UL runs out of gas, caught on video.

[Joseph II]

http://www.dumpalink.com/media/1132485844/Out_Of_Gas

 

[Horizon]

That's scary to watch. Wonder if he made it?

Remember, if you are ever forced down over bad terrain, your best chance of survival is to pretend there's a nice paved runway below you. Far better to stall right above the terrain than to drop or dive in at 150KTS.

 

[BID]

Anyone know if the pilot survived the crash?

 

[kaj837]

Yeah, I second what Horizon says. Put the nose down to maintain best glide and stay away from the stall. I assume that is the elevator control in his right hand, he just yanks it right up after he figures out what happened. I'm wondering what he had the camera mounted on. Anyone know if he made it ok?

 

[agpilot34]

Can you say "pre-flight"? Always helps to check the fuel tank for contents! Hope he made it out OK.

 

[VAPOR]

no protection in those things

 

[Immelman]

...it didn't help that he was maneuvering, what, 20 ft above the trees when that happened... a bit more altitude to work with and he may have made that road.

 

[FN FAL]

Dorky.

 

[GravityHater]

How is it we know for sure this aircraft ran out of gas?
Maybe that's what happened, but I don't for a minute believe some internet video byline.
Hard to condemn a pilot with only wild guesses as to what happened.

 

[Huggyu2]

I saw this somewhere else about a month ago. He was pretty messed up. If I recall right, a bunch of broken bones, including a broken pelvis. If I can find the link, I'll post "the injury list".

 

[agpilot34]

How is it we know for sure this aircraft ran out of gas?
Maybe that's what happened, but I don't for a minute believe some internet video byline.
Hard to condemn a pilot with only wild guesses as to what happened.

Very true. Didnt really sound like an engine running out of fuel... sounded more like an ignition failure or something like that. When it quit, it just quit. usually when they run out of fuel, they will at least sputter a couple of times before going silent. I've never like those things anyway. I've flown in some pretty piss poor aircraft that looked like they wouldnt make it around the patch once, much less out the field with a load of chemical and back, but at least I had some metal structure around me in the event of a mishap. You couldnt PAY me enough to fly one of those beer can recycled things.

 

[kaj837]

I never liked them much either, but I think, if I was going to get into something like that and fly it, I would want to wear some kind of coverall in addition to the helmet. It didn't sound like it ran out of gas to me either, but aren't most of those 2 stroke engines, and with them, who knows?

 

[agpilot34]

Yeah, most of them (all of the ones I have been around) use the Rotax two stroke. Some models of those are pretty reliable... some of them are complete junk!

 

[Horizon]

no protection in those things

That's true, but aren't some UL's equipped with balistic parachutes??? Basically, if sh*t hits the fan, you pull the chute and ride down gently. Of course, the guy in the video was pretty frickin' low.

 

[trip]

If you listen hard you can hear the rpm's slow down a little before it gives up the ghost! Who knows what the cause? I've seen the guys that fly and maintain these things and lets just say they are a different breed!