Originally Posted by
Stanwell
Please don't ask awkward questions, Hadley.
After all, the NTSB report on that unfortunate 'oopsy-daisy' at Winslow Arizona categorised the truncated flight as "Private"
and the reason for it as being "Personal".
OK?
Funny you should mention the ol' "NTSB report", Stanwell. At the risk of introducing some "flight" element back into this thread...
The
NTSB Report Synopsis opens with some rather interesting words: "NTSB investigators may not have traveled in support of this investigation and used data provided by various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report."
The
NTSB Report Full Narrative has some rather interesting phrases:
"In a written statement to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigator-in-charge (IIC), the pilot reported that ..."
"The pilot further reported that ..."
"The pilot stated that..."
"The pilot reported that..."
"The pilot added that..."
So that "NTSB report" - well, to my ears, anyway - sounds much more like "this is the NTSB reporting on what was reported to them" than it does "this is the NTSB reporting their investigation findings".
Since I'm at the keyboard, here's some things what have been itching away at the back of the mind for a while now, unscratched, and that someone might be able to shed some light on:
Originally Posted by NTSB Report Full Narrative
The pilot further reported that during takeoff from runway 29, the airplane accelerated and climbed out normally, with the tachometer indicating 2,250 rpm. As the airplane was about 50 feet above ground level, it began to descend. The pilot stated that in order to avoid powerlines, she performed a left turn to maintain clearance, and verified the throttle, mixture, propeller, fuel, and carburetor heat settings. Subsequently, the airplane struck the ground, ...
So, just to be clear - me being a bear of little brain and all - and looking back on my little adventure as described bove, here's the sorts of things that are puzzling me:
* My airplane
accelerated and climbed out normally, but then at
about 50 feet above ground level, it began to descend.
Why didn't I lower the nose, close the throttle and land ahead on the remainder of that 7,100ft (2,164m) runway? Maybe put in a wee bit of a sideslip?
* My airplane
climbed out normally, but at
about 50 feet above ground level, it began to descend.
In what universe could I ever describe a climb to 50 ft agl, followed by an involuntary and unchecked descent to the site of a crash as a normal climbout?
* Later on, I'm wittering on about "
density altitude" to the media and anyone else who might listen to me, hoping all the while that
they don't know what
I'm talking about but at the same time hoping that
they will think that
I do.
What I do know regarding density altitude is that
- my airplane's takeoff and landing runs (as
published on a website by a bunch called 3G Aviation, who apparently know quite a lot about my airplane and, who knows, could even be in a position to advise me of a more accurate figure) can be up to 900 feet (300m).
- the ambient air temperature is about 80F (27C).
- the elevation of Winslow–Lindbergh Regional Airport is 4,941 feet (1,506 m) and currently has a pressure altitude of 4,757 feet (1,450m).
- courtesy of the nice people at the FAA and
their highly useful publication about Density Altitude, I ought to add at least 130% to my normal takeoff distance, giving me a figure of about 700m (2,100ft) .
- I'm thinking the same may well be true regarding my landing distance, hence it would also also in the region of 700m. I might 300*2.33have "modern safety features like hydraulic disc brakes", which might help me a bit.
So why didn't I round those figures up a bit, and tell myself that if I wasn't up-and-away by the central intersection at 1000m, I was aborting with 1000m of tarmac left in front of me?
* Where
did these
powerlines come from?
I mean, there's no mention of them in the airfield data; a heads-up about
brush at the end of 29 certainly, but powerlines? Hmmmm.
When I
look on Google Street View to try and jog my memory, I can't for the life of me see the powerlines that would have been a concern for me at all, unless I'm already heading in a direction that I shouldn't be at 50ft agl and descending, so I'm really not at all sure why I
performed a left turn to maintain clearance.
My airplane
began to descend (from
about 50 feet above ground) and I had then
performed a left turn to maintain clearance of powerlines (so I'm below 50ft, descending and trying
to avoid powerlines)So I thought now was a good time and place to have verified the throttle, mixture, propeller, fuel, and carburetor heat settings.
Whatever happened to all my pilot training? Where did it all go? What was I think of?
Here I am, I'm just feet off the ground, I'm avoiding ground features and I'm about to make a forced landing in a few seconds.
- Am I closing the throttle? Doesn't sound like it.
- Am I moving mixture to idle/cutoff. Doesn't sound like it.
- Does it matter what I do with the pitch setting. Probably not.
- Am I shutting off the fuel? Doesn't sound like it.
- Is the presence or otherwise of carb ice going to significantly affect the outcome of this landing? Again, probably not.
- Did I even mention magnetos or master switches? Oops.
Where did all my (albeit, self-proclaimed) skill and experience acquired as a display pilot, a commercial pilot and an instructor go to? Having been "fortunate in being trained predominantly by military pilots", what use was that when the chips were down?
How did I manage to turn what should have been a little bit of flying excitement, followed by a wee bit of unscheduled maintenance, into such a plane crash?
Sometimes I feel as if I wasn't there for my own crash as I've described it, or that someone has been moving ground features around at the airport and environs since it all happened - someone please help me solve this conundrum
