PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Canberra Incident 14th August
View Single Post
Old 16th Aug 2012, 03:57
  #8 (permalink)  
main-gear
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Canberra
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
On analysing the ABC photo A plane landing with minor front damage briefly closed the runways at Canberra airport. - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and video footage Emergency landing at Canberra Airport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) again I have changed my mind, it looks like the aircraft is placed on the eastern end of R30 pointing west. If this is the correct orientation it actually seems to be pretty close to the Fire station.

In the ABC footage I believe that the building in the foreground is on the NW end past the intersection, and the buildings behind it are Campbell Park, and there appears to be an Aeropelican marked turbo-prop landing on R17 heading south towards the terminal end of the main runway. Which makes me wonder whether we are seeing the aircraft after is has been pulled back from the intersection, because some of the news reports said it blocked both runways.

The Canberra times photo Student pilot crash lands at Canberra Airport shows some of the damage, it appears as though the fixed nose-gear has been damaged and bent or snapped backwards at the fork.

I can confirm it is a Piper Warrior.

I returned to the airfield at about 1423 local time and was number one for R30 while a Virgin flight was number 2 for R17 and I flew through the intersection to avoid conflict with the other aircraft; I didn't notice any odd markings on the runway but I was still flying at chair-height until past the intersection.

They probably put tar back in the propeller divets and I wouldn't expect there to be any noticeable damage to the surface caused by the nose of the aircraft anyway, just paint scrapes if anything.

It is suprising how little apparent damage a belly landing causes to the runway. The neatest damage is the prop-strike cuts where the distance between the strikes decreases as the aircraft slows down, and of course the how metal propeller blade ends roll over or fold rearward with each successive strike.

The good thing is no loss of life and no major closure of the airport.

Last edited by main-gear; 19th Aug 2012 at 02:33.
main-gear is offline