If he had flown straight, he could of easily landed on I-95 its been done many times before with out anyone getting killed, or worst case the railway tracks. Why oh why he decided to turn around makes no sence at all, i guess his pax where frightened which did not help is problem.
My Instr had several thousand hours in piston A/C at the time (early 90s),
and is still instructing at the FBO he owns. I think he was not the idiot you proclaim but was S.H. and new what an airplane was capable of. After thousands of hours myself, I am glad he taught that way.
Every T/O is different and requires some thought and planning as to what your going to do when the stuff hits the fan. This is called the T/O brief at the airline I fly for. Many guys just out tooling around the pattern instructing or joyriding whatever probably are not thinking about this stuff after the fourth touch-an-go, so when it gets quiet they are not as prepared as they could be.
Cold ocean dead ahead? residential area? Tall buildings? Whatever the choice dont Stall it because then it does not matter anymore right?
I was always taught to look 30 degrees right or left of the nose and take the best shot, to NEVER try to make the turn if the engine quits on climbout. In the pattern at altitude, it is usually a different story, of course. But I always wondered whether I'd have the guts to do to the smart thing if it quit on climbout, or if the 'homing instinct' would be too strong to ignore and I'd wind up spinning in, like most do who try it.
Shortly after my solo (third one since 1995, I kept having to stop training) I had a small taste of what it must feel like. On climbout in a C152 from the small strip I trained at the engine started missing so badly it felt like it was gonna vibrate out of the airframe. I truly felt it was gonna stop completely any minute and since there was nothing but woods all across the nose I just held it straight and was prepared to stall it out just over the trees and drop thru, which is what one of my friends (a CFI) had told me to do. Even scared sh!tless, I knew there was no way I'd make it back. I was just to low to even contemplate it. As it happens, whatever was causing the miss began to clear (albeit slowly) and I was able to start climbing again and turn back. But I was fully prepared to trust that stalling it out and dropping thru the trees was my best option.
According to what I was told, a few months later in Chapel Hill, NC a CFI and student actually did that and both walked away with bruises and soiled underwear.
How would you guys suggest to take it into the trees, assuming there was no road or flat land, etc. within a 60 degree arc of the nose and this was the only option you had?
Another consideration in a crash such is this, may not have anything to do with the skills neccesary to return to the runway at 800 feet in a dangerously tight turn...but whether or not the fuel valve was on or whether all items neccessary to ensure saftey of flight were checked prior to lift off.
While it is true that simple and catastrophic engine failures do occur, most likely the engine failure type crashes are a result of pilot error.
If he had flown straight, he could of easily landed on I-95 its been done many times before with out anyone getting killed, or worst case the railway tracks. Why oh why he decided to turn around makes no sence at all, i guess his pax where frightened which did not help is problem.
I'm guessing he was too low to make it to I95, he probably would have crashed INTO it (just speculation). He might have panicked, afterall from FXE (not FLL, mind you) I can't think of any clear field or road in sight, it's a heavily populated area and a lot of industrial parks too. Commercial Blvd is always jammed with traffic too. I'll bet he wasn't even at 400 ft when he lost power.
One day a few of us pulled two pilots (ten thousand hours between them) out of the wreck of a Cessna L19 that we had seen crash here at our home airport.
I recall that they had drained LOTS of water from the fuel tanks , had run the engine and became satisfied and decided to take off.
At about 4-500 feet the engine quit and we saw an immediate turn back to the airport. I was amazed at the rate of descent , or more appropriately , plummet. It crashed a couple of hundred feet short of the threshold and a hundred or so off to one side.
One day , we had a student pilot on his third solo who had a very rough engine on climbout. He lowered the nose and landed in a field and touched down about a third of the way down. The aircraft was fixed and flown out that day.
I was a VERY strong advocate on "landing straight ahead +/- thirty degrees in the event of a failure.
Finally , one day , there were two young , brand new commercial pilots sitting at the coffee bar bragging about how they had gone up in the C182 and simulated an engine failure after take off and could make it back through 180 degrees from a mere 400 feet.
Oh they were such easy prey. I exploded upon them. Idiots! If you have a failure and initiate a steep turn left and roll out at 180 degrees you are only parralel to the runway and it will require another 45 degree turn left and yet another 45 degrees to the right to line up with the runway. That's 270 degrees!
When I saw the L19 bank left , it was chilling to see the corresponding increase in rate of descent...... it didn't look right.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
