Oh sh!t - beach take off gone wrong

[tartare]

Radio New Zealand : News : National : Light plane crashes in surf (http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/233015/light-plane-crashes-in-surf)

[Tarq57]

Embarrassing.
Rule number 6 (or 5, or 2, but def not 1) : Make sure the aircraft actually really really is airborne before commencing the turn away from the nasty cliffs.

[Ridger]

Christ. That looked optimistic at best.

[UV]

He is lucky he didnt get airborne.

[Piper.Classique]

I suspect that the camera lens angle may account for the cliffs looking so close.
I hope so, anyway:confused:

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Where did he think he was going to go if he had got airborne? :eek:

[TowerDog]

Less than full flaps and steering into the water....:confused:

[RTN11]

Those Jabiru aircraft are the worst thing I've ever flown, honestly can't find one good thing about them, I've no idea why anyone buys them.

Pretty sure that's the stall warner you can hear blaring at the start of the clip, so he's probably trying to drag it into the air as early as he can, obviously without success.

The left turn doesn't look like he initiated it, perhaps that it just drifted over to the left due to the prop slipstream. Who knows, but at least it's one less Jabiru in the world and noone hurt by it.

[Pace]

no just a case of the sea looking so inviting that he changed his mind in the takeoff roll and decided to abort and go for a swim :ok:

I hope he paced out the available length and added a good margin for being on sand as well as the surface quality first before launching down the strip!
My guess is not and trying to keep away from soft sand the wet hard sand got narrower and narrower.

Pace

[dubbleyew eight]

here is a question for you guys.

at what point did the takeoff go wrong?

[Pace]

before he opened the throttle :ok:

Another question

At what point did it go right?

Pace

[glendalegoon]

The only sound I can hear is the engine and some people yelling at the end.


Is it possible he started the takeoff but didn't consider the waves could move in to his pseudo runway?

IF this happened to you or me, I sure wouldn't load the plane down with a passenger, I would lighten the load as much as possible.

Where or when did he go wrong? Getting out of bed that day.

[RTN11]

The only sound I can hear is the engine and some people yelling at the end.

I'm pretty sure that's the stall warner going, quite loud for the first 3-4 seconds while the aircraft is still close to the camera.

It's like an oboe reed, and it's playing a high wailing note. Horrible noise, very often heard on the Jabiru aircraft,

[dublinpilot]

I know non pilots have a strange meaning for an aeroplane "circling". But I find it strange that someone reports it circling first if there was an engine failure.

Then that the pilot lands due to a fuel blockage and they subsequently take off.

If there was a fuel blockage, I doubt that they'd have sufficient time and energy to do what that public would call circling.

If I had a fuel blockage, I doubt I'd be taking off again without an engineer looking at it.

On the other side I suppose they could have been simplying scrubbing off some additional height (unlikely if the failure happend 2km off shore as reported), or just making a positioning turn. And are these kit built? If so perhaps the owner know what he was doing engineering wise, and the tide was coming with no room to keep the aircraft there safely, so a take off was required urgently.

But I am somewhat questioning about some of the details. There might be more to it than reported.

[piperboy84]

Oh I do hate to tut tut others but !!!!!

Cs9GeO81kwQ

[rateone]

From Here to Eternity....


I'll get my coat

[flyingpony]

ZGfH4IegxO8

[jaycee46]

I know it's probably just my sense of humour, but the Plod, face planting in the first clip was a belter!

[Fostex]

What idiots, they deserve to be ridiculed.

After suffering an engine failure and forced landing in challenging terrain, they foolishly attempted a take off again ( first bad idea ) when the available runway was insufficient for the performance of their aircraft ( second incredibly bad idea! ). Words fail me. I hope this is investigated by the local regulatory authority.

[piperboy84]

off again ( first bad idea ) when the available runway was insufficient for the performance of their aircraft ( second incredibly bad idea! ). Words fail me. I hope this is investigated by the local regulatory authority.

And BOTH of them climbed back in a microlight for a short take off, I think I would have threw the mate in the right seat a few bucks and told him to get the bus

[Pace]

No like in the other clip stick one wheel in water and it will be like hitting a huge brake on that side only!

its bad piloting control skills allowing the aircraft to drift left on the takeoff roll and not judging correctly the wave points washing the beach…. Do not know what to say ? Plonkers

Pace

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Going into the sea prevented any take off attempt, and thus saved their lives (probably). Had they got airborne, there's no way they'd have avoided flying smack into those cliffs!

[Pezzar]

What on earth made them think they would make it?
How not to execute a beach take off :=

[Red Four]

Looks like he didn't take into account the cross gradient on the beach, then could only go one way.

[AdamFrisch]

Why didn't he use the full length of beach and do a curved takeoff? You can clearly tell there's thousands of feet behind him unused.

[phnuff]

There is another view on Youtube and it really does look as if the cliffs are reasonably close to the runway. Words fail me. It would be a great case study in a PPL course.

[RTN11]

And are these kit built? If so perhaps the owner know what he was doing engineering wise

Yes, they are kit builds. The fuel tank is behind the seats, and I mean right behind the seats, actually in the cockpit. There is no fuel gauge, you simply look back and see the white plastic tank, you can see the fuel level as a shadow through the clear plastic tank, and there are markings of 10, 20, 30 litres on the side.

If there was any kind of blockage, I'm sure any Jabiru pilot would try and fix it themselves and immediately get airborne again, that's the sort of airmanship these guys display. Whenever you step into a Jabiru aircraft you're basically saying you don't care if you see another day, absolutely terrible aircraft that should never have been allowed to get airborne.

[daxwax]

To be honest that sounds a more accurate way of working out how much you've got left than most GA fuel gauges!

[RTN11]

To be honest that sounds a more accurate way of working out how much you've got left than most GA fuel gauges!

Yeah, it's not bad, but at least in something like a C42 they had the decency to build some kind of all between you and the fuel tank, even if it does have a flap you can peek through to see the fuel tank.

[YODI]

I've watched this a few times now, and I still cant understand what was going through their heads the whole duration, not just before take off on either attempt.

[dublinpilot]

not just before take off on either attempt.

There was more than one attempt at takeoff! :eek:

Do you mean that they tried and abandoned the take off and then tried again? I've only seen one attempt.

Or have I misread your comment?

[YODI]

According to the video they tried to depart twice?

[Howard Long]

No, they had an emergency landing earlier due to a fuel blockage. Then they fixed the blockage on the beach and tried to take off again - which failed.

The reporter said "imagine having two crash landings in one day" which might have confused the issue. Technically, there were no crash landings at all, there was one forced landing and then a failed take off resulting in a crash.

More here...

BBC News - New Zealand plane beach take-off fails (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25685529)

[RTN11]

According to the video they tried to depart twice?

No, I don't think there were two take off attempts.

The video refers to the aircraft crashing twice, it says that it had a problem in flight and "crash landed on the beach" after some maintenance and replacing what they broke during that landing they had the take off attempt which you see, which resulted in the second (and final) crash into the sea.

I just hope this aircraft never flies again.

EDIT: Howard beat me to it :ok:

[Desert185]

Its still not clear to me if there were one or two on the airplane for takeoff. As a side note, nose wheel airplanes will tend to drift downhill when taking off/landing on a side slope (in this case, into the surf). Taildraggers are the opposite, and tend to go uphill. The steeper the slope, the more rudder required to counter the effect.

Soft surface, small tires, water, slope, not much horsepower, too much weight. The Jab was doomed.

[RTN11]

There's definitely two on board. You can see them both wearing life jackets as they prepare the aircraft, and then when the aircraft is nose down in the water the right door pops open and the "co-pilot" (as referred to in the video) is sat in the right seat.

[glendalegoon]

I saw another angle on this and it is clear to me that they didn't use enough right rudder as the plane drifts to its own left (viewed from pilot, PORT).

HOWEVER, having never heard of this type of plane, it may have a non standard engine rotation.

YIKES

And with innocent kids around! Shame on them

[onetrack]

The RH door falling open after the rotation to the left, after the impact with the water and beach, gives one a great deal of confidence in the cabin structural integrity of Jabirus. :(

[RatherBeFlying]

The exhilaration after pulling off a damage free forced landing seems incompatible with the cold rational calculation needed to accomplish a successful takeoff from an unprepared area.

If you manage to pull off a forced landing and find the aircraft usable afterwards, it should be a reg that you promptly visit the pub to celebrate your luck -- preferably after securing the a/c.

Then in the morning you can make a thorough investigation of the various obstacles and hazards presented and work out a plan to either mitigate them to a reasonable level or, if doubtful, arrange to haul out the aircraft.

[YODI]

Oh ok, hands up then, it confused me :)

[funfly]

I have owned and flown a Jabiru (2 seat version) and have to say that they are delightful to fly and the Jabiru engine itself has a very good reputation. Structurally they are not 'tanks' but as far as I am concerned quite acceptable. The security of the door is largely up to the guy who built it so I cannot comment on that, probably easier to get out of in an emergency than the single door of a Pa28. Biggest problem is the load carrying restrictions but that applies to all aircraft of this genre.

Fuel tank behind the seats is not everyones cup of tea but it's a very simple solution and relatively foolproof. I've not heard of anyone having any problems with this in the event of an emergency landing.

So maybe a bit 'light' for some of our more experienced pilots but I would be hesitant to label it a 'horrible' aircraft in any way.

[RTN11]

The Jabiru is, by a very long way, the worst aircraft I've ever flown. It's very difficult to find any good points about it.

It is incredibly cramped, and there is hardly room for your feet on the tiny rudder pedals (perhaps contributing here). I only wear size nine shoes, but my foot had to be at an angle for my toe to be on the rudder, as the cockpit gets very narrow at the bottom.

Then there's the fact that some Jabiru models in the UK are limited to an absurd 430KG max take off mass. If you're trying to get two people in it you can barely carry an hour and a half's fuel, so I'm sure these aircraft are almost always operated over weight.

Then there's the view, which is truly awful out of the tiny windscreen, and the windows in the door are so low that any normal sized person (I'm only 5'10") has to dip their head down to be able to look out of the side. This severely hampers lookout and even the most basic airmanship becomes a challenge.

The Jabiru engine isn't the worst on the market, but it's no Lycoming, and every one I've operated has been riddled with oil pressure problems.

Compare this to the Europa (with tricycle undercarriage) or even the Ikarus C42 and it loses on every point. I honestly don't know what would convince anyone to spend any time building one of these monstrosities, just to scrape along with a cruise of 75 to 80 Kts.

[Echo Romeo]

Have to agree, I had a flight in one recently, it was a 4 seater, horrible thing.