Light Aircraft lands on the A40 in Gloucestershire
Was lifting it by the spinner bulkhead really the best option? Maybe the insurance company already owned it but I'd have pulled the top cowling and lifted at the engine mount firewall clusters.
My current ride came with lift rings but I don't plan to land it on a guard rail just to see if the salvage crew is smart enough to use them.
My current ride came with lift rings but I don't plan to land it on a guard rail just to see if the salvage crew is smart enough to use them.
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Engine failure on finals, couldn't make the runway. Only had limited time to decide where to put it. Aircraft professionally recovered by Air Salvage International - it had to be done fast as the accident had blocked the A40 arterial road.
There seem to be a lot of 'second guessers' on here, using hindsight. Having no idea what the circumstances were - but given the position probably on or near finals as Wickernbill suggests - depending on direction there are plenty of houses etc., to hit and likely little energy or height available for significant choice. So I'd say well done for flying the aircraft into a successful landing, missing all the traffic - and perhaps that is why the central barrier zone was the spot picked - best available gap? If so, full marks for quick & inventive thinking and taking an unusual option. No-one was hurt. no cars or drivers/passengers involved evidently. Suggests a good pick was made with littel time, so ease up folks! (see Teddy Roosevelt on 'the man in the arena')
Looks like fairly limited damage to the aircraft, amazingly, though like several others I wince at the slinging around the prop boss. Judging by mey experience few years back when I was on scene as an accident occurred, once the Police in particular get involved, they will refuse to listen to anyone outside their own limited team; in my case they had no interest in using any of the available onsite expertise, the folk who had actually called the incident in. Hilariously, their decisions were incompetent and contradictory, arguably unsafe, taken by folk not even present at the site. So the recovery actions seen here may be being dictated by folk acting in haste without proper understanding.
Nive aircraft the RF6, I hope it can be repaired.
Looks like fairly limited damage to the aircraft, amazingly, though like several others I wince at the slinging around the prop boss. Judging by mey experience few years back when I was on scene as an accident occurred, once the Police in particular get involved, they will refuse to listen to anyone outside their own limited team; in my case they had no interest in using any of the available onsite expertise, the folk who had actually called the incident in. Hilariously, their decisions were incompetent and contradictory, arguably unsafe, taken by folk not even present at the site. So the recovery actions seen here may be being dictated by folk acting in haste without proper understanding.
Nive aircraft the RF6, I hope it can be repaired.
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Having first heard about this on the news and seeing where and how the pilot landed it, my reaction is that they did a blxxdy good job. Looking at the close proximity of Gloucester Airport, I wouldn’t mind betting that this happened at a fairly low altitude which prevented a glide into a suitable field or possibly a turn back; take-off from runway 22?
Anyway, the fact that they put it down straddling the Arnco makes me believe that this person had thought this possible scenario out before and with the close proximity of all the buildings, it was probably a wise move. Going through training 50 years ago, an ex-WW2 instructor suggested that in idle moments, such as lying in the bath, that it would be sensible to occasionally run various scenarios through your head because if something happens at a low altitude, the less time spent in the “startle moment”, the better.
The armchair keyboard warriors immediately show their ignorance because actually landing astride the Arnco offers the best chance of survival in an otherwise dire situation. Faced with that situation where landing on a motorway or dual carriageway is the only alternative to certain death, in the heat of the moment what would you do? Land into the traffic, hoping everyone would see you and swerve away? Land with the traffic and hope to find a gap and that everyone behind you would slam on the brakes? Land on the hard shoulder (if there is one)? Or try and land right in the middle with the wheels astride the Arnco which would then have the added benefit of keeping it straight like a train on the track?
I know which one I’d try because it also has the added benefit of keeping the cockpit and cabin away from the traffic. Sure something that can’t get out of the way might hit the wing, but with a closing speed of perhaps 120mph, with something as small and as fragile as that light aeroplane, its going to rip the wing off rather than spin the whole aircraft around, or demolish it totally.
But all of this is all very good sitting in an armchair after the event. Faced with a low altitude engine failure with few options available, I firmly believe they made exactly the right decision and pulled it off amazingly well.
(Ex Military Fighter Pilot and Ex Civil Airlines Wide-bodied Captain, 17000hrs)
Anyway, the fact that they put it down straddling the Arnco makes me believe that this person had thought this possible scenario out before and with the close proximity of all the buildings, it was probably a wise move. Going through training 50 years ago, an ex-WW2 instructor suggested that in idle moments, such as lying in the bath, that it would be sensible to occasionally run various scenarios through your head because if something happens at a low altitude, the less time spent in the “startle moment”, the better.
The armchair keyboard warriors immediately show their ignorance because actually landing astride the Arnco offers the best chance of survival in an otherwise dire situation. Faced with that situation where landing on a motorway or dual carriageway is the only alternative to certain death, in the heat of the moment what would you do? Land into the traffic, hoping everyone would see you and swerve away? Land with the traffic and hope to find a gap and that everyone behind you would slam on the brakes? Land on the hard shoulder (if there is one)? Or try and land right in the middle with the wheels astride the Arnco which would then have the added benefit of keeping it straight like a train on the track?
I know which one I’d try because it also has the added benefit of keeping the cockpit and cabin away from the traffic. Sure something that can’t get out of the way might hit the wing, but with a closing speed of perhaps 120mph, with something as small and as fragile as that light aeroplane, its going to rip the wing off rather than spin the whole aircraft around, or demolish it totally.
But all of this is all very good sitting in an armchair after the event. Faced with a low altitude engine failure with few options available, I firmly believe they made exactly the right decision and pulled it off amazingly well.
(Ex Military Fighter Pilot and Ex Civil Airlines Wide-bodied Captain, 17000hrs)
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I have seen landing on a road reported more often in the US. The favoured technique seems to be landing with the traffic. The speed differential is low allowing the traffic behind to come to a halt if the aircraft makes a normal landing. The one wing into the oncoming traffic technique could have caused a major incident if oncoming traffic took avoiding action and collided with each other.
This piece of road is straight with no obstructions apart from the traffic.
This piece of road is straight with no obstructions apart from the traffic.
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There seem to be a lot of 'second guessers' on here, using hindsight. Having no idea what the circumstances were - but given the position probably on or near finals as Wickernbill suggests - depending on direction there are plenty of houses etc., to hit and likely little energy or height available for significant choice. So I'd say well done for flying the aircraft into a successful landing, missing all the traffic - and perhaps that is why the central barrier zone was the spot picked - best available gap? If so, full marks for quick & inventive thinking and taking an unusual option. No-one was hurt. no cars or drivers/passengers involved evidently. Suggests a good pick was made with littel time, so ease up folks! (see Teddy Roosevelt on 'the man in the arena')
Looks like fairly limited damage to the aircraft, amazingly, though like several others I wince at the slinging around the prop boss. Judging by mey experience few years back when I was on scene as an accident occurred, once the Police in particular get involved, they will refuse to listen to anyone outside their own limited team; in my case they had no interest in using any of the available onsite expertise, the folk who had actually called the incident in. Hilariously, their decisions were incompetent and contradictory, arguably unsafe, taken by folk not even present at the site. So the recovery actions seen here may be being dictated by folk acting in haste without proper understanding.
Nive aircraft the RF6, I hope it can be repaired.
Looks like fairly limited damage to the aircraft, amazingly, though like several others I wince at the slinging around the prop boss. Judging by mey experience few years back when I was on scene as an accident occurred, once the Police in particular get involved, they will refuse to listen to anyone outside their own limited team; in my case they had no interest in using any of the available onsite expertise, the folk who had actually called the incident in. Hilariously, their decisions were incompetent and contradictory, arguably unsafe, taken by folk not even present at the site. So the recovery actions seen here may be being dictated by folk acting in haste without proper understanding.
Nive aircraft the RF6, I hope it can be repaired.
Then I looked at Giggle Maps. The road appeared to be his best bet (better than the houses and trees each side!). Wickerbill's explanation (above) puts it all into real context.
A quick decision that worked and everyone survived.. Well done!
There are a couple of eyewitness statements up on the BBC website now.
One says they heard the engine of the plane coming up behind them - which is interesting, and another said the plane didn't cause any damage to the central reservation, though photos clearly show the Armco fencing was knocked off its supports, as designed.
One says they heard the engine of the plane coming up behind them - which is interesting, and another said the plane didn't cause any damage to the central reservation, though photos clearly show the Armco fencing was knocked off its supports, as designed.
Thansk for that Wickerbill. I was aware of the construction but hoped that the damage would be mostly lower fuselage and tail. The main airframe didn't look significantly distorted & wood is readily replaced and repaired. Given the engine had failed, no doubt an economic write-off. But I thought perhaps someone will be interested enough in a rather pleasant handling machine to try reworking her..
Since when has 'expeditiously' ever been a factor in UK motorways being cleared of obstructions, be it accident debris, or fools climbing on to an overhead gantry? 😂
Last edited by Stuart Sutcliffe; 12th Aug 2023 at 08:33.
Aerodrome Fire & Rescue services at a licenced aerodrome are obliged to respond to an aircraft incident within a set distance of the airfield. In doing so, they remove the ARFF from the airfield, making it unlicenced. Rather than closing the airport completely, although they may well of done at the discretion of the airport, it was likely closed for traffic requiring a licenced aerodrome.
The requirements are in CH8 cap168 and the area of 1000m (usually extended centre line) of runway thresholds. Looking at where the aircraft landed I think it’s unlikely that off site deployment would have been used. There’s no simple route to get onto the A40, and one of the core requirements for offsite deployment is an appropriate and safe route.
From an armchair observer, the propellor sustained no damage.
That suggests it wasn't even windmilling and a total engine failure as neither blade appears to have struck the armco barrier.
Given a dead donkey, options are limited, so can't argue that he made the right choice.
Now he'll probably get done for lane hogging, or stopping in the fast lane!
At least he didn't have an Audi that Must Get In Front chasing him on landing
That suggests it wasn't even windmilling and a total engine failure as neither blade appears to have struck the armco barrier.
Given a dead donkey, options are limited, so can't argue that he made the right choice.
Now he'll probably get done for lane hogging, or stopping in the fast lane!
At least he didn't have an Audi that Must Get In Front chasing him on landing
As others have said:
- it belongs to the the insurance company
- they wanted it out of the way ASAP because of the huge cost of keeping a busy dual carriageway closed
- they probably didn't have anyone with aviation knowledge who was had the correct Engineering maintenance tools to hand to remove cowls and determine exactly which possible lifting points would cause least stress / damage
- the engine was by all accounts f***ed (failed state) anyway, so why be precious about getting the wreck cleared ASAP?
While you're at it, why don't you criticise the pilot for needlessly damaging the underside, when he could so easily have plonked it down right in the middle of one of the carriageways without scratching the paintwork at all?
- it belongs to the the insurance company
- they wanted it out of the way ASAP because of the huge cost of keeping a busy dual carriageway closed
- they probably didn't have anyone with aviation knowledge who was had the correct Engineering maintenance tools to hand to remove cowls and determine exactly which possible lifting points would cause least stress / damage
- the engine was by all accounts f***ed (failed state) anyway, so why be precious about getting the wreck cleared ASAP?
While you're at it, why don't you criticise the pilot for needlessly damaging the underside, when he could so easily have plonked it down right in the middle of one of the carriageways without scratching the paintwork at all?
I know it is a rumour network, but why don't we all wait and see what the facts are? Whatever happened, I think that the pilot (male/female?), did a reasonable job in that no one was injured! Well done!!
Bill
Bill
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At first I thought "Why land on a road??"
Then I looked at Giggle Maps. The road appeared to be his best bet (better than the houses and trees each side!). Wickerbill's explanation (above) puts it all into real context.
A quick decision that worked and everyone survived.. Well done!
Then I looked at Giggle Maps. The road appeared to be his best bet (better than the houses and trees each side!). Wickerbill's explanation (above) puts it all into real context.
A quick decision that worked and everyone survived.. Well done!
There’s a motorway running north / south under the A40 and surrounding area, and plenty of housing that makes other options unattractive
M11 north weald
Was required by the BHPA to have a sign off on my kiwi paragliding license so chose North Weald to do a winch course 20 years ago. The briefing by “rusty” included not to land on the motorway as they had been shut down for 6 months after a student had landed on the central reservation during rush hour which closed the motorway for a short while.
1994 was in Illinois with my boy doing a PPL at a field owned by a TWA skipper..one of the British students described how he had ran out of fuel and put down on a road, the FAA and plod were involved and after he got some gas it was decided he had to do a couple of high speed taxing runs before he took off to satisfy the authorities which he did and and continued his training to get his CPL.
1994 was in Illinois with my boy doing a PPL at a field owned by a TWA skipper..one of the British students described how he had ran out of fuel and put down on a road, the FAA and plod were involved and after he got some gas it was decided he had to do a couple of high speed taxing runs before he took off to satisfy the authorities which he did and and continued his training to get his CPL.
Why are people condemning the pilot when they don't know the circumstances? First find out what his options were, how much traffic there was, were there bridges or signs in the way, why did he move to the centre of the road, etc. The RF6 has a stalling speed of 54 kts, so at least the speed differential with the traffic could have been minimised. It would have been possible to land without causing cars to crash. Which is exactly what happened.
A stalling speed of 54kts is 62mph, hopefully he wasn’t much faster than this when he touched down or else the police might give him a speeding ticket!!
Was required by the BHPA to have a sign off on my kiwi paragliding license so chose North Weald to do a winch course 20 years ago. The briefing by “rusty” included not to land on the motorway as they had been shut down for 6 months after a student had landed on the central reservation during rush hour which closed the motorway for a short while.
I have no recollection of anyone landing on the M11 and the gliding being suspended for 6 months. I’m sure we would all have remembered that!
Are you sure it was NW?