An-2 RA33623 hits lamp post in emergency landing attempt near Essentuki, Russia

[Frits van Hout]

On 27-Oct-2024, an An-2 with parachutists on board suffered an engine malfunction shortly after take off from Essentuki, near Stavropol. It was unable to reach the airfield and force-landed in a forest nearby. All occupants survived.

Footage of an An-2 force-landing in a forest belt in Stavropol Krai


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This moment was filmed by nearby eyewitnesses when the An-2 (RA-33623) plane, after taking off from the Yessentuki DOSAAF site, had to make an emergency landing in a forest belt two kilometers from Yessentuki due to an engine malfunction.

According to the latest information, in addition to the pilot, there were nine parachutists on board. As a result of the rough landing, the aircraft commander and two passengers were injured. They were injured and taken to the hospital. In addition to the fact that the crop duster received significant damage, road equipment was also damaged - the An-2 knocked down a lamp post of a road bridge with its left wing.

Source: Telegram

[Pilot DAR]

It's happily amazing that that much leading edge of the wing could be damaged, and the pilot could maintain good control!

[ATC Watcher]

Originally Posted by Pilot DAR

It's happily amazing that that much leading edge of the wing could be damaged, and the pilot could maintain good control!

One wing out of 4 . On survivability : the An2 is built like a tank and does not need much speed to keep it flying , hence little energy to dissipate on impact .
He also went straight ahead after the engine failed , also helped.

[NZFlyingKiwi]

Originally Posted by ATC Watcher

One wing out of 4 . On survivability : the An2 is built like a tank and does not need much speed to keep it flying , hence little energy to dissipate on impact .
He also went straight ahead after the engine failed , also helped.

There is even a monoplane version which they created by, well, removing the bottom set of wings. Actually I'm not sure if it is really the same upper wing but it certainly looks like it in photos.

[Pilot DAR]

One wing out of 4

I would be less alarmed at the reduction in lifting surface, and more worried about adverse yaw from that drag out at the wing tip. It doesn't take much surprise drag that far out to require full rudder, and hope, to keep it straight!

[ATC Watcher]

more worried about adverse yaw from that drag out at the wing tip.

If you look at the video, it did crate some yaw, and the aircraft seem to veer to the left before disappearing from view behind the bridge. Whether the PF could straight it up before impacting the ground we cannot see.

[pax britanica]

How lucky were they to just make it over the highway overbridge . Mind you AN2s are very special aircraft, when visiting my son in Czech republic I often go and watch the goings on at his local airstrip. Usually the AN 2 is doing its paradropping and can clearly be seen going backwards on a windy day at afew thousand feet . Also no two landings seem the same , sometimes rolling out some way as they are big and heavy and sometimes seeming to stop almost as they touch down.

One of those cases where speed isn't an advantage for some tasks. reading a book about the U Boat war in WW2 one has to think of the Swordfish - a suicide job attacking conventional warships but its slowness and therefore ultra short take off and landing on small escort carriers its big engine bi plane layout made it literally perfect for convoy escort duties as no helis back then and anything modern (for the time) would have struggled with the escort carriers dimensions.
And the AN2 and Swordfish reallyare quite alike

[stevef]

I spent some time maintaining these simple and sturdy aircraft in Africa and quite enjoyed the experience. A great bush operations aeroplane (as long as weight and balance loading limits were obeyed). Regarding forced landings, this Wiki excerpt addresses the issue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-2

"If the engine quits in instrument conditions or at night, the pilot should pull the control column full aft and keep the wings level. The leading-edge slats will snap out at about 64 km/h (40 mph) and when the airplane slows to a forward speed of about 40 km/h (25 mph), the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground."

[JanetFlight]

"the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground."...Hummmmmmmmreally???

[ATC Watcher]

Originally Posted by JanetFlight

"the airplane will sink at about a parachute descent rate until the aircraft hits the ground."...Hummmmmmmmreally???

Never tried that after an engine failure or voluntarily shutting down the engine , , but I can confirm ,with engine idle, full flaps keep stick full back it does that .. normal Russian Very Short field landing technique in fact for the An2.
But the SOCATA Morane Rallye , also equipped with auto aerodynamic extension slats does roughly the same only much faster ( 90 Km/h ) against the An2 (50 Km/h) .but the rate of descent for both in this mode is roughly the same at around 1000-1200 ft/min ..not a smooth touch down , but you'll survive..

[phantomsphorever]

2000 ft/min - wow, that is a manly descent rate at touchdown.
Definitely gives meaning to the phrase "we don't land - we arrive"!

[WideScreen]

Originally Posted by Pilot DAR

It's happily amazing that that much leading edge of the wing could be damaged, and the pilot could maintain good control!

Not surprising to me, roadside lampposts are designed to break half-way / tumble over when hit by cars "at the bottom", let alone, when hit near the top. Or, at least, that is in Western countries, though I can imagine, Russia has designed/implemented the same rules & regulations.

[Pilot DAR]

around 1000-1200 ft/min ..not a smooth touch down , but you'll survive..

If you have this rate on short final, and your flare is decent, this will work out okay, some practice helps. I have done testing with several types airplanes for this characteristic (not an AN-2) to find where "too difficult" begins, and for my experience, it's 1300-1400 FPM. My own airplane power off, fully fine prop has a descent rate round 1600, selecting full coarse on the prop gets that back to 1100, from which a decent power off landing is possible. But, in all cases with airplanes with these power off descent rates, maintaining an unusually steep glide, to a spot which seems abnormally close is vital. Trying to stretch a glide to be like a lighter, more sleek GA type is not going to work.

Not surprising to me, roadside lampposts are designed to break

It's not the security of the lamp post which interests me, but more the noticeable part of the outboard wing leading edge which remains in the "high drag" position after the hit.

[treadigraph]

James Black and Mike Riley demonstrated the AN-2's parachute descent capabilities at Biggin Hill once as I recall - without the hitting the ground bit of course...

[WideScreen]

Originally Posted by Pilot DAR

.....
It's not the security of the lamp post which interests me, but more the noticeable part of the outboard wing leading edge which remains in the "high drag" position after the hit.

The "drag surface" is big, though the speed is also very low, so the effective drag is very limited. The "energy loss" due to an increased drag coefficient is the 3rd power of the speed the subject goes. So, with these low speeds, hardly any influence of an increased frontal surface.

Not to say, I don't have the impression to be blown off my motobike (chopper type) when driving 50 km/h. Speeding up to 80-100 km/h makes a great difference and with 160 km/h it's a challenge to not be left behind by the motobike (the drag-force is the square of the speed).