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Old 8th Feb 2015, 18:16
  #510 (permalink)  
ACW342
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: 75' from the runway edge and 150' from the threshold
Age: 74
Posts: 245
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Asymmetric - A point of information

I have watched the videos of this terrible accident several times. I have nothing to add to the many technical discussions, nor do I have a publishable opinion.

There is, however, one thing I can inform you of and that is that the last few seconds of flight of the aircraft in this accident match exactly that of the last few seconds of flight of a Canberra BI 8 flying a practice asymmetric approach into RAF Wattisham in, I think, late 1969.

I was on duty in the Runway controllers caravan observing the approaching aircraft when, at about 2 1/2 miles the aircraft began to pitch up and the left wing began to drop, eventually going beyond the vertical. the aircraft then rolled to the left and after one and a bit turns impacted the ground, nose and left wing tip first. to my (then) young eyes the aircraft appeared to fold into itself and quietly exploded. Both crew were killed.

As far as I can remember the BoI concluded that the pilot had allowed the speed to deteriorate to the point that the aircraft entered the pre-stall buffet whereupon he moved both throttle levers to full. With the left engine at a low power setting to simulate failure, and the right engine at a much higher power level, the resultant asymmetric thrust caused the nose to pitch up and roll the aircraft, which stalled and spun into the ground

As stated earlier, what I saw as a 19 year old U/T airman (which has stayed with me all my flying life) and what I saw in the video of this accident were, apart from the end outcome, exactly the same. The river in Taiwan was more forgiving than the farmland in Suffolk.

The accident I witnessed was, if I remember correctly,the 23rd fatal PRACTICE asymmetric in the Canberra. I believe there were no fatalities in actual asymmetric landings.
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