Smithfield Crash
 

Radio 2GB reports a single engine aircraft down in Brennan St. Smithfield.A man,a woman and a dog are all OK.

Well that is a better outcome than I imagined as I clicked on this thread

Plane crash lands in Sydney park

Sounds like a well executed forced landing in the middle of urban sprawl, to me. Good work :D

TV showed a cherokee upside down on a suburban road with most of one wing missing. Overhead powerlines should be progressively replaced with underground. [more for storms, fires and car damage than aircraft though!:ooh:]

I wonder if the pilot was trying for Brenan Park, which is across the road from the crash site depicted on this ABC News article. It looks a lot more attractive for a forced landing than Brenan St!!

Well, at least the Firie's saved on foam! :E

Every news report I have seen has made mention of the dog.

Thank god the dog survived unscathed. Even had footage of the women carrying the dog after the accident.

Great journalism. Still, the missed out the "I heard a bang, I thought it would land on top of me" from someone who turned up later.

But seriously, well done to the pilot for getting it down safely. Great job.

C'mon PPruners - lift your game - close to 8 hours since this prang and the final report with ALL the justifications isn't posted - Keerist - there is a standard to be upheld !!!:uhoh:

I will give you one. Wings ripped apart and no sign of any fuel spill. Hmmm

Sorry seldomfixit, here is a copy of the PPrune report.

Please note that the following report is not from eyewitness accounts, the pilot has not been interviewed nor has the wreckage and aircraft components been examined by any professional with expertise in the area of accident investigation.

The aircraft suffered a catastrophic engine failure shortly after entering cloud. Carby ice then formed reducing power further until fuel exhaustion finally stopped the engine. The plane then impacted the ground whilst trying to turn through 360 degree's and glide back to the departure aerodrome.:ok:

Have i forgotten anything?

If not, next case.

What? No chick chick BOOM girl?:E

Just saw the video on Ch10 news, funny, no fuel, and no foam over the wreckage. flight originated in Ballina. whats the range of a loaded Cherokee from Ballina into a 10 kt headwind up the coast?
witness on the ground stated he was a pilot and in the air at the time and heard his mayday call. "he said mayday, and i dont know where i can land" funny how he didnt have a pilots "uniform" on as most from bankstown do, why would you land and come back to the crash scene? if you could find it?

on a positive side, made a successful forced landing in a built up area! :D:D with a healthy serving of luck re powerlines and trees.

Surely someone must be able to post some METARs?

Reminds me of the urban legend story of a fire chief (in the US of course), commenting about a plane wreckage (unburnt, all walked away) in the background. His comments were along the lines of 'good thing there was no fuel on board, otherwise there might have been a fire'.

Wood/trees/forrests!

UTR

Or a few PPL's dazzling with every 4 letter airfield identifier between the roadway and Ballina

Nah mate, she won't go that far west.:}

But as I said before. Well done to the pilot for getting it down without injuries. This has been a sad week in aviation in oz.

ATC Audio Archives | LiveATC.net

Go there and choose YSBK tower then 0130-0200Z

Just before the crash he made a right-hand orbit at PSP for spacing.

Just saw the Channel 10 footage - not only did they rush out to the crash site but they made sure they were wearing their ASIC :ok:

VH-NRF - a fitting end to a complete heap of sh*t.

Even with fuel on board, that thing was a poor performer. To call it "anaemic" would be an insult to decent haemophiliacs everywhere :rolleyes:

What sort of dog was it :confused::confused:

ATC - ADC .. cool, calm, collected ... 20/10 :D
ACFT - NYJ .. cool, calm, collected ... 20/10 :D

Bravo gents!!! :ok:

Finest tradition ... both sides of the ether! :)

Definitely looks suss on that angle. I was wondering initially, if an unrestrained pooch might have had a hand in the whole deal? Who carries dogs loose in a cabin?
Sounds suspiciously like a great deal of unprofessionalism here... and a large dose of exceptionally good luck.

If I was that couple, I'd currently be out buying all the Lotto tickets I could lay my hands on. They're unlikely to escape a forced landing amongst powerlines, streets and houses, that easily again. :suspect:

Horatio - Reports are, that it was a poodle.

No, this appears to me to be more of case of more ar$e than class. A well-executed forced landing would have seen the aircraft avoid powerlines and end up, upright... not upside down and shredded into 100 pieces scattered along the street.
I'm amazed they walked away. Most upside-down light aircraft end up with headless pilot and pax.

Plane crashes on Sydney street - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

BK ATC :ok: What a pro.

Why don't you take a look at a Google Map satellite view of the area? Avoiding powerlines in that sprawl around BK would be next to impossible. Same goes for avoiding houses, full stop - there's not a lot of anywhere to land. I'd say the fact that they walked away at all is a good result, upside-down aircraft notwithstanding.

Yes, a look at the Google Map doesn't reveal too many alternatives. Perhaps the Fairfield Golf Course,to the West, could have been a better choice but reaching it may have been another matter altogether. Horatio,one news broadcast identified the dog as a Spoodle,whatever that might be,but I can confirm that it was a black dog.

Jeez, I've heard it all now and, thanks to Onetrack we can put the investigation to bed.

There wasn't any fuel spill to be seen. Well, consider this: (a) the fuel tank itself MIGHT not have been ruptured (b) the wing in question (that would have contained the fuel) is nowhere in sight, so who knows if there's fuel around that location and (c) if the tank was ruptured and some fuel did spill, do you not think it may have evaporated?

The dog did it! Give me strength :rolleyes: Have you considered the dog may have been flying since it was a pup and is perfectly at home in an aircraft? Do you KNOW it was 'loose' in the cabin? Can you tell me, oh mighty Sage, how a dog can cause an engine failure?

As for his choice of forced landing area, you amply demonstrate your ignorance when you castigate the pilot for hitting power lines etc in a built up area. He had very little choice where he was going to end up and, at the end of the day, did a bloody good job. Nobody was killed and, apart from the aircraft, no lasting damage was done. Sure, lots of people were without power for a few hours and those power lines had to be repaired but that amounts to nothing in the grand scheme of things. If you'd ever read any accident reports you will have seen countless examples of pilots hitting cables when carrying out forced landings in (almost) wide open paddocks, so hitting one in a built up area is not surprising.

Where's the 'cock' emoticon when you need one :*

I'm pretty suspicious of the dog, especially if it's a poodle.

I know for a fact there are no recorded incidents of a Labrador causing an engine failure in an Australian aircraft.

Get a real dog or give it away, I say.

http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photo...79651_6345.jpg

Just listened to the recording,

WELL Done BK ATC - and also to the assisting pilot of HYJ.

A 'Professional' performance on the part of both, and, I have to say, I've listened to a few over the years...

Well Done!!

That's gold horatio ( or should I say chocolate) woof

It's obvious what happened:

The man failed to feed the dog.
The dog failed to stop the man from touching anything.

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.......

Geez H, that is the image of my dog!:ok:

Dearie dearie me as my old ma would say.

Onetrack, you have certainly raised the bar for uninformed pointless comment here. There is not a shred of even the minutest evidence of unprofessionalism. onetrack FAIL

Nor is there even the merest hint of a notion of more arse than class. Tell me, oh great sage, have you ever been in a GA tank at GA height over dense suburbs and suffered an engine failure, except perhaps in that most coveted of armchair critics' environment, good old Flight Simulator? Once again, FAIL.

Son, Labradors are either YELLOW or BLACK.

The current fad of brown "Labradors" is simply the elevation of the humble Kelpie with a funny-shaped head :ugh:

Sadly Peg is no longer with us :(

The Dog
 

Horatio Leafblower,

The Australian has it as a 'Spoodle'!

866

Getting towards the end of Page 2 and this thread will no-doubt go the way of others before it peters out.
We, as a group, will fall into different schools... some will criticise, others will defend, and then we may have the abstract.

This will be classed as an accident, I am sure. I am an aircraft owner and pay insurance so I am directly affected.

I am sure this will ensure we get into Page 3 at least...

Would an instance of an aircraft on a long cross country suffering fuel exhaustion be an accident ?

Would a pilot changing tanks over a built-up area without a suitable landing area in sight...and had a fuel related issue, - would that constitute an accident ?

Just my thinking aloud here.. I know there will be similar scenarios where we may polarise over the definition of an accident.
I have not heard the tapes, I understand it was an engine stoppage of some sorts and I am guessing the prop was stationary on initial impact. (From photos.)

Another thought.....

You do a fuel change over a build up area and loose the aircraft, fuel starvation.
The fuel selector (being old and plastic), - cracks about the internal 'D' and the selector has stuck between tanks. Major dilemma, the engine has just spluttered and stopped. At least no need to do trouble checking, so straight into the FLWOP.

....and it ends like this one for example... in what could be classed as a good result.

Any thoughts guys ?
Any one or thing to blame..?

The old aircraft.. yep, not nice getting on in years..
The manufacturer for failing to advise of the issue..
The engineers for failing to detect the impending failure..
The pilot for changing tanks with nowhere to go..
The instructor for failing to reinforce the issue..
The pilot for hitting the wires..
The media for hyping it up..
The dog ??

I suspect the answers may give an indication of our 'culture'..

'culture'.....:ooh:


"The dog failed to stop the man from touching anything" ...yer might be onto somthin there Ushuaia. I hear the dog is fairly old, so it mighta been a case of the dog snoozing on the job..:cool:






.

Baron...

I totally agree with you...Fuel starvation is no accident, OMG, these people are so lucky its just not funny..this was almost Canley Vale again..

Please don't think for one minute that I'm being critical of the ability of the pilot to get the aircraft down, that was an outstaning effort and well done :D . They lived. I shudder everytime I see a post about another tragic loss of life of an aviator.

Look, I don't know what the FP (if one was submitted) was of if this fligt was VFR or IRF BUT.....why not stop halfway and get some fuel!!!! At least this will buy you a few extra alternatives......

If the pilot of this aircraft is reading this then please.......go and buy 3 lottery tickets mate, 1 for you, 1 for your pax and 1 for the dog and make sure your next flight is with an instructor (please). You are one lucky man....

Stiky
:eek:

dont forget a lack of fuel can also be caused by mechanical failure, not just poor planning.. thats if fuel starvation was the cause.

I've said before:
Fuel starvation can be an accident.
Fuel exhaustion most times is due to poor planning.

However, the case that fuel starvation can be an accident could be something like a blocked fuel vent. :ok:'
Fuel exhaustion could happen if the fuel bladder collapsed due blocked fuel vent, and was not spotted in a refuel. (Thus having less in the tanks than initially thought)

Saw the red mixture control and thought it was a juicy red bone - and jumped on to the pilots lap to get the bone and pulled hard...:ok: Oh I forgot..the pilot tried to put the mixture control back to rich but the dog would have none of it and bit him for stealing his bone.

Anyone care to add to this theory?

So, by this sneering question, I gather that you fully approve of carrying unconfined animals in a light aircraft cockpit?... despite the fact that aviation laws insist that they be confined in suitable animal carriers when carried in a CABIN?

An unconfined animal is like a two year old on the loose. Dogs can suddenly leap in excitement, can jump and scrabble on any control mechanism, switch, fuel tap, or other vital component, that could easily result in engine stoppage... that a low hr pilot could mistake for engine failure.

It's bad enough that we have people driving vehicles with unrestrained dogs in them... even carrying them in their lap when behind the wheel. I'll have the last laugh if the ATSB report finds that an unconfined animal had a part to play in this crash.

Oh... I also found this video, which apparently shows your professional piloting in action...

Floating Flying Dog

What a stupid dog ,As I recall skippy managed to fly the chopper on more than one occasion and lassie failed a simple landing on a back street.
My dog would have dodged the power poles and went under the the power lines, with 10 bucks worth of juice still in the tanks