G-ARNZ down at Herne Bay Air show (Pilot OK)

[susier]

It's on the beach just down the road - ditched in shallow water, I didn't see what took place (typical)

According to local reports the pilot is fine.

Some close up images of the aircraft on Twitter under hashtag #Hernebayairshow.

One of the three 'Turbulent' display planes. The other two weren't affected.

Mods, feel free to move this to Light Aircraft section if more appropriate.

[CRayner]

More hereHerne Bay Air Show: Spectators watch plane ditch into sea off Kent coast (http://www.kentonline.co.uk/herne-bay/news/plane-ditches-into-sea-in-100738/)

[Machinbird]

Flipping over into shallow water during a ditching looks like it could be potentially a fatal mistake. In this case, there was plentiful and prompt help. But if help had not been at the ready......
Well done to the spectators who responded so promptly.:ok:

[susier]

Someone said the pilot broke his nose. This is anecdotal but it sounds like he got away with minor injuries at any rate.

Frustrating seeing it reported as a 'crash' in many media outlets. He took the decision to ditch, according to the team's Twitter account.

Find myself wondering whether this will be the subject of an investigation, and if so, will they be able to move the aircraft before it's been looked at in situ?

(visions of locals doing what locals tend to do to abandoned vehicles)

[parkfell]

AAIB to investigate

[susier]

Have just been down to take a look.

Several pleasant chaps from Tiger Club were there and a very quiet, polite AAIB representative as well.

Had a chat with club chaps. One wing is a bit shafted. Engine trouble/loss of power being postulated although no one present had spoken to pilot as yet.

Apparently nose not broken. :ok:

Tow truck appeared as we were leaving. Very relieved to see it won't be left to the mercy of our night time natives :}

See profile for a few inadequate pictures:

http://www.pprune.org/members/429285-susier-albums-g-arnz.html

[brokenlink]

Glad pilot OK, suspect he might want to buy the spectators a beer for their prompt actions.

[SLFguy]

Frustrating seeing it reported as a 'crash' in many media outlets.

I suspect 99% of the population,upon seeing a picture of an aircraft upside down in the water, would be be happy with the term 'crashed'.

[ETOPS]

Very glad the pilot is OK but sad to see 'RNZ all soggy. Many happy memories of flying this Turb in 1976.......:{

[susier]

Sorry to hear that ETOPS. Very sweet little plane.

She's still got a chirpy look about her despite the day's shenanigans - like a wet puppy - 'that was fun, can we do it again?!'

WRT crash vs ditch - point taken, but the club people said they felt the same when I spoke to them. It makes it seem as though there was no control involved at all.

I think he did very very well to put her down where he did - the water here is shallow for quite a long way out, but the beach was packed with spectators and there was no way he could have put her on solid ground without endangering life. So position was pretty much the best it gets.

[India Four Two]

I'm glad to see the pilot survived, relatively unscathed. Quick thinking by the spectators.

Very sad to see a Turbulent in the water like that, but even sadder to think that I recognized the registration as being a Turbulent, before I opened the thread! Uncle Roger would be proud of me. ;)

[SilsoeSid]

Side on view on vid here;
Plane crashes into sea at air show - BBC News (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37081840)

[Wageslave]

It makes it seem as though there was no control involved at all.
There wasn't, from the instant the wheels touched.

It may technically fall under the term "ditching" for pilots, but the rest of the population don't use that term and frankly many if not most of us would call somersaulting on landing, dry or wet a crash.

[john ball]

It is very easy to tip a Turbulent on its nose when taxying on soft ground as they are very tail-light.
so it is not surprising that it flipped over so fast. But the main thing is the absolute skill of the Tiger Club display pilot having the forethought not to ditch too far out, but not too close to very shallow water and most importantly not on a beach crowded with spectators. Well done, it must have been very frightening being upside down in the water. Hope it gets repaired soon as a historic aircraft with long service in the club -- I remember flying it years ago.

[Downwind Lander]

I wonder if he had not had much experience on tail wheel a/c. The three point landing was nearly perfect but not quite. I reckon it's a good example of where the classic three pointer is worth its weight in gold. (I'm not sure the BBMF people do classic three pointers all the time. I've always wondered why).

[Jetscream 32]

Doing the "dunker" and discussing optimum approach for ditching in various aircraft configurations and types often comes up in the briefings - consensus on more than one occasion indicated a preference for "incipient spin / wing drop" just above wave tops 10 / 30 ft for tailwheel aircraft to ensure it didn't do exactly what the turbulent did do..... good outcome for the pilot though and thats all that matters really!

[foxmoth]

I wonder if he had not had much experience on tail wheel a/c. The three point landing was nearly perfect but not quite.
I suspect if he was part of the display team he would likely have had plenty of experience, and a three pointer is probably irrelevant when ditching, in fact I think I would be going for tail first.

[Downwind Lander]

... and a three pointer is probably irrelevant when ditching, in fact I think I would be going for tail first.

A three pointer and the subsequent stall will give the slowest possible speed.

[squidie]

Most scary part was seeing the pilot upside down in the water exactly where the pilot seat is. Thankfully he ditched close to the coast where people were able to run out and help him.

[Sir Niall Dementia]

Tail wheel experience would have been pretty irrelevant here. The Turb is really light on the tail, a controlled ditching like this one is fairly bound to result in a nose over as the mains touch, no matter how low he got the tail. The drag from the mains alone would probably send the aircraft over.

I do the dunker regularly and once ditched a helicopter, the outcome is rarely as you would expect it to be. In my case escaping from an upturned aircraft in a pool of jet fuel.

Well done to this chap for the outcome, it could have been far worse either way, an old log book tells me I flew NZ in 1980, the Turb is still on my list for filling my perfect hangar.

SND

[DownWest]

Remember a chat with my father about ditching. He flew fighters from 38 to 45 and said that the radiator on the Spitfire touched first and the water it disturbed tended to kick the tail up and drive the nose down. He watched Finucane ditching with a bad outcome. They decided that possibly the best way would be to boot the rudder hard just before touching and try to use the dihedral to skate to a halt. Luckilly he never had to try the idea.

[abgd]

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to ditch inverted so that you end up upright (tongue slightly in cheek).

Turbulent stall speed is 39 knots/44mph or thereabouts so that must have been a pretty sudden stop.

[susier]

I can't find it online but local papers are carrying a headline which states that investigators have confirmed (more likely someone has suggested) that the accident may have been caused by a balloon which was photographed in the vicinity of the plane just prior to the incident.

It looks to be a large hand held novelty balloon which has escaped from its owner, at a glance.

Interesting if this could indeed have caused a problem with the prop - there were quite a few floating about during the display.

[Maoraigh1]

Could a burst balloon block the engine air intake? Never heard of a problem with balloon bursting events.

[abgd]

Could a burst balloon block the engine air intake? Never heard of a problem with balloon bursting events.

I'd be surprised - and there's always carb heat. My first thought was carb icing to which they're prone.

I fly my turb down the coast often, so would be very interested to hear from the pilot about his experiences.

[Mechta]

Could a burst balloon block the engine air intake? Never heard of a problem with balloon bursting events.

You would probably use rubber balloons for bursting. A mylar balloon would would make a better job of blocking an air intake. The mylar ones, half deflated, turn up on our club's airfield quite frequently.

[abgd]

And it seems it was a burst balloon - see the latest LAA magazine for a mod to prevent balloon ingestion.

Presumably it got into the carburettor? I can see that would prevent carb-heat from solving the problem.