172 off runway

[kicka330]

Plane veers off runway into a ditch
18:31 AEDT Sun Jan 9 2005


A 19-year-old pilot had a lucky escape on Sunday when the plane he was landing ended up in a ditch.

The accident happened about 2.45pm (AEDT) at Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne's south east.

Just after landing, the aircraft veered off the runway near the end of the landing strip and went into a large ditch, according to police.

The 19-year-old pilot was alone in the single engine Cessna 172.

He suffered minor head injuries and did not require medical treatment.




Any other news on this?? I herd it was a GFS owned 172? Any idea on the student pilot?

[John Citizen]

Must have been a cadet, practicing for the real thing in an airliner one day.

Maybe its part of the syllabus now :p

[Travelair]

Or just a bloke having a bad day... give him a break! Maybe John will never have a bad day.

[Bidgee]

Or maybe he got a flat tyre. That'll do it.

[Continental-520]

Flat tyres will do it for sure!

Had one of those balloon/oversize tyres on a C206 go flat once, as much or more yawing tendency on the ground as when losing an engine at full power in a piston twin, I reckon.

Nasty if you're not expecting it, ...!

520.

[185skywagon]

wouldn't even like to think about a flat in the 185. without a tailwheel lock(which i don't have), you would be in for a very interesting ride.

[Menen]

Heard a rumour that the Royal Vic Flying School busted their Travellair during crashes and dashes at MB a few days back. Wrong lever again?

And regarding wide circuits. My theory is that it is usually the instructor's fault that students fly wide circuits. Some instructors should not be let loose among innocent students until the instructor himself is certified competent to fly a normal circuit. Students try to emulate their instructors and if the instructors lack the intelligence and ability to fly a reasonable circuit, how can you expect the student to do so?

[7gcbc]

185skywagon,

true, they are difficult enough to land when they have all the parts attached.

to the 172 student who went off, don't sweat it, we will all do it sooner or later and a burst tire is an excellent excuse!! - sure you would have been fine otherwise!

7gcbc
<blown off more than once in a tailwheel with a mind of its' own>

[Ultralights]

if your going to use the Burst tyre as an excuse, just make sure the tyre is actually flat before the help arrives!

[Di_Vosh]

Menen is regretfully correct.

Sadly, it wasn't RVAC's Travelair. The Travelairs at MB are all crosshired from The Aviation Centre. And AEM was the best equipped of them.

The really regretful part was that a sliding lock over the gear handle (like the one that the Bonanza PDS has) MAY have prevented this.

:(

DIVOSH!

[djpil]

The really regretful part was that a sliding lock over the gear handle (like the one that the Bonanza PDS has) MAY have prevented this. Yes, but would the cost of getting an STC and PMA be less than the repair costs?

[bushy]

Beechcraft put the gear switch where everyone else puts the flap switch, on Barons and Bonanzas. And we have many incidents of pilots retracting gear on the ground, thinking they are retracting the flaps. This is a repetitive thing, and no-one seems to bother trying to stop it happening. Habbits are most important,and it is smart to develop a habbit of not retracting flap until you are off the runway, when the squat switch will prevent gear from retracting. And also, feeling the shape of the switch before activating it. CASA and ATSB have had more than 30 years to do something about this but they just seem to be afraid of upsetting beechcraft.

[tinpis]

Beech did their best with a WHEEL shaped nob on the WHEELS and FLAP shaped nob on the FLAPS.
I liked the Baron set up .
We jumped from them into 402s and back in PNG I cant recall anyone bitching about it.or getting ferduddled

[Di_Vosh]

AEM did have a wheel shaped undercarriage lever, and a flap shaped flap lever.

The bonanza I referred to has the same levers, but the undercarriage lever has a catch on it. It cannot be raised unless the catch is moved sideways. This extra motion MAY have been enough to prompt the student that he/she was retracting the gear and not the flaps.

I'm guessing that the repair costs will be in the order of around $50 - 70,000.00.

[Bevan666]

AEM had a new paint job and a pair of rebuilt engines last year as well (or was that late 2003?).

Yet another case of unintentional selection of gear up on the ground. There are a few wise operators who do not do circuits in these aircraft (baron's and bonanza's) to prevent these kinds of accidents. Now in the travelair's the flight switch only runs when the gear is UP, why not just stop, taxi back and depart again, rather than doing a circuit?

Better yet, head to an uncontrolled nearby field and do this all day. Much much cheaper than repairing a few engines and the underbelly.

Oh and the catch on the undercarrage lever on PDS.. the few times I fly that aircraft I spend the first 20 second airborne thinking.. fkn wheels wont come up!


Bevan..

[morning mungrel]

2 bulk strips and 2 new props alone will eat up over 50 grand. Not accounting for the sheetmetal work, gear doors, labour, etc.... Good thing it was insured........