Light Plane Crash in NZ

[Mail-man]

Anyone have any info?

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2014/01/10/18/04/light-plane-filmed-crashing-on-nz-beach?mch=mobilenh&mchpost=pos2

[PLovett]

No information other than what I saw on the news.

I couldn't believe just how unbelievably stupid this was. :mad: To have successfully saved the situation once he then goes and throws it all away by not only attempting something incredibly dangerous he then compounds it by trying to continue the takeoff when it was already going fully pear shaped. :ugh:

[TowerDog]

another thread already on this..

[Desert Flower]

Should have waited until the tide went out.....

DF.

[VH-XXX]

Should have put it on the back of a truck or a trailer! (If Jack Ranga was here and wasn't banned from posting he would add "to the local tip."

[j3pipercub]

It does look like he was running out of beach in the second angle. Not sure why you would need 2 pob either.

[das Uber Soldat]

Screw the beach, he ran out of I.Q years ago. :}

[TBM-Legend]

Life's a beach and then you marry one!

[Desert Flower]

Screw the beach, he ran out of I.Q years ago.

I think CASA should be inviting him for tea & bikkies!

DF.

[TWT]

Unless the West Island is now part of NZ,I don't think CASA will be interested :ok:

[Desert Flower]

Unless the West Island is now part of NZ,I don't think CASA will be interested

Well what is the NZ equivalent of CASA then - or don't they have such an organisation over there?

DF.

[27/09]

I heard it was a Jabiru. No wonder it had an engine failure. Isn't there one in every paddock in Oz? :E

[TWT]

DF,in NZ it's the CAA,Civil Aviation Authority

[VH-XXX]

It was a Jabiru as you can clearly see from the footage. The issue was with a fuel valve but not fuel exhaustion that caused them to land in the first place.

Quite a few issues against a successful takeoff:

Beach sloping to the left
Torque steer to the left
Incoming tide
Tree debris to the right of path
Runway possibly not long enough
2 POB
Potentially soft sand

Reduce that list back to about 2 and he might have had a chance.

[PLovett]

Reduce that list back to about 2 and he might have had a chance.

2 was about the IQ level in attempting a take off. :ugh:

[Capt Fathom]

Taking off from a beach is not rocket science!

Well.... It never used to be! :uhoh:

[TOUCH-AND-GO]

Taking off from a beach is not rocket science!


It may not be rocket science Capt Fathom, but it's people lacking a lot of common sense.! :ugh:

[Desert Flower]

Taking off from a beach is not rocket science!

It was done quite successfully in an Aerocommander on an Adelaide beach many years ago!

DF.

[Aussie Bob]

You blokes crack me up. Nothing like a prune expert when it comes to commenting on another pilots misfortune.

The more thinking amongst us may well say, "but for lady luck, there went I".

[Kharon]

OB "The more thinking amongst us may well say, "but for lady luck, there went I".

Or more like "but for lady luck, there weren't I". (Thumb and big smile).

[onetrack]

Aussie Bob - Well, the "thinking ones" amongst us, know that "misfortune" is blaming your adverse situation on a dose of "bad luck" - i.e., circumstances beyond your control that combine to develop into serious trouble for you.

The "thinking ones" amongst us know that this pilots disastrous takeoff wasn't the result of any "bad luck" or exceptional unseen circumstances that combined to defeat him - it was a totally ill-conceived, badly-planned takeoff that shouldn't have been attempted, if he'd put his "thinking cap" on.

However, so many people go through life blaming their disasters on "bad luck" - when so much of their "bad luck" is merely poor planning, lack of foresight, and lack of understanding of the potential dangers they are getting into.

This "bad luck" mentality is a tribal mentality that belongs to primitive, uneducated societies - not our highly educated and supposedly highly-intelligent elite, such as pilots.

Many an air disaster has been the direct result of poor decision-making and poor choices by the PIC, relying on "good luck" for the "right things" to happen - instead of ensuring, by the application of proper thought processes and logic, and extensive knowledge of the laws of physics and aerodynamics, that a safe outcome is the result, when important decisions have to be made in relation to safe aircraft operation.

The decision to take off on a steeply-sloping beach was a poor decision, with little understanding of the physics involved.
The decision to take off with a substantial payload in the form of a passenger was a poor decision.
The decision to take off with a restricted amount of terrain clearance at the lift-off point was a poor decision.
It's entirely possible the decision to take off was also done without checking for more favourable tide times that might have improved the pilots chances of a successful takeoff.

The end result has been an exceptionally costly exercise in the form of a badly damaged aircraft, which could have been easily avoided - with better decision-making.
At the end of the day, he didn't have to take off from the beach, he had plenty of other choices and plenty of time.

It wouldn't have taken too much more, to have had a fatality or fatalities, as a result of this exceptionally-poorly-planned exercise - and this poor planning and poor decision-making, would largely account for the regular high number of RA accidents.

[Aussie Bob]

Yes Onetrack, sage words and I agree totally.

I don't know what put this bloke on the beach in the first place, failure of some sort perhaps?

Ignorance made him attempt to take off where someone with more experience would have refused.

The point is, most pilots have done something really dumb at some point in their career. Usually the dumb move results in a less painful lesson. Sometimes it kills. Hopefully he learned something, hopefully pilots viewing the video also learn something. Sometimes the thinking cap does not fit until after the event.

[vee1-rotate]

The ultimate face palm if I have ever seen one. Absolute morons.

[VH-XXX]

At least this time we have three videos from different directions to help us with our critical analysis. Normally we have to just make up what happened based on the limited information provided in media reports and heresay.

[spinex]

Yeah we're unusually well served by the cameramen, all food for thought.

As to the pilot's potentially injured feelings, far as I'm concerned this place is more about trying to prevent new Darwin recruits than patching bruised egos, old mate could easily have scribbled both himself and his pax if they gotten airborne and collected the cliff at the end. Being inquisitive I put the Google Earth rule over the beach where it happened, far as I can make out you'd be hard pressed to get much more than 650m along a gentle curve. I don't have much Jab time, but the 200 has a reputation for being a bit of a road runner, which means that I'd be very reluctant to try it on sand and with excess weight.

[mcoates]

Well... not many can say they 'crashed' twice in just one day !

[philipnz]

My family holidayed at that beach for the best part of my childhood and I know it really well. At low tide the sand is hard packed and good enough to launch a boat from anywhere.

High tide that day was 15:45 so ample time to let it out a bit to give a good clear strip in the evening and plenty long enough. They started from midway and only used half the beach and there are rocks at the end they were going along with the overhanging pohutukawas we used to play on

Here's a picture of the beach. The red line is where they tried to take off at highish tide (you can see a white tide line) Do do this he had to cross the boat ramp, avoid the trees, house and rocks you can see. If he'd waited till low tide he would have had a huge expanse of hard sand to take off on (green line)
http://www.sundreamer.co.nz/MartinsBay.jpg

[VH-XXX]

With 800 hours on the exact type I wouldn't have attempted it with 2 POB. I've been in and out of 300 metres with half fuel but not with a passenger. There is always a better way... usually only realised in hindsight.

For a light aircraft like this one it's much easier to call in a tilt-top tray truck, get an escort and drive down the road to a better location.