Aircraft Emergency Landing Saturday

[going_home]

So my two kids that are still in school are both in crew.
They had a 3 school regatta saturday and me being the shutter bug that I am ( albeit a lousy one) I went to snap some frames (well its my kids too so I had to be interested too) .

My daughter got 1st place in her race, my son came in 3rd in the 8 and 2nd in the 4.



Anyways theres a small airport for private aircraft across the bipass canal and I always watch for neat looking planes to snap pics of in between races.
Well here comes this weird looking boat bottomed plane with the motor way up on the top of the plane.

I start snapping pics as its landing. Well someone says hey why arent the wheels dropping ? And sure enough we all witnessed an emergency landing.
The pilot was real good, just before he hit the runway he dropped the tail down a couple feet below the front of the plane and it skidded down the runway and finally the friction made it turn to the right just as it was coming to a stop.











The two guys got out immediately and were walking around the plane looking at it. The little podunk (Vandenburg) airport didnt even have a fire truck come out, all I saw was a golf cart come flying out there and a Jeep.

So a bit of excitement saturday on the bipass canal .
And its always neat to be in the right place at the right time with a camera in hand.

Heres a link to a website showing some pics of one of those planes:

http://ensign.ftlcomm.com/planes/lakes/lakesBucc.html

[flyboy]

Too bad it couldn't land on the water way.

[trevorjk]

Too bad it couldn't land on the water way.

yeah! damn students!

[zondo]

Sounds like someone skipped a step in the landing checks...

[going_home]

Sounds like someone skipped a step in the landing checks...

I dont think so. The plane would have flipped if he didnt drop the tail just before touching down. He had to know the wheels werent dropping the way he landed.

[flyboy]

Actually "dropping the tail" or flaring, as it's called is a normal thing to do when landing on ground. When landing "gear up" you want to touchdown with the slowest possible forward speed without dropping it onto the ground.

In this particular aircraft the wing mounted gear is perfectly visible from the cockpit so I have no doubt he knew this would be gear up. My only question is why on asphalt and not water. Looking at terra server the canal beside it might not have been the best place but it's Florida and lakes are every where - many with seaplane bases.

In any event he's looking at some expensive repairs.

[acropilot19]

Those girls look tired.

[trevorjk]

Those girls look tired.

maybe if we ask nicely Going Home will get us UNtired pics of his daughter

[Hilltop Customs]

I can see a reason for not choosing water....unless there is a dock its not going to be the easiest repair to make. Depending on how long his flight was....maybe he was scared there wouldnt be enough fuel to make it to the nearest acceptable water body.

only question I have is why he would choose the runway over the grass right beside the runway more than likely would have came out with no damage if he touched down on the grass....but the runway will act just like sandpaper and eat right through the body even with a slow flared landing.

[flyboy]

I can see a reason for not choosing water....unless there is a dock its not going to be the easiest repair to make. Depending on how long his flight was....maybe he was scared there wouldnt be enough fuel to make it to the nearest acceptable water body.

only question I have is why he would choose the runway over the grass right beside the runway more than likely would have came out with no damage if he touched down on the grass....but the runway will act just like sandpaper and eat right through the body even with a slow flared landing.

Yeah, unless someone on one of the aviaition forums I read posts something about this we probably won't know. Of course. I could call the airport, lol.

Important thing is they are safe and sound.

[devildog]

which one is your daughter?

[going_home]

which one is your daughter?

maybe if we ask nicely Going Home will get us UNtired pics of his daughter

de plane boss de plane .

I only had the pic of the boat so you could see the bipass canal in relation to where the airport is.
The girl is 14 so back off or you will die slowly, very slowly.

[zondo]

I can see a reason for not choosing water....unless there is a dock its not going to be the easiest repair to make. Depending on how long his flight was....maybe he was scared there wouldnt be enough fuel to make it to the nearest acceptable water body.

only question I have is why he would choose the runway over the grass right beside the runway more than likely would have came out with no damage if he touched down on the grass....but the runway will act just like sandpaper and eat right through the body even with a slow flared landing.

I think that's because you don't know what's in the grass (ie. holes, mounds, dips) but the runway is essentially smooth. That way you only have whatever malfunction generated the emergency and some fiber glass/paint work to repair. The last thing you want is to catch something in the dirt and then flip.

Been a while since I've flown anything with retractable landing gear, but it sounds good.