Twin Otter vs Squirrel at St Barts, 24-08-2023

[treadigraph]

Air Antilles Twin Otter ran off the runway and amputated a wing against a parked Squirrel at St Barthelemy - all on the Twotter seem to have escaped unharmed.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/344872

You Tube

[Pilot DAR]

Oh dear! It's nice to hear that there were no injuries in the Twin Otter, hopefully also in the AS350. Twin Otters can be a little demanding to steer on the ground (because it would appear that the pilot had left the runway by a hundred feet!). It's hard to see what the nosewheel steering was doing, but I don't see any appreciable amount of rudder being applied in an attempt to get the plane away from the apron.

[Bksmithca]

Darn they grow those squirrels big in St Barts. Pilot must have SQUIRREL

[dixi188]

Fortunately the Twin Otter's fuel is in tanks under the cabin floor.

[treadigraph]

Wonder if the right prop failed to go into beta?

[punkalouver]

Originally Posted by dixi188

Fortunately the Twin Otter's fuel is in tanks under the cabin floor.

Obviously, you haven't flown one with wingtip tanks. All the ones i flew had them. The fueling guys where we were based didn't seem to like them as they made the pilots stand way up on a ladder to refuel them.

[nevillestyke]

Investigation

NTSB or RSPCA?

[Lake1952]

This was on the taxiway/ ramp. Not sure if video was sped up, but it looks inexplicable!

https://aviationsourcenews.com/incid...nt-barthelemy/

[dixi188]

Originally Posted by punkalouver

Obviously, you haven't flown one with wingtip tanks. All the ones i flew had them. The fueling guys where we were based didn't seem to like them as they made the pilots stand way up on a ladder to refuel them.

Didn't know there was a tip tank option. The only time I saw extra fuel was when we fitted 10 drums in the cabin for a ferry flight to New Zealand around 1985.

[dixi188]

Not a lot of space if something goes wrong. The helipad is only about 90ft off the edge of the runway. We had a Twin Otter burst a tyre at Newcastle and that ended up on the grass.

[212man]

Originally Posted by Lake1952

This was on the taxiway/ ramp. Not sure if video was sped up, but it looks inexplicable!

https://aviationsourcenews.com/incid...nt-barthelemy/

Not in the context of the fact that the Twin Otter had departed the runway!

[Concours77]

Tough Helo? Wimpy DeH? Main spar snapped hitting a helicopter?
V/helo...?

[FlexibleResponse]

Originally Posted by Concours77

Tough Helo? Wimpy DeH? Main spar snapped hitting a helicopter?
V/helo...?

After the FWD spar has separated at the attachment, the MAIN spar has then failed in the drag direction...aft.

The MAIN spar did not fail in the lift direction...upwards.

The design criteria for the MAIN spar is so much stronger to withstand Lift forces than for Drag forces.

So hitting a stationary helicopter mast at 30 odd knots would seem to well exceed the designers wing Drag force calculations!

[Capn Bloggs]

Originally Posted by Flexible Response

After the FWD spar has separated at the attachment, the MAIN spar has then failed in the drag direction...aft.

A flexible response then... ​​​​​​​

[VH-MLE]

Who do the cops think they are not wearing high viz vests…

[Pilot DAR]

Wimpy DeH? Main spar snapped hitting a helicopter?
V/helo...?

By allowing the wing(s) to break off in drag, deceleration forces to the occupants of the plane can be reduced during a crash. In any normal operation, the wing to fuselage upper attachments should always be in compression. The Twin Otter's wing attachment was a problem in the reverse sense, when, for the earlier Twin Otters, the fuselage came to a sudden stop during a crash. The aft wing to fuselage attachments could fail, which could result in the engines impacting the cockpit. For this, DHC designed and installed the "Pilot Saver" modification, which was a tierod between the aft wing's fittings, so that the wings would not fail moving forward. As seen having a wing fail moving aft is less concern, as it moves away from the fuselage.