Canberra Incident 14th August
 

From ABC Website

Plane makes emergency landing in Canberra

Updated Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:36pm AEST
http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/419...x2-340x227.jpg Photo: A plane landing with minor front damage briefly closed the runways at Canberra airport. (ABC News)

Map: ACT

A light plane has made an emergency landing at Canberra Airport.
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority says a nose wheel collapsed as the plane came into land.
The student pilot was the only person on board and was not injured.
The incident blocked both runways at the airport for a short time but there were no flight delays.
Topics:air-and-space, act, canberra-2600
First posted Tue Aug 14, 2012 12:05pm AEST
More stories from Australian Capital Territory

Hmmm - trying to figure out how it would be an emergency landing if the nosewheel collapsed AS he landed. My understanding of an emergency landing is one in which there is a known problem BEFORE the aircraft lands. :confused:

DF.

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Said it before and I'll say it again, F:mad:cking Scaremongers.

Pure speculation, (this is PPrune isnt it), but maybe the nosewheel was not locked down on approach and collapsed on landing. If that situation was declared to ATC it would probably be enough to bring the firies out.

Hard to tell to be sure but if you click on the photo you get a much larger view and it looks to me that it is a fixed gear machine. The upper part of the leg looks like a fairing around the oleo and you cannot see any shape that looks like a wheel well under the wing.

P.S Had a closer look. If you look at the right strut, the white bit that might be a gear door is on the wrong side of the strut for that so it has to be a fairing. My bet it is a fixed gear Musketeer or similar.

Collapsed nose gear - botched landing? Or just a flat tyre?

Yep, its a fixed gear wurrior.

Both main wheels are in place, too much stuff in front of the plane to be sure, but it appears a trolley is being rigged for the nose wheel, which looking at the empenage height has cleary collapsed at least.

Hard to tell in the pic, but the prop tip looks damaged as well.

Collapsed right main gear....

Looks like it was an interesting arrival.

A) they only made fixed gear warriors, arrows are retractable (and this isn't one VH-PYI)
B) q-tips weren't an option for these, yup, prop strike
C) not a collapsed right, more like a fully extended left gear as the nose was lifted
D) is there any evidence the fireys were out before it landed?

The video actually shows the aircraft being lifted off the collapsed nosewheel and both mains are equally extended.
Emergency landing at Canberra Airport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

On analysing the ABC photo A plane landing with minor front damage briefly closed the runways at Canberra airport. - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) and video footage Emergency landing at Canberra Airport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) again I have changed my mind, it looks like the aircraft is placed on the eastern end of R30 pointing west. If this is the correct orientation it actually seems to be pretty close to the Fire station.

In the ABC footage I believe that the building in the foreground is on the NW end past the intersection, and the buildings behind it are Campbell Park, and there appears to be an Aeropelican marked turbo-prop landing on R17 heading south towards the terminal end of the main runway. Which makes me wonder whether we are seeing the aircraft after is has been pulled back from the intersection, because some of the news reports said it blocked both runways.

The Canberra times photo Student pilot crash lands at Canberra Airport shows some of the damage, it appears as though the fixed nose-gear has been damaged and bent or snapped backwards at the fork.

I can confirm it is a Piper Warrior.

I returned to the airfield at about 1423 local time and was number one for R30 while a Virgin flight was number 2 for R17 and I flew through the intersection to avoid conflict with the other aircraft; I didn't notice any odd markings on the runway but I was still flying at chair-height until past the intersection.

They probably put tar back in the propeller divets and I wouldn't expect there to be any noticeable damage to the surface caused by the nose of the aircraft anyway, just paint scrapes if anything.

It is suprising how little apparent damage a belly landing causes to the runway. The neatest damage is the prop-strike cuts where the distance between the strikes decreases as the aircraft slows down, and of course the how metal propeller blade ends roll over or fold rearward with each successive strike.

The good thing is no loss of life and no major closure of the airport.

So the aircraft was VH-PYI?

I believe they only bought the aircraft a couple of months ago to finally give Canberra a flying school. Hopefully it will be repaired soon because it was a really tidy example of a Warrior.

Gotta feel bad for the student, must have landed nose first.

Warriors aren't exactly brittle, you'd think it would have to had been quite firm (assuming no structural weakness in the oleo etc).

Not necessarily firm but it might have been the third or fourth touchdown on the nosewheel in the same landing attempt.

Which with the oscillation progressively getting worse would end up being quite firm.:E

You still only get charged 1 landing fee though. Value for money I say :E

Bugger me, that was the 2nd aeroplane I ever flew ...... back in 1984.

It wouldn't be the first time a Warrior has lost a wheel due mechanical defect.... but more likely caused by something like this, ouch!

How embarrased would you be as the pilot if that was your family waiting for you with the video camera on the ground!

Why was he landing at 80kts? They are one of the easiest aircraft to land out there.
That video reminds me of the time I watched a Mooney doing circuits at Camden, pilot insisted on constantly landing too fast and was forcing the nosewheel down first every landing. How there wasn't a propstrike I don't know.
It's really not that hard to set up a landing, hit the correct airspeed on short final, aim and flare when you get there.