View Full Version : Plane crashes into Ferris Wheel
Rotor Work
1st Oct 2011, 05:18
Plane crashes into NSW ferris wheel - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-01/plane-crashes-into-nsw-ferris-wheel/3204912)
Link to Australian ABC News site,
R W
:ugh::ugh:
HEATHROW DIRECTOR
1st Oct 2011, 08:30
<<The pilot of a light plane that crashed into a ferris wheel at a fair on the New South Wales mid-north coast says he simply did not see it.>>
He needs to visit Specsavers..
Sven Sixtoo
1st Oct 2011, 08:31
One of the TV views showed that the wheel is literally about 50 yds from the threshold of a grass runway and just off the centreline.
Genghis the Engineer
1st Oct 2011, 09:25
One of the TV views showed that the wheel is literally about 50 yds from the threshold of a grass runway and just off the centreline.
If true, then nobody looks very good. The pilot should have known it was there and how to avoid it, and nobody should have permitted it to be sited there in the first place.
G
172driver
1st Oct 2011, 09:30
More detailed thread running over at DG&P general aviation.
SamRobinson
1st Oct 2011, 09:36
BBC News - Plane hits Ferris wheel north of Sydney, trapping four (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15135716)
POBJOY
1st Oct 2011, 10:18
Ah well it probably was not on his check list !!, but in his blind spot underneath the aircraft.
ShyTorque
1st Oct 2011, 10:47
Probably on a Ferris flight.
From our perspective it sounds pretty stupid flying into something like that but its not the first time.
Pilots have flown into power pylons, cables, buildings, skyscrapers, trees! You name it???
How on earth they got permission to put a structure like that carrying the public near a runway God knows?
I am sure some questions will have to be answered.
I wonder if the Pilot has grounds to sue whoever allowed it?
Beethoven
1st Oct 2011, 11:11
Not a comment on this particular incident but I can well believe it. Only last week my officers were called to a huge (seriously huge!) tree having fallen in high winds blocking a large road. Whilst on scene they were amazed at not one but 2 motorists simply driving straight into it and being unable to explain why other than they weren't expecting it.
teleport
1st Oct 2011, 12:13
BBC News - Plane hits Ferris wheel north of Sydney, trapping four (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15135716)
teleport
1st Oct 2011, 12:19
The pilot, Paul Cox, said he did not see the Ferris wheel before his plane hit it.
"The next thing I knew, I was stopped inside the Ferris wheel," he said. "I had no idea for a few minutes and I was just hoping no one got hurt."
Plane hits Ferris wheel in Australia; no injuries - KMPH FOX 26 | Central San Joaquin Valley News Source (http://www.kmph.com/story/15592628/plane-hits-ferris-wheel-in-australia-no-injuries)
RVF750
1st Oct 2011, 12:26
His lookout was crap but his priorities good...
" Don't worry about us, get the damn kids out first!"
Good lad.
Pilot DAR
1st Oct 2011, 12:27
If true, then nobody looks very good.
Not so fast Genghis.... The ferris wheel manufacturer's structural design is looking pretty good right now! What a testimonial!
Genghis the Engineer
1st Oct 2011, 12:29
Not so fast Genghis.... The ferris wheel manufacturer's structural design is looking pretty good right now! What a testimonial!
Fair point well made.
G
Hydromet
1st Oct 2011, 12:35
When interviewed on the news, the pilot, a local, said he was in a nose-up attitude and didn't see it.
Possibly a case of seeing (or not seeing) what he expected to see.
P-MONKE
1st Oct 2011, 14:32
I was proceeding along, in a northerly direction, when all of a sudden, out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever, this Ferris wheel just jumped out in front of me. An' that's the honest truth, guvenor.
Grob Queen
1st Oct 2011, 14:41
Whatever happened to L-A-I?????
costamaia
1st Oct 2011, 15:27
No TCAS on the Ferris Wheel?!!!
Shunter
1st Oct 2011, 15:53
Apparently my amateur guesswork depiction was incorrect as the ferris wheel was actually 3" to the east. Since I have no stake in this incident whatsoever and others most clearly do, I have decided to remove my "drawn in Microsoft Paint" masterpiece.
Hotel Tango
1st Oct 2011, 16:05
No TCAS on the Ferris Wheel?!!!
Yes, but conflicting RA given. Rear section climbed and front section descended!
Piltdown Man
1st Oct 2011, 16:14
This is what's called a "Wheel up Landing'. They are highly efficient. LDR O'. The only trouble with one of these is that you need a longish ladder to get down to the ground.
PM
Some people dream of being pilots, others fail to see the attraction! :E
Just glad everyone is OK and full chukka to the guy for telling them to get the kids out first. It does beggar belief though that they built a Ferris wheel there. Maybe they should have built the London Eye at the threshold of 27 at Heathrow.
avonflyer
1st Oct 2011, 19:26
to paraphrase the british navy captain that ran a frigate aground "you hit a ferris wheel in the morning - you get a court martial in the afternoon".
HOWEVER, how unlucky can you get going around he would (should) have gone to the right of the runway whilst messing with flaps etc.. then a little drift inland.. then nose high not looking below in front ... then boom...
this should have been a foreseeable problem and an equal amount of blame has to lie with those that let the situation develop..
good luck to everyone involved
stickandrudderman
2nd Oct 2011, 19:54
Some people dream of being pilots, others fail to see the attraction! http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/evil.gif
:D:D:D:D:D
Pilot DAR
2nd Oct 2011, 20:06
Some people dream of being pilots, others fail to see the attraction!
Funniest thing written in a long time! :D
BBC NEWS: Plane in Australia hits ferris wheel.
Police say the pilot is slowly coming round.
ShyTorque
2nd Oct 2011, 22:04
Police say the pilot is slowly coming round.
Good one! :D
I once "hooked a duck" but it wasn't at a fairground and at least it was airborne too. I didn't win a goldfish :(
Apparently this pilot did say it had been a bit of a roller coaster day.
flyinkiwi
3rd Oct 2011, 02:36
BBC NEWS: Plane in Australia hits ferris wheel.
Police say the pilot is slowly coming round.
:D:D:D:D
My stomach still hurts from laughing so much.
Perhaps he was going around....and around...and around...and around........:E
BackPacker
3rd Oct 2011, 09:29
Yep. But it wasn't a merry go-'round.
Desert185
3rd Oct 2011, 13:30
"The Ferris wheel was about 50 yards from the southern threshold of the runway," Jens Meinecke told XXXX. "The guy was doing a missed approach from the north and with the nose high on climb out did not see the wheel."
trex450
3rd Oct 2011, 17:00
Did the pilot read about this as suitable option in a Biggles book by chance?
BackPacker
3rd Oct 2011, 17:07
Okay, aside from the play on words, something more serious. A structure such as this, this close to the runway, shouldn't that be NOTAMed? Was it?
Or does that only apply to licensed airfields?
24Carrot
3rd Oct 2011, 18:00
Is it just me or does that Ferris Wheel look about 50 feet high?
There are plenty of non-NOTAMed trees that high!
pitofrost
3rd Oct 2011, 19:49
It's a good job he wasn't flying commercially as he might have lost his job over this.
But then he could sue for fun fair dismissal...
billiboing
4th Oct 2011, 09:55
just wondered if the pilot had a ROTARY licence?
:ok:
Dave Barnshaw
4th Oct 2011, 11:45
Absolutely brilliant.:):):):):)
Duckeggblue
4th Oct 2011, 13:21
Trying to fly a great circle....:)
Them thar hills
4th Oct 2011, 14:19
None but the brave deserve the fair....