathered from your post previously that this was a rapid, unexplained pitch-up to a stall. If that's the case, then the most obvious cause to me is either a control malfunction (unlikely) or a pitch resulting from an emergency dump.

We've all known folks that spun out of an ag turn at the end of the field; it happens. We also know that eyewitness reports are questionable. It's hard to imagine sometimes that a competent, professional would do it, but every one of us that's had to zoom a pecan grove or a tall stand of trees or high powerlines can appreciate the potential. It does happen.

If he dumped at high speed, especially if not ready on the trim, the consequences could potentially have become unmanagable (saying this without knowing the aircraft type, too, or his loading). I just spent the last two summers doing regular full load dumps in a Drom loaded to the gills, and on the downhill runs, even with the trim run forward, it was sometimes tough to hold. Couple that with a distraction from something else, and it's not hard to imagine things going south, fast.

In any case, it's very unfortunate. We have all seen it; who flies ag that doesn't know a fist full of dead associates? At the same time, who doesn't feel the pain every time it happens? Not a soul. We all do.

As for bigbird, you obviously don't do this work, and never have. You have no comprehension of the subject, and your input is not needed nor welcome. When you've lost more friends and associates to the business than you have fingers and toes to count them, dial us back and regail us with your self-righteous diatribe. Until then, right back at ya.

 

[RightPedal]

Thanks for the reply avbug.
He was working a 502 air tractor. The first thing that came to my mind was an unexpected dump, at the worst possible time, but I guess we'll never know for sure.
And you're also right about this trade taking friends. I'm running out of fingers and toes. We don't quit though. We learn from what they teach us and go on.

bugchaser, I had a feeling that you had to have known Bman, being in that area. It was a tragic loss for sure. He was a special person to all who knew him.

 

[bugchaser]

Your right RP, this one just does not make any sense right now. B was not the kind of guy you would think might make a mistake like that unless there was something else going on. We may never really know exactly what happened. It just goes to show you that things can and do happen, even to the good guys.

Avbug, you are right on. I understand what you where saying. Sometimes outsiders don't understand. When you have been around this business for any amount of time these things don't suprise you nearly as much. Doesn't make it hurt any less though.

Be careful guys.