Er, It wasn't me, I didn't do it!

[jollyrog]

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/bulletins/may_2008/dh82a_tiger_moth__g_ande.cfm

The "Follow up action" box says it all.

[LateFinals]

Can't believe that a pilot felt it safer to jump out of the plane at the flare rather than sit it out, incredible....

LF

[DX Wombat]

As they say up here, "There's nowt so queer as folk". He was lucky to get away with just a broken leg.

[Blues&twos]

Good god. A completely mysterious engine failure too.

Bit unpredictable this chap, eh? Who's up for a trial flight?

[Astral_Flyer]

I was gob smacked when I read the report. This person seems to be a danger to anyone that he is around.. I do hope that he is seeking Psychiatric help with his problems.

Astral

[bingoboy]

I assume that the pax who jumped was in the front seat. Perhaps he had, over the years, read reports where the front seater in a Tiger crash has suffered severe/fatal/facial injuries as the engine/panel moved back.

[Mandator]

Bingoboy: You are very generous in your view of the motives of the passenger.

Imagine the poor pilot, struggling to pull off what appears to have been a wholly avoidable forced landing, when the passenger bales out from the front seat. Could he have got the beast down undamaged if he had not had the distraction of the passenger baling out at the moment critique? I think that had I been the pilot and if the passenger had not broken his leg as a result of his own actions, then he might have had more than a broken leg to worry about when I had finished with him!

[JP1]

So for the Tiger Moth experts, what is the most likely action of the passenger assuming he was hypothetically responsible.

If he retarded the throttle then I assume this would also retard the back seat throttle. Same for mixture.

Does that just leave mags or fuel cock? Which (guessing) would not affect the back seat setting and hence not possible for the commander to re-set, (unless he had very very long arms)

If one of these were switched off in the front cockpit (mags, fuel cock) I assume the passenger was in no hurry to go back and hide the evidence, (since he had more pressing thoughts on his mind after bailing out). For the commander to re-set the front mags, fuel cock (after the crash) does not make sense.

So just curious, since I know absolutely nothing about the controls of a Tiger Month, what a front seat passenger could do which could not be over-ridden from the back seat and which may not have been possible to determine post crash?

[XL319]

Did he have a parachute? := Seriously....that would any pilots worst nightmare!!

[mad_jock]

Imagine the poor pilot, struggling to pull off what appears to have been a wholly avoidable forced landing


He can ground loop a porsche as well.

The mags were mention between various descriptive and very personal comments on the chap.

[Ian_Wannabe]

To be fair, he is only human - I bet that in a state of engine failure he probably assessed the situation in a split second and freaked out, possibly even fearing that he was going to die in this situation so... as I said, only human.

I think some people are being a little harsh, imagine yourself in that situation. Tiger moths hardly ooze Volvo security in a crash do they...

[Blues&twos]

Ian_Wannabe

To be honest, the bloke jumping out of the plane wasn't nearly so worrying to me as his actions on previous flights and the implications of a "no fault found" scenario with the engine.....

Maybe he was just trying to make good his escape before the pilot caught up with him?

[Fg Off Max Stout]

IW,

Perhaps if the passenger had not deliberately instigated an engine failure he would not have had to worry about the crashworthiness of the Tiger Moth. I nearly wrote 'allegedly' in the previous sentence, but on reflection, having previously heard more about this event from other, closer sources, I would suggest that in legal terms it is 'beyond reasonable doubt' that the passenger did exactly what is strongly implied in the accident report.

It is a great shame that an irreplaceable historic aircraft gets wrecked as a result of deliberate idiocy and zero airmanship on the part of a licence holding passenger who should know better.

Whilst I have not heard about the follow up to these events, I would hope that the passenger is now seeking work in a sector not related to land, sea or air transport and that the aircraft is restorable. Good work to the captain for making the EOL survivable, and for resisting the strong temptation to break the passenger's other leg for good measure before invoicing him for one DH Tiger Moth!

[TotalBeginner]

Unbelievable! I'm glad that my passengers sit beside me so that I can see what they're doing. :eek::eek: Although, to be honest, they wouldn't get a second chance, no matter who they were! If anyone (other than an instructor or examiner) were to retard the throttle while I am P1, I would land ASAP and send them packing! Anyone who interferes with the controls without the PF's authoristation is just plain crazy! :ugh::ugh:

[mad_jock]

The Tiger Moth is getting rebuilt.

The Porsche is already rebuilt.

[enq]

Crikey,

Not the sort of chap you would want to mention lack of realistic EFAT practice to.

Truly an up & coming Darwin Awards winner.

Regards all, enq.

[BackPacker]

Truly an up & coming Darwin Awards winner.

You are only eligible for a Darwin Award if you don't take anyone else with you.

Mind you, breaking your leg because you jumped out of an aircraft in the flare would arguably be an "honorable mention". Anyone cares to rewrite the AAIB report and submit it?

http://www.darwinawards.com/

[Human Factor]

He was lucky to get away with just a broken leg.

Had I been the Captain, I'd have given him a matching pair. Fortunately for him, the actual Captain had more restraint than I have - even if he can groundloop a 944!! :p

Should have got a 911, Mr B.:cool:

[enq]

I suspect the ground loop was not caused by obstacle avoidance but by an overpowering urge to turn the aircraft round & run the stupid b@stard over.