Flying decisions

[Brian]

There was an incident of a hard landing in the US forum that was caught on video and it quite clearly showed the pilot letting the airspeed decay to a point where recovery was going to be interesting to say the least. The pilot had a sprag clutch fail in his gearbox.I remembered a tragic accident that claimed the life of a young fellow I learnt to fly with [FW] and his father. The pilot was taking off on their own private strip in a Piper Lance and on that day the wind was a southerly so it meant taking off over the Murray river. The takeoff was normal till at about 200 feet approximately, the engine stopped, the pilot set up for a forced landing very quickly and all was going well till at some point, the 300 horses cranked up again [throttle left full open] and the pilot found himself being propelled back into the air.The pilot must have decided to continue the takeoff as the end of the strip was coming up quickly. At approximately 250 feet, the engine again died and this time didnt start. The aircraft ended up in the river and both men were killed !!!The pilot was well trained and pretty switched on and had been flying the Lance for some time so he was very familiar with the aircraft.The thing that struck me was that I thought the normal course of events would have been to pull the throttle back to idle when the engine failed the first time, thats what I was taught anyway but the investigators believed that the throttle had been left in the full position all the time and why when approaching a river with tall gum trees in front of you with a engine that isnt happy running, that you would continue the takeoff has had me baffled for years.I guess what I'm saying in a round about way is that it is very important to FLY the aircraft all the time. If its a gyro and you have a engine or gearbox malfunction, maintain glide airspeed and put it down and check out whats going on. In a FW its the same deal, specially when runway is in front of you, pull that throttle to idle and pull the mixture lever as well for good measure.Decisions have to be made quickly but the aircraft must always be flown till it comes to a stop and in the case of gyros, till the rotors stop turning. The US forum video clearly showed the pilot, once he had landed with the rotors right back, had there been a gust of wind, a tip over or loss of controll could have seen the gyro going from minor damage to wrecked and a very unhappy wife !!!I hope this makes sense to all who take the time to read this post.Brian

[NiqueNaque]

So Brian,Correct procedure:Fly ....... problem .......... fly .... land ......... fix it .......... fly again.Incorrect procedure:Fly ....... problem .......... try to fly .... die.. don't fly againI get it.

[Brian]

Thats pretty good Nick !I'm probably talking to the converted but problems do pop up now and again and its important to know what you are supposed to be doing and its very apparent by what I see on the US forum and sometimes here, that people arent handling reasonably easy problems correctly.In training we do mock engine outs till we can do them in our sleep but it is different when all the noise stops for the first time, particularly at low level where the time frame is extremely short before the gyro is going to land and basically, if you havent already done it, then its too late !!If anyone wants to chime in here with any ideas or to point out any glaring holes in my argument, please do so because I'm not an instructer and certainly do not pretend to know everything !!I was particularly concerned to see people on the forum [US] congratulate this pilot on a job well done when I thought his response and actions to an emergency were well below par and could well have caused injury to himself and passenger.Brian

[asra]

Brian, could you supply the link to view the video footage sounds interesting. I still practice engine failure at low levels by doing hops along the runway and cutting power to idle, not the real thing but it gives me an idea of where i could end up if it happened for real.matt.

[asra]

Here we go MattTo veiw the video go to the bottom (left) of this page labeled CLOSE CALL. scroll all the way down it is not with the videos in the box.http://www.pipersprecisionproducts.com/videos.htmYou really have to scroll down a long way.Aussie Paul.www.firebirdgyros.com

[bones]

If anyone wants to chime in here with any ideas or to point out any glaring holes in my argument, please do so because I'm not an instructer and certainly do not pretend to know everything !!BrianBrian i agree with you 100%, for me 2 cents worth, the best thing i ever done for my flying was to do hang gliding for a while, once you start to land there is no pulling out, and things change all the time, perfect engine out practice.

[Brian]

Thanks Paul, much appreciated with the video link.Thanks bones for the vote of confidence !Brian

[birdy]

I mite a bit of a bent unit, but i couldn't help laugh when i saw the flic. Could see wot was go'n to happen long before it did.Your right on the money Brian.[ it still amazes me how many people stuff up if theres no thrust.]Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.You can always get the answer you want, if you ask enough experts.

[asra]

Have watched the video and I think the "Sprag clutch failure" may have been just an excuse for too low too slow.