Forced Landing - Sorrento Vic. (Merged)
 

ABC Radio is reporting a forced landing at Sorrento this afternoon at 2.30 pm. Four people on board all OK, apparently only minor injuries, walked away. Single engine aircraft type unknown.

Interpreting the eye witness account, and I'm speculating, it sounds as if there was trouble over the bay. The Pilot selected Sorrento Golf Course but didn't quite make it, taking the wings off on powerlines/poles short of the course and landing on the roadway and rolled. Wings apparently burned. Power off in Sorrento.

Congratulations to the pilot.........a good landing is when.......

Power lines again????
 

Looks like more victims of power lines. Happens a lot doesn't it?

If you want to have a really good laugh check out the video on the link. Media at their best. Listen carefully.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22918747-2,00.html

.......phewwwwwwwwww.............lucky lot they are!..........having the wings ripped off may very have saved the hapless aviators lives, took some of the energy right out of the low wing "missled glider" ! Looked like a Piper, well did once, now looks like a torpedo !

Job well done Mr Pilot..................see the relentless training of eng failures pays off:-):)

capt Wally :-)

Wally - didn't you listen to the news report -

the wings weren't ripped off - "The pilot voluntarily dropped them because they contain lots of fuel and so most of the fuel was left behind - apparently these planes can do that"

Normally you can figure out what they're trying to say but this time....................?

Was also impressed that one of the passengers was unconcious when the plane 'landed' - he is one cool cat!

UTR

What kind of halfwit morons do they employ to uphold the law in Victoria???

The "plane" did all of that? Or the pilot of the "plane"??

The "plane" was on its way to Moorabin - just happened to have four POB.

And what does the "plane" dropping its wings mean, voluntarily or otherwise? Is that like Cunstable Stone dropping her daks??

Vic cops, especially the bints, should be kept away from the media and stick to what they're best at - shooting anyone who moves. :rolleyes:

It gets even better.

and

:ugh:
Please God don't ever let me touch that button by mistake...:}:}:}
My personal favourite, only because this apparently matters -

Love it. Just love it.

All from the Brisbane Times.com.au.

That's a classic! Ah now come on, own up, who fed that poor hapless reporter that garbage?

Poor bloke, can't help feeling sorry for him.....

aircraft was Vh-jdi

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?i...next_id=NEXTID

How many times my finger has hovered precariously over that "DROP WINGS" button on the yoke!

OH HOW MANY TIMES!:{:{

And to think Constable Stone is allowed to carry a weapon... :ugh:

This flying in 'UNCONTROLLED AIRSPACE' looks bloody dangerous to moi!

Imagine, if the pilot had elected to fly in 'CONTROLLED' airspace, then the CONTROLLER IN MELBOURNE TOWER could have controlled him / it all the way to ML???:}:}

And, saved the wings......:confused:

Sky News: "A single engine Cessna........."

VH-JDI

Manufacturer: PIPER AIRCRAFT CORP
Model: PA-28-161
Serial number: 28-7816483
Aircraft first registered in Australia: 21 August 1991

OMG - this typifies so succinctly all that the great unwashed public know, or rather, spectacularly don't know, about light aircraft.

Tskkkkk - you guys - don't you know that Piper did offer a "Detach Wing" option on it's later models????:ugh:

Honestly, I dread going to work tomorrow and fending off questions about this.........:{

i think someone should put a defect report into CASA regarding uncommanded wing seperation on "CESSNA'S" there might be need for a new AD

No they didn't, it was discontinued after one year. The doover was shaped too much like a flap lever.




:p

....whooooops soz 'underthe radar' I should have realised that the pilot deliberately dropped the wings off.............I guess when yr about to hit an obstruction there's little reason to have the wings on anyway!:-(
We pilots should enjoy the silly reporters reporting otherwise there would be little else to have a laugh about here.

So now tell me all you aviators out there, what does this pilot now put in his logbook as for place of landing?....................this ought to be good..............was nearly a par 4 ldg :}

Capt Wally :)

Sounds like Constable Stone was "stoned" or perhaps should be stoned by GA pilots!!

The PA-28/140 that I fly doesn't have the wing dropping fitted, must be a Piper optional extra.

Does that require a separate endorsement on your licence? Do you have demonstrate on your BFR?

S/C Stone may not know much about aeroplanes and I'm sure thats probably because he/she has never had anything to do with the things.

Since you know everything though, I'm sure you can tell us all about the Crimes Act Victoria 1958, Road Safety Act 1986, Summary Offences Act and all other manner of legislation that S/C Stone IS familiar with.

Get back in your box and blame the reporter for publishing that crap, not the police. Its not their job to tell the difference between a Cessna and a Piper at first glance, particulary when a reporter is hounding them for information.

On another note, if it is VH-JDI it belongs to the Peter Bini flying school.

Sure. Isn't that the one that goes

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/14/14_6_2.gif , Stop or we'll shoot:E

THAT'S IT !!!! Since the media like to call every single engine plane a Cessna in the Aviation Industry, ...then I'm going call every Car smash I see on the road as a Holden!!!! That'll stir up the Automotive Industry... didn't know there was Ford, Nissan, Mitsubushi, Toyota, Saab, Jeep, Suzuki, Subura, etc... ;)

What the heck is a "Subura";)

Airbumps - I don't think that there is any issue that the police officer concerned probably knows a hell of a lot more about criminal code etc than a pilot does(as you would hope so!). Difference is that a pilot doesn't get interviewed and quoted infront of a law court or the watch house being quoted in the news paper about legal issues.

I don't expect the copper to know anything about aviation, but at the same time if you don't know what your talking about in an incident a simple 'the ATSB will be investigating, we are unsure of the cause of the accident' is more than enough to keep the media at bay. Though I do give high points for the A grade bullplop they have come up with here!

I must admit the detachable wings is fantastic, man i've flown a PA28 before and was NEVER shown that feature, I guess always be aware of that unmarked button somewhere in the cockpit because you NEVER know what it might do!

Detachable wings are a "feature" on most light aircraft.

Whether or not most of the rocket scientist pilots out there realise it or not I don't know, but most if not all wings on light aircraft are attached to the fuselage by some moderately sized aircraft AN bolts. Wing structures and attaching bolts / attachments are not designed for the force of hitting a tree, but rather are traingulated and engineered for those forces received during the flight, with margin of course.

Why do they do this? (detach wings at the root) Ease of buiding, parts can be assembled at different locations then shipped for final assembly, shipping of aircraft in containers, folding wings and maintenance etc.

Without knowing who the pilot was I'd suggest he might be a little old-school or Commercial given that he resorted to this measure. Last time I looked this procedure wasn't in the Bini's PPL syllabus.

I don't see what you are on about, it's by design, has happened many times before, will happen again and is probably a very safe option for crashing and when you have no options due to terrain!

VH-JDI belongs to Advanced Flight Training, a company, after a change in ownership was previously known as Peter Bini Advanced Flight Training.

With all due respect, VH-XXX, but how on earth does one 'resort to this measure'?? I'd say that while trying to conduct a forced landing, you'd have other things on your mind than getting out, taking the fairing off, and unbolting the wings.

If there IS a 'detach wings' lever in PA28's, I'd certainly like to know where it is.

I have a few hours in JDI myself - very sad.

Autoland
 

Read fine print in flight manual - Detach wing lever sometimes also refered to as the AutoLand lever;)

Clearing Up
 

Righto I've just created an account so I can just clear up any errors...

Firsty I used to fly VH-JDI, otherwise known as the plane that crashed today, I can tell everyone that there is no such thing as "detachable wings", there is no button/lever/switch/pin/etc to disconnect the wings from the aircraft.

Under my understanding, (I trained in JDI fairly recently, with Peter Bini Adv Flight Training until their takeover), the pilot executed a textbook emergency landing, he even managed to call a mayday, which was tracked.

The main thing is that he managed to get all occupants out with out substantially harming them and himself.

Under my knowledge it is best to use the wings to slow the aircraft down once the craft has entered known terrain, using the fuselage is effective only if you are intending to harm yourself...i.e. use the wings to slow the plane.

Unfortunately the pilot did not quite make it too the golf course, perhaps he did hit the power lines, I'm not sure but I know power lines are incredibly hard to see against the ground due to lack of contrast. So if he did hit power lines that would probably explain why the wings are 20m behind.

It's an unfortunate loss-I loved flying that little plane, sure it was old (it was made in '74, I think, but it had comfy seats and the old style dash [I fly the newer C172S glass cockpit now])...

Cheers,

Jeremy

Good onya Jeremy:ok:

Wish you could have come along sooner. I've just spent the last few hours with my stackhat on, pouring over our Cessna PA28 pilot's operating handbook and the aircraft itself looking for the wing release button/handle/switch/pin/lever to no avail.

Now I can finally put head to pillow and sleep in peace knowing the world is safe again.:E

At least until tomorrow............

You useless bugger Smokinghole. Every PA28 that I've ever flown has one.

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/5...8panel1wo5.jpg

It's that handle you can see up under the throttle quadrant.

"May not"? More like, "obviously doesn't."

But then if she's employed as a "Pleece Officer" I'd wager she doesn't know much about anything.

If someone put me in front of a camera to speak about it, I'd at least read about the relevant parts of The Act so I at least appear to have a clue... Jesus that bint had no idea if her Gloc was even loaded....:rolleyes:

Attention to detail. If she doesn't know then she shouldn't open her word-hole and say the first idiotic thing that pops into her pea-brain.

And seriously - the "plane" dropped its wings??? Come on man, stop defending this ditzy tart. If that's indicative of the intellect of Victoria's Finest then God Help The Mexicans.

As I recall, when gliding, if you drop a wing, with enough airspeed, you can pick it up again with the rudder. Otherwise you have to use aileron.

Obviously not a Piper/Cessna feature.

This just in... Journalists are still idiots!!
 

How's this gem from The Age website:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/nation...135656422.html

"The plane clipped powerlines before the pilot deliberately detached its wings to reduce the chance of the plane catching fire. The wings contained the plane's fuel."

Genius - "wing detachment capabilities"!! (Anyone remember the Gary Larson cartoon with the "Wings stay on/wings fall off" switch?)

I reckon this article couldn't have even been invented by that "sensationalist Aviation media story generator":hmm:

Lol Gassed Budgie, pull that in flight you'll only realise your mistake when u land....squeak squeak...skidding....thats the parking brake below the throttle quadrant...ha ha I'm sure you know this...or not...:-P

It gets worse. Think it was the Channel 10 Sydney news that reported it last night as a "Cessna" that was involved when it was clearly one of the bigger Pipers (possibly a Cherokee Six or Lance). Wonder what happened to basic fact checking?
Edit: and whats with the headline to the article? What was aerobatic about it? Did the pilot perform a derry turn or half cuban during descent? Journalistic integrity? bah..........

What are you guys on about?

Haven't you seen this switch?

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/i...tisonwings.jpg

Even the Sun managed to avoid swallowing the wing drop tripe!

Am I the only one tempted to
with a story about "uncommanded wing jettison" being a secret plague thats overtaking the GA industry? How operators are fully aware of it, and are training their pilots in "heroic acrobatic manoeuvres" should said uncommanded-wing-jettison take place? How a memo has been sent out to all the local convents/schools/child care centres warning their respective managers to watch out for falling jettisoned-wings and other associated debris?

:E

Stupid bloody woman :yuk:

Ah PM, i think you just fell into the same hole as the journos. ''Clearly one of the big Pipers'' It was a Warrior, 30sec of 'basic fact checking' would have told you that.
Fair enough the Journo's a muppet, but it just shows you how easy it is to make that sort of mistake.

Have just read the said article,
What most of these pilots don’t x-referenece to their basic training principals, are that during an emergency landing in a single engine aircraft (whether it be Cessna or Piper), if you fly through a pair of trees and the wings are broken off, the aircraft will slow down; potential and kinetic energy and all that good stuff.
However, in reality the bastard is lucky if he\she can even steer the thing where they want it to in the first place.
But, thinking about a fuel “hazard” (and detaching the wings because of it, hey) would be the last thing on a pilots mind in this situation. (Called tunnel vision) Great thought and accolades to all the CRM of it; if true we have another “General Chuck Yeager” in our making
At this point in time it would be totally on “self preservation” as with any human being faced with a “do or die” situation. What would you do in car accident if death stared you in the face, hey, try and survive!!!!
Apologies for being so rhetoric, but in this case, both the pprune pilots and the journalist need a fact update.