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View Full Version : I Observed a Forced Landing while sitting on the beach


Rocketing
13th Jan 2013, 04:25
Hi,

We were sitting on Werri Beach in Gerringong, NSW, Australia this morning just enjoying the fresh air when my son and I talked about a Cessna flying south and how nice it would be to go and fly today.

A few short minutes later we observed the same airplane (I think it was a Cessna 172) tracking north very slowly coming straight for the beach. When it came over us I wondered what was going on as their flaps were out and they where flying really slowly and descending. I didn't hear any engine sound and saw them make a base turn for what I was now assuming to be a forced landing on the marshland just behind the Werri Beach built up area.

Then I saw something that looked like them trying to prevent / recover from a stall and the next moment after that I saw a sharp turn and it looked like a left wing stall. Then they disappeared behind the trees.

We went looking for them and I drove up and down the streets onto high ground etc to see if I could see them but didn't. At this stage they still could have flown away low without me noticing and I didn't want to call 000.

After a while I kept on feeling I have to look around as I didn't have a radio or could find out what happened and went home to fetch my phone (usually don't go to beach with phone) and called a local Fire brigade volunteer asking if they had any report of a forced landing and he said no.

I called 000 and the Rural Fire Service went out to investigate. Turns out both pilots walked away safely and 'are from a local flying school' but nobody phoned 000 apart from me which was a fair while after the incident. I have no idea if they made a mayday call or not.

All is well that ends well and I must say I have learnt a LOT from what I observed from the ground. I am assuming they changed their minds at the last moment to a different paddock (I am only guessing) and that caused the last (what seemed) aggressive maneuvers.

I would love to talk to the pilot(s) to coroborate what I saw so if anybody knows them, please ask them to contact me.

Cheerio

PA39
14th Jan 2013, 05:19
GEEZUS !!:eek:

VH-XXX
14th Jan 2013, 05:35
Rocketing, you have just posted copyrighted material from elsewhere and you should consider deleting it.

You have breached your copyright agreement with Recreational Flying website by also posting this story here as well as there.

Everything you post on that "other" website including words and pictures becomes the property of Recreational Flying. The last thing pprune needs is legal threats.

DUXNUTZ
14th Jan 2013, 05:57
Rocketing, you have just posted copyrighted material from elsewhere and you should consider deleting it.

You have breached your copyright agreement with Recreational Flying website by also posting this story here as well as there.

Everything you post on that "other" website including words and pictures becomes the property of Recreational Flying. The last thing PPRuNe needs is legal threats.


:sad: Why you got to be like that?

VH-XXX
14th Jan 2013, 06:28
We can mention other websites here but not link to them in the T&C's.

If I wasn't allowed to mention that other website it would do this when I type it in:

Try typing "The Aussie Aviator" (with no spaces) and see what happens!

****************.net


Why did I mention this? Because the other website owner who clearly makes his personal details and phone number available is often reiterating the copyright agreement that you enter into when you register with his site.

adsyj
14th Jan 2013, 06:53
What a ******* wank the other site sounds like.

Thanks for the post Rocketing this was yesterday and I saw the same thing I was at the surf contest

alphacentauri
14th Jan 2013, 09:28
So are there any details?? Rego?? I fly regularly out of YWOL and wondering if I know the aircraft/crew. There's been no news about it.

Ejector
14th Jan 2013, 10:39
Rocketing, you have just posted copyrighted material from elsewhere and you should consider deleting it.

You have breached your copyright agreement with Recreational Flying website by also posting this story here as well as there.

Everything you post on that "other" website including words and pictures becomes the property of Recreational Flying. The last thing PPRuNe needs is legal threats.

Dear VH-XXX, What you have just said is complete and utter absolute bollocks. You are spreading pathetic rumors and I would love to stand against you in court you uninformed individual.

criticalmass
14th Jan 2013, 10:42
Pilot made a forced landing on a sloping area somewhere near Jamberoo Valley and parked the aircraft at the top of the slope with nil damage and nil injuries. Full marks for airmanship for the landing, but this may be a fuel-starvation issue.

The a/c is most probably WFQ which is "missing" from the inventory at YWOL. The engineer's comment was it could be flown out, but apparently it will be recovered and taken out by road-transport.

VH-XXX
14th Jan 2013, 10:50
Dear Ejector, you have prematurely ejected my post, incorrectly I might add.

It's all here, 6 Terms of Service, Paragraph 6. I'd post it here but I would breach the copyright agreement so I'll post the link for you herein:

Terms of Service and Rules | Recreational Flying (http://www.recreationalflying.com/help/terms)

See you in court old chum! I'll happily accept your apology via this thread or PM, I'm not fussy.

To paraphrase; content of the site as posted by users becomes the property of the Site Administration.

Don't shoot the messenger!

Sounds like the Instagram saga all over...

Rocketing
14th Jan 2013, 10:51
Hi,

I am sorry if I unwillingly infringed copyright by using my OWN words written in word to paste on both forums. I will find out more details about the T&C's but I can't see that there is any legal ground to keep me from posting my own content here.

The plane is NOT near Jamberoo valley. It is at Gerringong. about 500m north of Werri Beach and 500m inland.

From what I saw they were lucky as the plane is parked 180 degrees in the opposite direction of them travelling just before I saw a left bank / wing stall (it looked like a wing stall to me)

I was utterly breathless when I saw the direction of their plane on the ground compared to them travelling the oppostite direction at least 300-500ft AGL

I could not make out the rego number but it was a silver / white Cessna with orange / yellow stripes.

RadioSaigon
14th Jan 2013, 11:12
some of you numpties REALLY need to get a life. If you've enough time -and the inclination- to troll the T&C's of several websites so you can FIGJAM yourself on another website... sheesh. IMO your comments on matters aviation related are going to be judged in light of that. Deservedly so.

601
14th Jan 2013, 11:24
So if the other site "owns" all that is published by contributors to its site, does the other site also take ownership of any legal action that may result from a contribution?

Just to get it clear in my mind.

T28D
14th Jan 2013, 11:33
Radio Saigon, Well said, they really need to get a life away from Amateur Legal Practice.

Homesick-Angel
14th Jan 2013, 11:47
Holy Sh1t this has disintegrated worse than usual..

Either stick to the topic or someone lock the thread...

That was 3.4 frickn minutes Il never get back...

Sheesh..:mad:

Rocketing
14th Jan 2013, 11:48
Hi Adsyj,

Please share your version of what you saw.

Cheerio,
Rocketing

VH-XXX
14th Jan 2013, 19:41
You're not wrong T28. I'd hate to see Pprune bear unnecessary legal costs because someone is attempting to own copyright on a forum member contribution of what should be a valuable aviaton experience that might benefit others by its sharing. Lowest denominator comes to mind.

Ixixly
14th Jan 2013, 20:03
Is it possible rocketing that what you saw as a wing stall could have infact been a side slip to get it in the selected field?

VH-FTS
14th Jan 2013, 20:08
It's just VH-XXX posting for the sake of posting again. For every good post XXX, you post another message full of dribble or content that adds nothing to this forum. You're clearly addicted to this website. The only other person with a greater addiction is Jabawocky...but most of his posts are useful.

RAC/OPS
14th Jan 2013, 20:11
What's it got to do with you anyway VH-XXX? The radio telescope Mod is bad enough without you getting all Orwellian as well!

Rocketing
14th Jan 2013, 20:15
Hi Ixixly,

I don't believe it was a sideslip as it immediately made a 90 degree turn to the left.

Also, they landed in the opposite direction of their direction of travel just before the 'wing stall'

I may be wrong. Would love to talk to them and discuss what they did.

I only got my pilot certificate on 22 December 2012 and this event put so many things into 'perspective' by viewing it from the ground. :)

Cheerio

VH-XXX
14th Jan 2013, 20:28
Thanks chaps, for shooting the messenger. I didn't raise it, I just passed it on.


Rocketing, so did it land in a paddock with no damage in the end or in the scrub? Was it damaged? In theory we should read about he incident in a month or two via ATSB if its reported so your comments will be interesting to compare to the report if there is a half decent summary in it.

criticalmass
14th Jan 2013, 23:27
C-152 VH-WFQ was successfully recovered from the paddock yesterday and is now being re-assembled in a hangar at YWOL. Should return to operations very soon.

Ultralights
15th Jan 2013, 00:07
they have managed to keep that one pretty quiet....

The Green Goblin
15th Jan 2013, 00:20
Rocket = Plankys son.

As for the copyright crap get a life.

It's like saying Facebook can sue you for posting your own photos on another website.

All the ownership thing means is the site can use the content as they wish once you publish it there.

RenegadeMan
15th Jan 2013, 01:05
Rocketing, you have just posted copyrighted material from elsewhere and you should consider deleting it.

You have breached your copyright agreement with Recreational Flying website by also posting this story here as well as there.

Everything you post on that "other" website including words and pictures becomes the property of Recreational Flying. The last thing PPRuNe needs is legal threats.
It never ceases to amaze me how a thread like this on PPRuNe started by (what appears to be) a genuine participant who wants to learn something about flying can deteriorate into a slanging match because someone has decided to use the opportunity to "demonstrate their superior knowledge" or "pull someone down" (especially a new person who hasn't posted before) because....well (most likely) because they're new and we need to bully them and ill-treat them badly to see how they'll handle it.

For goodness sake VH-XXX, I don't know you nor have much idea of who you are and what you've done, but mate, you've basically added the d-head tag to yourself by this display of arrogant "who's this 'Rocketing' bloke think he is? I better throw him a wobbly and treat him with disdain to show him who's in charge around here...!".

Ffs VH-XXX, can't you see that how you've behaved here just now is at the very heart of why our industry is in such a mess? New blood comes along and we treat them like we don't want them. Wake up to yourself mate. There are literally thousands of issues with copyright in the T&Cs of every single forum and posting site on the web. F_book, Tw_tter even Hotmail, they all have these onerous clauses that basically if tested in court would likely shutdown pretty much all activity amongst us (and that would be self defeating for the sites' well being). None of it means you can't post the same content to two forums; if it's your content and you haven't copied it from somewhere else you can post it. Unless you have been commissioned to write a story or article, it's your content and no clause buried within the T&Cs of a forum is going to negate that. The most basic of basic common law statutes around copyright protect us in that respect.

What Ejector said
Dear VH-XXX, What you have just said is complete and utter absolute bollocks. You are spreading pathetic rumours and I would love to stand against you in court you uninformed individual.
is correct (and don't bother quoting the specific clause....I'm not interested....you threw this as a wobbly for the reasons I've stated above and now trying to hide behind "Don't shoot the messenger" is really just quite pathetic). Grow up and use your knowledge to help welcome the Rocketings and his friends/family who might now want to get into aviation too. That's what's needed!

(Rocketing, thanks for starting the thread. It's very interesting and good on you for wanting to find out more. Congratulations on becoming a pilot; I hope you stay on here and continue to engage)

VH-XXX
15th Jan 2013, 01:30
I'm happy for you that you feel this way Renegade and I'm glad you got it off your chest. I wouldn't want you bottling up that level of stess as it could harm your health.

I brought this up because it is fact, it's not made up. You can say all you want and say I'm a twit etc to your hearts content, I don't really care.

Someone who is a member of the other site who is not a member of Pprune advised me that the post existed there first and that the poster might get himself / herself into trouble, so I made it public. The operator(s) of the other site are no stranger to the legal system so I have probably done him or her a favour (the poster).

It has now transpired that after legal advise the other site is reviewing their legal T&C's to allow for this kind of thing because the existing policy was too restrictive.

So in summary, some good is about to come out of all of this contrary to your thoughts and feelings that seem to have been so dramatically affected.

I am sure that Rocketing will understand this all an I'll happily buy him / her a beer at the next fly-in and express over conversation how the aviation industry is not full of shady characters.

All the ownership thing means is the site can use the content as they wish once you publish it there.

Almost - - - they claim ownership to it at present but that will be soon modified hopefully.

the_rookie
15th Jan 2013, 03:39
some people set out to be a nuisance to society...

truthinbeer
15th Jan 2013, 03:50
Thanks for posting Rocketing. It sounds exciting and mysterious at the same time. After seeing this landing I can understand you would want to tell someone...hell, everyone what you saw.
There has been 3 forced landings at my local beach, one sadly a fatality. The two successful landings, one Cessna and one heli, even after the event held a degree of mystery whilst we locals all tried to work out cause and sequence.
Certainly newsworthy. Keep posting.

Rocketing
15th Jan 2013, 04:16
Thank you to all for the 'welcome' messages.

I have just ignored the copyright posts for now and the post looks like an extra-aired swiss cheese :)

"The Green Goblin", I don't know who / what planky is but I surely am not his son. My Dad is an ex-fighter pilot (Mirage III, Aermmachi / Impala, Sabre, Vampire & Harvards) and I eventually got to complete my dream of taking him for a flight on 27 December 2012. What a privilege!!!

Sounds like the pilots are safe and the plane is being re-assembled. So it all ended well.

Looking forward to many hours in the air in 2013.

The Green Goblin
15th Jan 2013, 04:23
Rocketing, good to see you following your Dads footsteps. It must have been a privilege to show off your skill after no doubt idolising your father. It was a honour to fly mine for the first time, especially as my family said I would never follow through.

Plankbender was a humerous poster no longer around, who led an online campaign in a similar incident about how the pilot stalled it, shouldn't have his licence, is dangerous, all the rest of it.

His name is brought up whenever anyone mentions a 'stall' :)

Now you're up to speed :ok:

strim
15th Jan 2013, 04:42
Couple weeks of not reading prune and today I open it up to discover this...

Great thread turned sour in the space of one post.

Perhaps it's time to add a 'block' feature (like FB) so I don't have to read the same BS from the same idiots whenever I come here to read, learn or contribute something useful.

Jabawocky
15th Jan 2013, 04:42
The only other person with a greater addiction is Jabawocky...but most of his posts are useful.

No I am mostly cured, thanks for asking :}

But it is a curse having moments of time on hold on the phone or whatever and I can quickly surf a bit of pprune.

As for posts being useful....:eek: I was trying not to take it too seriously ;)

mcgrath50
15th Jan 2013, 05:15
Perhaps it's time to add a 'block' feature (like FB) so I don't have to read the same BS from the same idiots whenever I come here to read, learn or contribute something useful.

You can add people to your ignore list in the User CP, hides their posts and just leaves a little note letting you know you are missing something.

*Lancer*
15th Jan 2013, 05:50
XXX, you can write whatever you want in some random T&Cs, but that doesn't make it law. Rocketing owns their own words.

Interesting story! Good on you for phoning it in.

DancingDog
15th Jan 2013, 11:03
FFS guys stick to rocketings original topic or take your bickering elsewhere :rolleyes:

MODS!!!!

CPT733
15th Jan 2013, 14:31
can't you see that how you've behaved here just now is at the very heart of why our industry is in such a mess? New blood comes along and we treat them like we don't want them. Wake up to yourself mate.

:D limited my posting for this reason. Even seeing threads spiral off topic and become a "i know it all argument" deters me from posting.


Rocketing, Great post would have been a very interesting day :ok:

Jenna Talia
16th Jan 2013, 08:30
Saw WFQ at YWOL today parked in the parking area amongst other training aircraft with a canopy cover on.

Perhaps it is already good to go.

Great thread Rocketing and congrats on your achievements.:ok:

Ixixly
16th Jan 2013, 09:13
First off "Jenna Talia"...hahaha... great name.

Second of all, Truthinbeer, have you guys thought of just putting out some gable markers and just turning the beach into a proper airstrip?

Lastly, has anyone heard anything else about this incident? I'm very curious now as to how they ended up where they ended up, after all, as they say, "Learn from other peoples mistakes, you'll never live long enough to make them all yourself!" (Probably para-phrased that wrong, but you know the gist!!) Maybe someone with some more details can see if they can dig up the ATSB report as it currently stands?

sprocket check
16th Jan 2013, 12:01
xxx on my ignore list :D

Jack Ranga
16th Jan 2013, 22:35
But you won't ignore him will you?

You'll take sneaky peeks at his posts, won't you :E

truthinbeer
17th Jan 2013, 01:25
"First off "Jenna Talia"...hahaha... great name.

Second of all, Truthinbeer, have you guys thought of just putting out some gable markers and just turning the beach into a proper airstrip?"

Ixixly, it is a Sydney beach so bit tricky for permanent conversion. Seems to work ok for occaisional usage for those needing a rest stop.

VH-XXX
17th Jan 2013, 10:41
xxx on my ignore list

That's a shame sprocket because you will miss my calling in life or so I'm led to believe.

uSbh2MsxdNs

CPT733
17th Jan 2013, 11:55
hahahaha had to laugh ^

sprocket check
18th Jan 2013, 09:14
so now that you've had your 15 seconds, all over red rover!


ahhh s***t

I bit, didn't I?

That video has another subtitled version.... more to do with a certain television director famous for girls in leotards and disappearing executives...

That version is funnier.

redelect
19th Jan 2013, 10:55
VHS xxx at least your rubbish was removed from the other site very quickly ,same should be done on this site!

VH-XXX
19th Jan 2013, 19:47
News to me redeldct. Better get back under your log where you came from.