"what if"... just for fun / because I was daydreaming...

Caught myself playing the "what if" game while I was flying this morning...

OK, so you're chugging along in the Super, solo. Front seat. 1000' AGL. Hard left turn, and the stick pops out in your hand. It's a dirty break - can't reattach. You reach into the back seat and roll yourself wings level. What's the likelihood that you can:

a. fly the remainder of the flight home from the front and land in a mild crosswind using the aft stick.

b. hop from the front seat to the back seat mid flight and fly home from there.

I KNOW someone has corporate knowledge of at least one of these.

How 'bout just find a place pointing into the wind and use rudders and trim? Then put the stick back in.

I suppose if you felt like you could reach the aft stick, that would be preferable to crawling around in flight.

It is pretty easy to fly a cub with just trim, rudder, and throttle. I would not like to land with only that but that is why I keep a leatherman handy at all times.
DENNY

when I was 16 I climbed from the back seat of dads J3 to the front in flight....The only malfunction came when my jacket snagged the back stick and put me into a dive....I was 16 and flexible, so I weaseled out of it.....I didn't try reversing my maneuver....I just landed from the front seat. Dad realized I had just re-enacted his stunt he used to tell me about from when he did it back in 1956......Still, he was not impressed. In your scenario, I would jam my fuel checker into the stick stub I guess and land that way.....isn't that what Trooper Jack Blake did?

I flew a J-3 that I bought in Jacksonville Fla. home to Maine in 1976. I swapped seats several times during that trip. I had a duffle bag that I switched seats with and even buckled it in. At that time I was 29 yrs old 5'10" and weighed 165lbs. and didn't give it a second thought. LOL. Wouldn't attempt it today unless I had to, but have no doubt I could do it if needed. Never had a broken stick and don't want one. That trip took 22 hrs. over a 4 day period and with a flat prop I averaged a ground speed of 65MPH.

When going from the front seat to the back seat be careful that the back stick doesn't slide up inside of your shirt as you sit down

Glenn

Man. If that stick was rusty enough to break, I wouldn't get in in the first place.

DENNY said:

It is pretty easy to fly a cub with just trim, rudder, and throttle. I would not like to land with only that but that is why I keep a leatherman handy at all times.
DENNY

Click to expand...

The landing part is not too bad either. It takes a bit of practice to dial it in. It's something to do when short landings get old


Jerry

I know of basically two situations that a version of this did happen... Both had passengers...

The first one, owner had the stick come out of the stub on take off.. immediate reaction was to cut the power to idle and let it land straight ahead.. in hindsight he said he should have left the power in and put the stick back in the stub after getting some altitude, but it was seconds from oops to ground impact.. Wife in the back seat had Alzheimer’s and could not take over flying from the back seat.. that was several years ago and both people have passed, wife from the Alzheimer’s and him from cancer..

Second one... interconnection tube broke between both back and front sticks inside the torque tube... no elevator control. aileron, rudder and trim ok... back seater not a pilot... trimmed the airplane for slow flight, lined up to a long runway and was able to land without going on its nose... very lucky there...

Brian


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Stepfather had elevator bellcrank mount crack off under seat. He used trim to land. Pa-20. I only noticed the ugly arc welds and asked why. He explained. Probably something you should practice since it does happen. Remember to trim against remaining control cable


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"what if"... just for fun / because I was daydreaming...

A friend was able to land a damaged air tractor without elevators

I landed my cub with only throttle and rudders.....on my 6th try.