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Landing during turbulence and Crash

Glad it wasn't worst and there was people by the runway to help. I kept screaming go-around. At what point do you think he needed to make the go-around call?

Comments

  • Ken

    about 0:24 given the length of that runway

  • Chris

    I don't know why some guys feel they have to force a bad approach.  My old hanger mate was a fairly inexperienced pilot who would fly his little AC Racer in rowdy conditions.  After the third crash, his wife said enough is enough and that was likely a good call.  Here's another video reminiscent of the one you posted. The airport is Jackpot, NV...note the cues popping all around.  He broke his arm and the red box he hit was one of the power supplies for the runway lights.

     

     

  • jeff trike

    I think the forced bad approach/landing comes from fear and the desire to just get it overwith.

    With the exception of an engine out, you should never touch down unless everything is perfect, wings level, flying horizontally.  Trikes cannot handle bounces at all.  Once they start bouncing, they are on the verge of flipping over on the runway.   The best way to prevent bounces it to let the speed bleed off, a few inches above the ground until you can't fly anymore.

    One day, about 8 years ago, I went around 10 times before landing in gusty crosswinds with thermals at a desert dirt strip in New Mexico.  I definitely wanted to get it over with, but kept at it. After all those practice approaches, I finally got everthing perfect and the winds mellowed out just for me and I set it down safely. 

     

  • Rick D

    Go-around call should have been made 30 minutes before take-off. :) But seriously, I agree with Jeff, the pilot appeared to want to get down at any cost.

  • ULtrikepilot

    Agree with Rick and Jeff.  Certainly by about 20sec in decision should have been made.  Interestingly, when looking at the video very carefully, I see no evidence of wind (moving grass, swaying bushes, etc) which leads me to think this pilot had other issues besides gusting crosswinds.  Over controlling, PIO, bad wing behavior, ???  I do find it a bit disconcerting that some pilots don't seem to think about keeping the go-around option ready when things don't look right and instead seem determined to put her down regardless of .....

  • Doug Smith

    He was never set up to land. Seems like bad wind.... But ULtrike is right, it doesn't show in the vid once he's down. You can tell he only knew to dump the throtle every time for landing. If you land every time with the gas at idle, the wind is gonna get you someday.  I was shown how you sometimes need to power your way down hot, until a second before your mains touch. My first instructor said, If the Turbs feel more forceful than the force of gravity (the weight of the trike) then forward power will help counter act and keep a straight approach. If I see there's a bad cross wind, I'll go down and do a planed low pass to see what it's like down there before I think about a landing. That way you can really test it before that hard earth has any say in it. Once I'm low, it might not be so bad and I finish it out. 

  • Jozinko

    Jeff told it right about perfect landing. I dont know how experienced the pilots was. However, they had to know - go around is the perfect solution if something isnt as good as they expected. Im teaching my students - go around if you know your point of landing is far than 1/3 of RWY. Go around if your approach angle is bigger than 25° to RWY axis. Yes, we trained short landing and a big angle landing, but we do it for solutions only, when the engine is off and you havent chance go around. From those videos I have a feeling, both pilots wanted land for "any price" and results we can see. I hope, both are OK.

  • Trike Ops

    I was looking for clues to see if wind was a factor. I see some smoke in the distance, but it looks straight up (maybe not, a bit hard to tell). Also, I think part of the crash has to do with the white pole hiding behind the front strut at 0:26. You can see the turn to the right when it comes to view of the pilot at around 0:29.  After the crash notice how fast the dust dissipated from the area. I'm not sure if you can determine wind speed by just looking at dust dissipation, but wind speed is for sure present. Also, there seems to be poles going across a few hundred feet beyond the end of the runway.  I am just glad it wasn't worst, and perhaps it was a combination of turbulence and pilot experience.

  • Ttabs

    Aren't these Russians Crazy? ....