Superb airmanship is not just the domain of pilots flying hot ships. The venerable DH82 Tiger Moth can bite you too. This story from former wartime Hawker Typhoon pilot, Bob Birch who joined Trans Australian Airlines as a new first officer in 1950. In his book "Beer and Skittles - One Man's Fifty years of Flying" he tells the story of a Tiger Moth flight that lasted less than two minutes. He wrote:
"About six months after starting with TAA on DC-3's, I went to Mackay, Queensland, to collect a Tiger Moth to be ferried back to Melbourne for a company staff private group. A control box assembly error that could have been present for years produced a problem with elevator movement, having watched from the ground the previous day's first flight after cyclone damage repair, I failed to notice the problem.
As big drains for wet season use ran across the field, all activities were restricted to runways, something of a Tiger Moth handicap because its tail-skid made taxi control more difficult on a hard runway surface.
A young local lad who had been of considerable assistance was being given a passenger ride while I refreshed on type.
On take-off the machine waddled down the runway then leapt into the air of it own accord. At about 50 feet the aircraft nose was still rising, 38 knots `on the clock`, the top mainplane leading edge slats standing open like the clutching claws of fate, and the control stick full forward. Not a promising start to the day. Lowering the machine's nose was essential to increase airspeed and to avoid a stall. Banking the craft about 70 degrees to the left lowered the nose and increased speed, but also initiated a left turn that could not be corrected with full right rudder.
The latter was not a problem in itself as a circuit would be needed to return for landing. However, the uncontrolled turn took us towards a group of about half a dozen steel high frequency radio masts complete with guy wires. A small reduction of bank gave a hop over that obstacle, a slipping left descending turn took us back to a landing position but, as the wings were levelled for landing, the nose popped up and we were climbing again.
Second time around was a repeat of the first, except that speed was reduced for the approach.....not sufficient, so the third circuit was on. Third time around proved lucky. the aircraft completely stalled on to the runway in the landing attitude, no damage done.
Three complete circuits with the stick fully forward in something less than two minutes must have been some sort of record. Being rather annoyed at the whole business, I gave one tyre a good kick and returned to Melbourne.
To be almost brought to grief by the simplest of machines was not good for the ego! After rectification, the aeroplane flew normally and several weeks later I did the three day ferry from Mackay to Moorabbin.
Back at TAA Essendon I said nothing of the event because of the probability that one of the three licensed mechanics who worked on the machine would have been unfairly criticised. From working on Tiger Moth repair in the hangar at Ansett months earlier, I knew exactly what had happened, and that design construction would have concealed the error from normal visual inspection."
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Bob's recovery from an extreme nose high attitude at very low altitude was to immediately apply full aileron to get to 70 degrees which caused the nose to drop and pick up speed. This was normal teaching in the RAAF but rarely taught at civilian flying schools. I very much doubt if this technique is taught even now to GFPT students and cadet pilots destined for the airlines.
Yet the manoeuvre is mentioned in the Boeing 737 Flight Crew Training Manual if an unusual attitude is entered causing a very steep nose high attitude and speed rapidly reducing. The FCTM states in part: "If normal pitch control inputs do not stop an increasing pitch rate, rolling the airplane to a bank angle that starts the nose down should work. Bank angles of about 45 degrees, up to a maximum of 60 degrees, could be needed. Finally, if normal pitch control then roll control is ineffective, careful rudder input in the direction of the desired roll my be required to induce a rolling maneuver for recovery. Only a small amount of rudder is needed."
Notice in his report the pilot was forced to make a slipping left descending turn to get into the landing position. Shades of the opening post of this thread where the captain with his DC-2 engine fire went into a deliberate side slip descending turn to descend rapidly for his forced landing and to keep the flames from one engine away from the fuel tank.
Manoeuvres such as those used by the pilots of the stricken DC-2 and the Tiger Moth were taught in the old days at flying schools as part of elementary flight training. Today the accent seems to be on convoluted checklists, CRM, TEM or whatever the latest buzzword.