Almost Saw and Accident-Who has seen one

[cessna_driver2]

When I was in flight school in Ok '97, There was an airshow where one plane landed on top of another while taxing. I think both were steerman. A friend got pictures but it something I'll always remember.

 

[newmei]

DiamondJim,

Yes his name was Charles Cadell I was lucky a few times to fly with such a great man. He was a incredibly nice and went out of his way to accomadate me to finish up my private in two weeks. 6 months later he crashed, and when I swung in to visit, we heard the news. No matter how many times I read the NTSB report, its hard to understand why it happened. The answer is that they were simply to heavy and a too far AFT CG. When they reliezed they were'nt going to be able to stop the left seater said "at least I can do this" and raised the gear and added full power on the good engine. All Charlie could do is yell "NO!" and reach for the controls and throttle, it was too late and they were to low the airplane had already rolled 90 degrees. This account is all from the sole survivor in the back. However I was'nt there did'nt see it. Where you on scene to get them out? The airplane did'nt actually crash on the airport did it?


I don't care what anyone says first off if your landing with a engine out (Twin FAR 23) you make real sure you can land the first time. Run off the end if you have to, who cares about the airplane? If you were developing a climb rate on one engine you make the decision to go around way before 400 ft. And if you did'nt have a climb rate, don't even think about it.

 

[Ameriagle]

I had the unfortunate experience of watching my father wreck an airplane in the mid-90's....seeding rice in a Thrush! I was flagging for him that day and was set up for his first pass on a field adjacent to the runway he was flying from. Climbing thru about 50 feet he began a slow turn to set up for his first pass across the field when the airplane passed thru an eddie. It immediately rolled the airplane thru approximately 90 degrees! The aircraft contacted the ground in a wing low attitude hitting a a ditch bank with the right wing tip, then the right main gear and tailwheel. Amazing enough the airplane kept flying. Unfortunately it was shedding parts as it continued......the right main gear and tailwheel. The impact damaged the hopper gate and he immediately started to lose the load. Circling back around the belly landing was pretty much uneventful. Nobody hurt and in my mind a masterful job of flying. Upon further examination the wing impacting the ditch bank had actually broken the wing spar. The fact that the wing did not fail is something amazing.

Saw another incident take place a few years later at the Fresno Air Terminal. Doing some touch and goes with a student of mine we were on about a mile final for 29L when an F/A-18 touched down on 29R with his right brake locked. The airplane went sliding off the right side of the runway in a shower of sparks and fire. I was amazed...before the aircraft had even come to a stop the canopy was open.....the pilot was out and running clear of the aircraft. Nobody was hurt and the airplane was towed off the runway.

 

[DiamondJim]

newmei

Your account of the accident is right on.... It was just as they crossed over the flag pole that the gear started coming up and the power on. Unfortunately in the commander the hydraulic gear raised the long leg of the gear on the operating engine first leaving all that drag under the dead engine. The really hard part of it all was that they crossed the threshold of a perfectly good runway as they came in on the VOR-A approach.... I know this is easy to say after the fact and I'm sure they didn't feel they were in a position to land safely with the tailwind. As they were approaching the FBO building and still losing alt. their were some high power lines looming in the glareshield that I'm sure contributed to the pilots decision. The crash was just beyond the airport boundry some two hundred yards from where I was standing. My partner ran to the scene while I called 911, and I arived soon after and helped the survivor out. An ambulance arrived about ten minutes later and about five minutes after that the news helicopters came in a flury.

 

[Fr8DoggyStyle]

I watched the last Blue Angels performance with A-4's. Niagara falls, NY. The 2 solo aircraft collided in an inverted high speed pass. One pilot was decapitated in the collision, the other pilot ejected and survived. Both aircraft created fireballs upon impacting the ground that we could feel from where we were.

I also watched "Miss Ashley II" (a very modified mustang race plane with lear 20 series wings, a griffon engine, and an f-86 tail) come apart in flight at Reno. My father and I were about the first people on the scene. The pieces of the aircraft went down in a residential neighborhood which looked like a war zone afterwards. It still amazes me how much damage to the ground a P-51 can do. The largest piece of the airplane i saw was about 1/4 of one of the cylinder heads laying in someones yard. There were bigger pieces in peoples houses/ barns but we never saw any of them. It really hit home when i saw one of the main gear hyd. actuators laying in the middle of the street all by itself still fully intact. I never saw any of the wing or any other parts of the landing gear, but here was this actuator which was probably still serviceable. Debris from the airplane damaged at least 4 houses probably more. Amazingly no-one on the ground was killed.

One of my first flight instructors died in a formula V racer after carbon monoxide poisoning got him while flying cross country to a race. If you are in aviation long enough you WILL attend funerals for friends. So be safe cuz any day could be the day.

 

[capt_zman]

A bunch of years ago, coming back from Nantucket on a Saturday with my whole family in the airplane, we hear a plane in distress with Cape Approach. The distressed plane, a Piper Arrow, decides to land on a major highway probably 10 miles from the airport that it had just taken off from. Approach asks me to monitor the situation and report the outcome.
As we hear the final comments from the frantic pilot, we see a huge plume of black smoke rise over the trees. Not good.
The plane had tried to land on the Northbound lane of the highway going with traffic, clipped a tree with its left wing, gone across the median and hit a station wagon going the opposite way killing 2 of the 3 family members inside. The plane then burns to a crisp in the middle of the highway killing the pilot and passenger. Pretty tramautizing event to hear and see.
Then to make matters worse, I go into work on Monday and start telling the story, turns out the pilot was married to one of my co-workers. Great, now I have to recount the story of how I heard and saw him kill himself and 3 other people. What a day.
Everytime I drive on that highway, I see the charred pavement where the plane hit the car and am reminded of how fragile life is.

 

[avbug]

"I also watched "Miss Ashley II" (a very modified mustang race plane with lear 20 series wings, ..."

I'm living in the hangar of the person who owned and flew that airplane, and was killed in it. Still lots of P-51 parts around.

The Twin Commander doesn't vary it's gear sequence because of an engine failure. In other words, the main gear on the failed side doesn't stay down longer or hesitate as a result of the failure.

 

[DiamondJim]

AVBUG

I didn't mean to imply that the gear came up asymetricle because of the engine failure, it's just the nature of the beast in that particular airplane. This certainly didn't help the situation any.