My Forced landing ILAFT

[Kingy]

Hi Chaps,

I'm sorry to report that I semi crashed and bent an aeroplane last thursday.

I was on the Permit renewal test flight in my FRED. The take off and inital climb out was normal, but at about 350 ft (950QNH) the engine started missing and coughing.
The field I fly from is on the top of a hill with valleys on two sides, by this time I was approx 1.5 miles from the field on the opposite side of the valley. I spotted a nice flat field at the bottom of the valley along the side of the river. My plan was to circle the field and make a curved approach - no problem.

As I circled overhead the engine picked up and started to run fine. At this point I made my first mistake. I discarded the good field and tried to climb in order to get back to my field - By this time I was down to about 500ft - 100ft below my field with rising ground all around me.

After gaining about 150 ft the engine went again - this time worse than ever - it was only making about 1000rpm and producing no power at all. Sh*t - things were looking bad..
I had basically flown away from the good field up the valley. My landing options were not looking good. It was either downwind into the side of the steep valley, the river or a little field into wind on-top of the other side of the valley. I took the field! it was everything you don't want in a field - about 200m, tall trees and telephone cables on the threshold, more phone lines half way along, down hill and covered in bales of hay!

I set up an approach - the FRED being so draggy it really does glide like a brick - I tried to hold 50kts... any less and there is not enough elevator authority to flare without power. My luck was in... I could see a gap between the bales - I aimed for that.
Just over the trees I had a 'last look' at the ASI - 35kts!... I knew I'd blown it. I dived a little, then flared hard to arrest the rate of descent as much as possible..

Well, we hit hard, the left gear partially collapsed, the right gear bent, but we stayed upright, missed the bales and rolled to a halt under the phone lines - I was ok!

Then silence... there I was, in shorts and a tee shirt, no phone.. in a field... what do you do..??

I secured the plane and walked to a farm. The lady kindly let me use her phone, and I was trying to phone someone for help when I heard the first chopper arrive overhead. F*ck..

During 'the longest engine failure in the world' with me trying to out climb the valley, the emergency services had been called. Basically, three counties fire services, police and paramedics were on their way and an air ambulence and police chopper were already overhead...

What did I learn? Firstly, try to resist the compelling urge to 'get home' I had a great field picked but discarded it when the engine picked up. Secondly, don't let your flying go out the window in an emergency. I practice, practice, practice glide approaches into fields all the time, but in the heat of the moment let my speed drop and ended hitting hard and breaking my plane. I got away with it and walked away... this time..

I would like to thank the emergency services and those who called them - thankfully they were not needed - but that that was purely down to my good fortune.

Fly safe

Kingy

[FlyingForFun]

Sorry to hear that Kingy, but congrats on a safe landing. I think you're being a bit hard on yourself - you walked away, and that's all that counts. I doubt many of us would be able to keep out head totally if (or when) the worst happens.

FFF
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[stiknruda]

What caused the power prob?

Stik

[LowNSlow]

Sounds like you made the best of it Kingy. In all honesty, I think I would have been sorely tempted to try to get back to the home field when it was so close once the engine picked up. :suspect:

Most importantly nobody was hurt and the Fred sounds as if it should be easiy repairable at the Forest of Dean International Airport's facilities :ok:

Have you found the cause of the coughing & spluttering?

[Circuit Basher]

Kingy - sorry to hear that, but you needed a project for the winter months, didn't you??!! ;)

Glad to hear nothing worse is dented than pride and an undercarriage - shouldn't have to worry too much about shock loading of engine if it wasn't developing any power at the time.

I reckon this has the makings of a good ILAFFT for one of the mags. Hopefully, you'll have a bit more time to plan (and a few more options) for the next one! Good to hear that so many people had the sense to call the emergency services. Not quite sure how to prevent this if you're on the border of several counties, best best to have too much rather than too little.

Now, about this Sea Fury....... ;)

[strafer]

No engine - no one hurt, sounds like a good landing to me.

Well done.

PS Let us know what the CAA investigation said, once comlpleted.

[Kingy]

Thanks for the kind words fellas.

I'm about to go and survey the damage and take a look at the engine, but I can tell you it's either fuel or ignition..! :D

I'll let you know.

Kingy

[Flyin'Dutch']

You live and learn!

Well done for not bending yourself, in the end that really is all that matters!

FD

[Whirlybird]

Hindsight is always an exact science.

Let's suppose you'd carried on trying to land in the "good" field, but it hadn't been as good as it looked and you bent something....you'd be beating yourself up saying why hadn't you headed for your home field when the engine picked up. You're not psychic are you? You made what seemed a sensible decision at the time. And, as everyone said, you walked away. Sounds pretty good to me. :ok:

[markd.greenfield]

Top banana Kingy, well done. Soft pink body still soft and pink.

Interestingly, a very good friend of mine had something fairly similar happen, in kitbuilt. The engine coughed and pretty much died at low level, and after a failed restart he set himself up nicely for a field when the engine suddenly started to develop some power. The temptation to fly back to the home airfield just a couple of miles away was just too great and so he started to climb gently away, passed the slected field - and the engine went again, this time for good. He had only a few seconds to find an open space and smashed in pretty hard, through a ditch and ended up inverted, thankfully with no fire but a written off aeroplane. Very lucky indeed.

Although we all practise for it, there is probably too much of a feeling that 'it couldn't happen to me'; let's face it, the engine stopping unexpectedly is still incredibly rare. I think many of us would be tempted to follow Kingy in practice and press back to the airfield; this is a great ILAFFT for pilots to ponder.



:eek:

[Saab Dastard]

Kingy,

Glad to hear you walked away from it - well done, your practice paid off!

Always remember that re-using the aircraft is a bonus!

I hope the FRED is back in the air soon.

SD

[PiperTyro]

Kingy, all I want to say is good on you for posting about it on here.

I know I've learnt something from this and it might just be that one of us reading this finds ourselves in a similar situation one day with the benefit of your experience in our minds.

PT

[Penguina]

Seconded.

I just LAFFT too.

Sounds like you made what might have been a life-saving decision anyway, when you looked at the ASI rather than staring fixedly at the field - I could see myself failing to do that so close to the ground.

[hasell]

Kingy!

The most important thing is that you managed to walk away from the forced landing. I think you were being a bit too harsh on yourself in your "rating" of your performance.
Well done mate.

Has.

[kabz]

I think the fact that you described the field to us shows that you kept your head pretty well ... no one expects to have to put it down everytime the engine so much as pops.

You walked away. Sounds like a good job.