front wheel collapses

[CoodaShooda]

Radio report that a Vincent Aviation (unidentified) twin with 9 pob had the nose wheel collapse during t/o.

Pilot reportedly earned the praise of the passengers for keeping control during the ensuing slide down the runway.:ok:

All on board ok.

[Tempo]

Word on the street is there was also an engine failure and a lot of black smoke involved as well.

[TIGERMOTH LADY]

:ouch: Territory MP in plane incident
August 22, 2003

A NORTHERN Territory government minister was on board a light aircraft that skidded on its nose before take off from Darwin Airport this morning.

John Ah Kit, the minister for sport, housing, local government and regional development, said he feared the plane would catch on fire when the aircraft's nose apparently buckled as it was about to take off.

The relatively new twin engine Turbo Prop, which was travelling at high speed, skidded for about 200 metres along the nose before it was brought to stop, he said.

Vincent Aviation said three separate investigations had been launched into the incident by Vincent, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

"Everyone just braced themselves and just said hang on, hang on," Mr Ah Kit told ABC radio.

aap

[Boomerang]

Tempo,

I think that was a previous incident (Thu am 21/8) involving a US military jet. I don't know details though but firies were in attendance. Obviously the NT news didn't get a hold of it, although I don't have todays paper yet.

[kym]

hey tempo,

dont you thinks that two props striking the runway at full power would cause a bit of smoke and sparks????

I know it would make a bit of smoke and sparks........

it might even damage a prop or two??????:oh:

[karrank]

:p Maybe he should have been in a Tigermoth??

[compressor stall]

Rumour going around that it hit a croc on rotation.

:p

[Torres]

What was it? F406? :confused:

[Kanga767]

...think I might go line up for Saturday's NT news.....

[bush mechanics]

Maybe the Big Fella should have been in row 9!!!Not in the nose locker.Now I wonder if hes going to slam vincents in the NT news as he did too airnorth?

[topend3]

Saturday's front page of the NT News was a great example of bull**** journalism, HA has obviously been on to his mates at the local rag, re all the attempted sabotages and security breaches going on at the airport recently, all this crap about fuel lines being cut, dirt in the fuel and gates mysteriously being left open is nothing but rumour and innuendo, and does nothing but fill the front page up.

At least the report surrounding the 406 nose gear collapse was reporting on something that ACTUALLY happened.

ok, i admit, a bloody gate may have been left open, woooooooooo
oh my god, a gate was left open......

[Tempo]

Hey Kym,

In answer to your question-yes-props striking the ground would cause damage and sparks.

[Woomera]

..... not to mention, a very significant depletion in someone's bank account.... :sad:

[Dog One]

Good to see NT Government supporting a NZ company in preference to the local Darwin operators.

[vrd]

Maybe the reason the gov is using vincent is that they are sick of the **** service they have been recieving for years, now somebody actually looks after them and treats them as people not idiots.

[RTO 4.5]

vrd is spot-on, no argument and if Vincent were to add FBO to their shingle they would see more of me.

[topend3]

agreed vrd, and vincent IS a local operator, they just happen to have a base in Wellington.

[High Altitude]

Now now VRD.

You cannot go calling everyone sh*t.

Vincent have not reivented the wheel.

The reason you are getting work is that you have beautiful aircraft! Who wouldn't go flying in a Reims for the price of a Chieftain??? The 1900's are great aircraft... But again at what cost?

Trans Tasman agreement??? is a one way agreement...

HA.

[Capt Claret]

Why did Vincent's get the job? Perhaps they put in the most competitive quote. Perhaps they were the only operator who could fit in with the customer's ittinerary.

If they as an NZ operator shouldn't get the job because they're not Aussie, then lots of Aussie expat pilots better start looking for a job back home! :hmm:

[Boomerang]

HA,

Vincents make more money on groundschool courses than actually operating the aircraft ;)

[Dog One]

Good point VRD, bet the NT Gov member really liked the spectactular attempted take-off. I would call that service with a smile.

On a more serious point, if the NT government doesn't believe they get service from the local NT operators - perhaps they don't need their votes either?

[Stilted Converstions]

Boomerang
You forgot charging for FO time as Vincent are purported to be doing as a way of supplementing their already low hourly rate for a very nice modern turbine.

Maybe "Big John" is sick of these fly by nighters like NAC and Vuncents with nose wheel collapses and doors opening in flight!

[VH-VIN]

Thought it was about time I had something to say,

Some interesting comments coming out about Vincent.
Didnt know we had pilots paying for FO time. Also making more money out of ground courses than charter work? If the course costs are paid for thats a plus. Hawkers run the courses and dont come cheap but to a great job. Also all pilots vincent employ have all there training paid for, but we do charge for endorsments for pilots who want to fly else where but they dont work for us.
I know there are a few bad feeling about Vincent with some of the local operators and I can understand why. If someone started up on my patch I would be a bit upset as well. Infact I have had that happen a few years ago and nothing p........ me off more.
There is alot more to being succesfull than fronting up in Darwin with a couple of flash turbo props, a good team in my view is the key and we are lucky to have that.

At the end of the day we are all trying to make a go of things and do it the best we can.
I'm sure when Vincent have been here for another 5 or 6 years we will be be treated as another Pearl or Air North.
There is alot of Talk about Vincent being a NZ company.
Vincent is now just as local as anyone else up here.
All the Staff except one who will be going back to NZ in a couple of months are from the NT. The policy is to employ local people as they are best suited for the job.
As Topend 3 said they are a local company that have a base in Wellington and thats run totally seperate.
Its a good line for some of the local operators: dont fly with those Kiwis , you should be supprting the locals. I would do the same I suppose if I was them.
Anyway thanks for all the support we have had over the last few days after the nose whell colapse.
The sort of thing you can do without but the main thing is no one was hurt, not even the crocidile on the runway!
Well done buy the pilot , DIA and rescue fire.
Hopefully the will find out soon what caused the failure so it wont happen again to us or anyone else. I think we can rule out sabotage on Darwin airport anyway.

[Stilted Converstions]

Hey Willy shouldnt that be ZK-VIN!?!

[trinalw]

Some people have very short memories or simply don't know any of Darwins history.

Scare North earned there name and reputation over many years of cheating and bad behaviour just as some of you suspect the above operators.

CASA and DCA archives will tell a story of great interest if you take the time to read it.

I am not sure they are much different these days.

They are renowned for poor service and late departures. They could teach QF a trick or two in that area!!

[Checkerboard]

VH-VIN said:

"Also making more money out of ground courses than charter work? If the course costs are paid for thats a plus. Hawkers run the courses and dont come cheap but to a great job. Also all pilots vincent employ have all there training paid for, but we do charge for endorsments for pilots who want to fly else where but they dont work for us. "


So tell me if there were initially 4 people on the course at $1,000 and they were told you were just "covering costs" then how come there ended up being 11 people on the course and the price never changed???? And nearly all of those people were told there was a strong chance of getting a job at the end???:confused:

[bush mechanics]

Trinalw
As a x airnorth employee I must say you are soo far from the truth. Have you been rejected by Airnorth?soo you join the bandwagon and slag hard working pilots,engineers,and office staff off.Because all these people are the backbone of any company.Sure they have late departures,Who dosnt.Sure they have a past,Who dosnt.But atleast they are doing things about this.Lots of very experienced engineers,Safety management.Have you ever experienced a audit from a mineing company?They are worse then CASA.Soo if they are soo bad Im sure Philips wouldnt use them now would they.Airnorth employ lots of hard working people who like lots of others are doing their bests.Get on with it!

[Checkerboard]

Might I also add:

"There is alot of Talk about Vincent being a NZ company.
Vincent is now just as local as anyone else up here.
All the Staff except one who will be going back to NZ in a couple of months are from the NT. The policy is to employ local people as they are best suited for the job. "

Well how many other "local" companies send there money back to NZ?

Vuncents money is all chanelled back to NZ. I know because I paid for that ground course by credit card and it appeared on my statement as a NZ foreign currency conversion!!!!!!!

Another bunch of scammers taking advantage of the pilot employment situation.

[Hugh Jarse]

Vuncents money is all chanelled back to NZ. I know because I paid for that ground course by credit card and it appeared on my statement as a NZ foreign currency conversion!!!!!!!
So that means with the exchange rate you saved a few quid checkerboard? :} :} :}

[Checkerboard]

No quite the opposite Hugh Jarse!

They must have worked out the conversion rate themselves before charging it to me but it was obviously a different rate to what visa used so i got hit with an extra $26 on top of the course fee I was quoted!!:*

[Kanga767]

It seems interesting that Government Bodies and prominant identities try and convince us to 'Buy Australian'. Steering away from companies, that, despite having their factories here and employing local people, are by definition 'Foreign Companies'

Why is this situation any different? Just because it gives a few young upstarts an opportunity to pursue a career in an already crowded market??

K

[vrd]

You're all just jealous, you wish they would employ you but they don't employ useless d***heads who have nothing better to do than slag operators who try to do the best job they can.

Get a life !!!!

[kym]

no you get a life:mad:

[Kanga767]

Actually that level of operation is part of my very fond career history now.

I still care about some of the local people however, who gave me a start.


K

[Checkerboard]

VRD.........

So some real facts start to come out about how your company does business and you resort to a little tantrum and abuse us.

Very mature!:D

[shareholder]

Checkerboard,
I guess no one knows who you are YET, but I spoke to the CP this morning and it looks like you have damaged the reputation of some of the other people who did the ground school. You don't represent the thoughts of the majority of others, so why don't you f**k right off and save the reputation of the rest of us??

[OpsNormal]

Woomera, can we have a "cough*bulls#!t*cough" icon for moments like these?:D ;) :) :ok:

Until then, shareholder what a load of bollox.

[Boomerang]

We are going a little off topic here. I do think the pilot did a great job etc.

Shareholder, I'm curious how can someone lower the reputation of people who completed the groundschool, simply by highlighting that he believes the course could have been run cheaper, there were additional hidden charges (foreign currency conversion), and exposing that the money went overseas. At no stage did he say anything about the quality of the course or anything else about other candidates.

Lets not make this a slanging match, PM me if you like, but I'm sure people like OpsNormal and Checkerboard would also be interested to hear your explanation.

[vrd]

The price of the ground school was up front $1000. If you didn't like it then why do it ?
I did the ground school through another flying organisation earlier this year and paid $1300. This included only the course and notes.
Vincent supplied all the notes food for everyone all week then a function at the end of the course. Do you think you were still ripped off.

[Dog One]

I am sure the pilot did a great job, he really had no choice once the nose wheel collapsed, but to go along for the ride.

I guess the question is, did the strut fail through a fault in the material, was it maintenance related and missed on a daily inspection, or the result of a heavy landing?

Over the years, there has been many strut failures on 400 Cessna twins, but I guess we really wont know until ATSB put out there report.