Short rant.
At the end of the day, it's always the pilots fault. As a current JetBlue pilot told me, a wing could fall off and the accident report will still say they crashed due to the pilot losing control.
But I've been around a blackhawk hovering, and four of them has got to make the area pretty unsuitable.
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The pilot reported that he landed on runway 34. He observed five Blackhawk helicopters hovering information on taxiway Bravo. The airplane had slowed to 10-15 miles per hour as it came abeam thehelicopters. The pilot said that the left side of the airplane encountered a sudden blast of air, and the leftwing lifted. The airplane spun hard to the right, exited the runway into a dirt area, and stopped facing180 degrees in the opposite direction. The left wing tip struck the ground during the excursion, andsustained substantial damage. The pilot attributed the wind gust to the rotorwash from the helicopters.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) inspector determined that there were four helicopters ontaxiway Bravo that were doing engine Health Indicator Test (HIT) checks. They were using 30 percentpower with two engines operating, and 60 percent with one engine operating, which was about 1/2 thepower needed to hover. The inspector used scaled airport construction diagrams to calculate that thedistance from the helicopters to the airplane's location when it passed abeam was about 400 feet.
The FAA Aeronautical Information Manual Section 7-3-7 and Advisory Circular AC 90-23G paragraph10 stated that if a helicopter was in a stationary hover near the surface, the main rotors generateddownwash producing high velocity outwash vortices to a distance of approximately three times thediameter of the rotor. They advised pilots of small aircraft to avoid operating within that distance.The diameter of the Blackhawk's main rotor blades was 53 feet 8 inches; three diameters computed to176 feet.Wind reported at the nearest recording station was 360 degrees at 5 knots.
The distance between the airplane and the helicopterswhen the airplane passed them abeam was calculated to be about 400 ft, which was over six diametersaway; therefore, helicopter rotor wash likely did not contribute to the pilot's loss of directional control.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident to be:The pilot's failure to maintain directional control during the landing roll.
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What type of airplane was this which left the runway?****************
The pilot reported that he landed on runway 34. He observed five Blackhawk helicopters hovering information on taxiway Bravo. The airplane had slowed to 10-15 miles per hour as it came abeam the helicopters. The pilot said that the left side of the airplane encountered a sudden blast of air, and the leftwing lifted. The airplane spun hard to the right, exited the runway into a dirt area, and stopped facing180 degrees in the opposite direction. The left wing tip struck the ground during the excursion, and sustained substantial damage. The pilot attributed the wind gust to the rotorwash from the helicopters.
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If this accident is on video and the one I'm thinking of my guess is the pilot simply stalled and spun. Helicopters being blamed for one of pilots oldest airplane ending tricks.
What type of airplane was this which left the runway?
A Caravan crashed in the Seattle area yesterday, both occupants killed.
Original conjecture was that it was a skydiving jump plane out of Harvey Field S43, which is just west of the crash site, however this was not the case.
It was apparently owned or at least operated by Lake and Pen Air out of Alaska, and had been doing flights out of Renton KRTN all week.
This flight involved a lot of maneuvering over the eventual crash site.
N2069B
2 dead after plane crashes, catches fire in field near Snohomish – KIRO 7 News Seattle
Well there’s something you don’t see every day.
https://youtu.be/t9GBHNaYzcs
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Any idea yet if it was a header tank "time to drain" event? Crosswinds 180 conv? Fuel lines need to be sized to flow. I had one like that and they pitched the prop to limit power and fuel consumption.
Gary
I don’t have any data Gary. Some speculation about possibly of water frozen in a line. It was -10. [emoji849]
It probably doesn’t bear reminding to the participants here as much as those not participating, but it can’t hurt.
A PA-12 driver in Maine attempted the impossible turn after loss of power during climbout, and while the two occupants came out of it in great condition, the plane did not.
I’m not saying it’s the plane the matters….what I’m saying is that they were both extremely lucky they survived. Just like my accident, It could have been really really bad.
The reminder here from me is just to decide on the emergency path when you do your pre-takeoff checklist. Mags are good, carb heat is good, fuel is good, anything else you check… and “I’m going _there_ if this thing dies”.
I wasn’t there, but one theory is that he had just barely initiated a turn when it coughed and died. With the mindset of already starting to turn perhaps he didn’t think about that the best direction was back straight ahead, not behind him. And a second later he became committed to the path.
Thankful they survived.
But it’s another reinforcement to plan your escape route before starting the roll, every single time.
Pb
View attachment 64819
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[/QUOTE]"The video almost looks like he stopped flying when the engine quit."
Video?
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One theory I heard was they didn't have an engine cover. Plane sat for a couple hours at zero. Got in and started up and took off shortly after. Cold engine and WOT don't usually mix well?
Glenn
What is meant by the "time to drain" phrase applied to the header tank and appearing several times here in the thread?
I believe it refers to the specific time it takes for an engine at takeoff power to empty the header tank without the header tank being replenished.
I have my first bird with a header tank, and don't feel as informed about it as I would like even after reading lots here on sc.org.