Video:Forced landing after propeller detatches in flight

[chipmeisterc]

See here:
http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/02/pilot- ... ight-video (http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/02/pilot-saves-airplane-and-passengers-after-propeller-detaches-in-flight-video)

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A Cessna 172B pilot in Mexico had to save his plane after his aeroplane propeller detached in flight. Yes, detached. Plonk. You can see the action from the cockpit in this video, including the exhilaration and relief of the passengers at the end.

“I’ve never felt death so near,” says one of the woman who was travelling in the back. “Our propeller fell,” repeats the copilot after getting out of the plane, which landed successfully on a road. Skip to the end to see the front of the Cessna without its propeller.

I love how the pilot kept his cool at all times, even thinking about putting the GPS away to avoid hitting the passengers behind with it in case of a rougher emergency landing. And of course, the screams of happiness at the end. [Thanks Iván!]"

[172driver]

Great, very well handled! Does it by the book - opens window and door, puts potentially 'flying' objects away. Great job! :ok:

[thing]

Well done that man! :D Must have put the C of G back a fair bit.

One of our guys lost the prop off of his Falke 25. Mind you, he just glided back to the airfield, luckily the prop fell in a field.

[cumulusrider]

Wonderful visibility out of the screen with those sunshades. Amazed he actually managed to see the road!

[rmcb]

The rock could have ruined the footage! El Capitan indeed - good effort.

[UV]

More to this than meets the eye.

1. The Pilot (?) in the lefthand seat was not fully strapped in. I doubt he was flying it at all.

2. He was certainly not flying it at 2.00 when he removed the GPS with his right hand... while his left hand was in the air momentarily...

3.From 2.13 to 2.30 you can clearly see he used his left hand hand to open the window/door (on instruction from the righthand seat?) and simultaneously had his right hand on the front coaming...this whilst the aircraft was being manouvered into a right turn at 2.17.

You can see his right hand on the coaming until 2.28... only 9 seconds before touchdown at 2.37.

4. Cudos to the righthand seat occupant..(an instuctor/professional pilot?) for a job well done!

5. From the final shots it looks more than a mere prop detatchment...!

All speculation of course...but pprune is sooo good at that :rolleyes:

Anyone understand the language being spoken before we jump to conclusions?

[Will Hung]

UV, I think you've got it spot on !

Is it me, or does that rock look like paper mashe ?

[Morris542]

Bet the driver of that car had a bit of a shock!

[peterh337]

To me it was not obvious when the prop came off. There is not much change in the background noise. Initially one would expect the engine to massively over-rev and then the pilot would close the throttle, so the noise should go way down.

The prop flange appears in the right place and intact, which is also suprising. Did all the bolts give way exactly at the same time?

[dublinpilot]

Peter,

This video is a collection of more than one recording.

There appears to be a time gap in the middle, and I think that the prop came off during the time gap.

I suspect that the person was recording, and then stopped recording, and when the prop departed, they dug out their camera and started recording again.

dp

[Katamarino]

UV, I think it's quite obvious from the video that the pilot is the man in the right see. Why he chose to fly from the right, who knows. In addition, the damage to the front of the aircraft looks like exactly what I'd expect if a prop, rotating at great speed, detached and chewed up some cowling with the blades as it went. Seen the new "Flight of the Phoenix" movie where the prop comes off at the beginning?

[peterh337]

The tear in the cowling is behind the (geometric) plane in which the prop rotates.

I am sticking to my story about all 6 or so bolts giving way at the same time being not likely :)

If the flange was mising, or if there was a piece of the prop hub still screwed onto it, that would be different.

If you started a flight with the prop bolts all loosened, the prop would eventually come off, but I cannot believe it would come off neatly. Some bolts would be sure to come off before others, and any assymetry on the prop would tear the engine out. One bloke with a TB10 lost a blade during a preflight runup and the engine ended up at about 45 degrees to the aircraft; it ripped itself off the firewall.

Props have come off for sure but I don't think they left a nice clean flange behind, with all bolts missing.

[maxred]

Is the video a spoof, or genuine??????

The end result looked quite strange, having said that I have never witnessed a prop detach, nor the end result.

[UV]

the damage to the front of the aircraft looks like exactly what I'd expect if a prop, rotating at great speed, detached
Seen the new "Flight of the Phoenix" movie where the prop comes off at the beginning?

No thanks, I prefer to speculate from what I read in the Sun or the News of the World, when it was around, rather than Hollywood:=

[Katamarino]

The propeller would, I'd expect, slow down more quickly than the aircraft; hence it could fall behind and slash the cowling. The second it detaches from the engine it simply becomes a large fan that will slow quite quickly.

Regarding the bolts, I'd expect an instant "domino" failure once the first one went. High strength bolts can be quite brittle, and as soon as enough bolts have shaken loose that the force in the remaining ones is too high, bang, the other would shear almost instantly.

[Katamarino]

UV; I'm merely using it as a visual demonstration. Indeed, in the film the prop flies forwards rather than backwards, which I would not expect, but it shows how a prop comes off and can spin back in to do damage, not simply drop away.

[peterh337]

The second it detaches from the engine it simply becomes a large fan that will slow quite quickly.

Props have come off the old P&W engines; it would happen if there was a lube failure and the engine rapidly seized. The prop would twist off and because it had lots of rotational inertia it would initially fly forward. In one case I read about it flew up and over the aircraft :)

This bloke was either incredibly lucky, or it is a fake :)

[patowalker]

The aircraft belongs to a school named Flight School and the pilot in the RHS is an instructor.

This report mentions they were on a test flight (probably a check flight) and that there were 2 POB (?).

2011/01/14*Por emergencia, avioneta aterriza en carretera de Aguascalientes*-El Mexicano (http://www.el-mexicano.com.mx/informacion/noticias/1/2/nacional/2011/01/14/449290/por-emergencia-avioneta-aterriza-en-carretera-de-aguascalientes.aspx)

The conversation on video is not all intelligible, but the pilot in the LHS points out the road with trees (close by) and then identifies an area without trees. The instructor tells him to tidy up the cockpit and turns to the passengers asking them to tighten their seatbelts. One asks where they are going to land. Shortly before touchdown, the instructor radios that he is going to land on the road.

[Phororhacos]

Well behaved old ladies like 172Bs, made in 1961, would never be so rude as to drop a propeller in company.

Mind you I did check mine carefully pre-flight today.

According to ASN (http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=89011), (so treat with a grain of salt) the a/c in the video is a C172P