XXX Wrote
I have a photo in m email that I am unable to post right now that shows it from the rear with rescue crews at work, shows more clearly that cutting took place. Looking at it more closely again as posted above, a lot of cutting has taken place to get him out....

From the 2nd post & Video
A pilot suffered a cut to his nose and a fractured leg after being thrown 50 metres from his plane when it crashed into a paddock south of Brisbane yesterday.
The injured 46-year-old pilot crawled back to the wreckage of his Cessna 172 after it crashed at a property in Brookland Road


If he was thrown 50 metres from his plane why the hell were the rescue guys cutting the aircraft up for XXX? :ugh:

Fly Safe
R W

The pilot was "....thrown 50 metres from his plane when it crashed....." and then crawled back to the wreckage...........highly doubtful. :suspect:

What did he do.............forget to put the control lock in? :hmm:

The media does say some highly original things some times. :mad:

You can decide for yourself.... those metal bits didn't cut themselves and I don't know why they dragged the pilot 50 metres back to the aircraft to work on him and fit his neck brace ;) I suspect that they meant that wreckage was strewn 50 metres perhaps...

http://members.iinet.net.au/~bc_j400/crash.jpg

Almost looks like he autorotated, very lucky to get out of it by the damage inflicted.

Those that questioned the maintainance, RQ used to have all their work done by Rapair, and unless anything drastically has changed their work was always top notch, certainly were by far the best on the field.

Left wing position
 

Some people have suggested that the left wing may have been cut and placed in its final resting position by the rescuers. I thought this was a possibility too however the pilot that spotted the wreck from the air before rescuers arrived stated that what we see with that wing is how it was as a result of the impact. Make of it what you will - it certainly must have been a violent ride (or perhaps he was in fact thrown clear of the wreckage which saved him from more severe injury)!

Inflight structural failure becomes a possibility. We will soon know if the AD's start emerging.

VH-JGR was a good unit with a brand new motor - climbed like a champion. A bit untidy but only cosmetic, the mechanicals were always sound when I flew it.

Talking to another student pilot we have our opinions as to what happened. The crash site is just south of Kagaru, a privately owned grass strip in the training area commonly used for PFLs by students. One instructor (no need to mention names) routinely demonstrates his preferred EFATO technique wihch involves a 180 degree limit turn without power to land back on the runway in the opposite direction.

Based on the fact that the plane appears to have hit on its left wing which is shown folded right over the top, it is possible the pilot was attempting this manouevre and stalled. Would have been a very low speed impact judging by the fact that the fuselage is still all attached. I reckon he was in a steep left turn and the wing dropped in the stall, impacted the ground and the plane cartwheeled landing back on its wheels. Wheel struts are fully collapsed but as others have pointed out, not swept back so very little forward motion on final impact. The pilot's door can be seen still attached to the top of the wing strut so it's likely that as the plane rolled the door peeled away with the wing and he was spat out on the ground. So very, very lucky.

Someone also questioned the report stating that the pilot crawled back to the plane... With RQAC's procedures he was probably just trying to get back to give his ramp in call and finish filling in the flight log.

People can't wait for a bit of RQAC bashing can they?

Back to topic, I've been told the pilot was practising forced landings nearby (Kagaru?). Any chance carby icing or plug fouling after the long glide contributed to a lack of power during the go around? The plane has come down very hard - was it then stalled from the attempted go-around?

I think it is extremely unlikely there was an inflight breakup - the plane would be in many more pieces if that was the case.

The eye witness reports the pilot was out of the plane when he got to the aircraft soon after the crash - the pilot wasn't cut out. Although I doubt he was thrown '50 metres'.

Those questioning the maintenance, go to the CASA aircraft register and see who owns the plane (not operates it). The owner maintains their aircraft, and others, to a great standard.

Cmon Ando, don't spoil the bashing, it's a Friday, we gotts to bash someone...

And I've probably become the target with my plankbender impersonation.

Where did he end up?

As far as I'm aware, the maintenance on RQ's cross-hire planes is done by the same mob as their own ones. JGR was a good unit with a brand new motor just last year or early this year.

I have somewhere in a box of old photos, a pic of a C172 that looks almost the same (bar the bit the fireys cut).
The aircraft was operating at low level and stalled, clipping a tree then impacting at about 45 deg nose down. The torn fuselage around the rear window and other damage looks familiar..
The U/C mount has a bolt through it that snaps on high forward (or backwards !) impact that allows the leg to rotate up or back.
Guess the ATSB will work out what happened..

This chap is very lucky, the one i helped recover was not. :sad:


PI

Ando, fouled plugs I doubt, mind you with the mixture management that gets taught I could be very wrong. :ugh:

As for carby ice, I think you have nailed it. :D I think you could even be a touch better than Planky, you are most likely correct! :ok:

Was a Tecnam damaged a bit like that during a similar event at Hazelton a year or two back, student claimed he had forgotten his check list, and became busy head down doing that when the ground jumped up to bite him :rolleyes: Now I did struggle with that concept at the time, but maybe it is possible, and repeatable :ooh:

It was common to experience some coughing and spluttering from the engine during a go around in a 152 or 172n following a practise forced landing. It was even worse it the power wasn't cycled properly a couple of times or if the throttle was advanced too quickly. Not saying this is what happened, but I've had a couple of 'oh crap' moments down at Kagaru despite applying the correct engine handling and airmanship techniques.

Out on solo training exercises you often wonder what students actually get up to. Despite the best instruction, there's a good chance they will be so task focused and forget to cycle the engine. This could end up being a good case study if it ends up being the case.

Jaba, not debating your comment, but why would a degree of fouling not be a potential issue? Given the conditions around SEQ this week, carby icing could easily be a likely problem though.

Well for what it's worth, here is the pilot's version of events.

Pilot tells of 'lucky' escape

This bloke would have to be luckier than the lotto winners the other night I think...

Gooday Ando,

This is not something for this thread, and will never be easily explained in a post on prune, but happy to talk to you on the phone or at the field one day. Happy to show you real life examples.

Plug fouling in a "conforming engine" and flown with proper engine handling, not the ones taught in flying schools, would not have a fouled plug. That is not to say it can't happen.

Plug maintenance is something even LAME's do not do well in many cases, along with misuse of the red knob...or lack of use. So it is possible. The only fouled plug I have ever experienced is in a C172 with the TCM ice maker engine....and had i known then what I know now the instructor would have copped a large.............education:E

Now that machine made ice better than HP ....after holding at YBCG on a day like recently, we took off, and thought I was about to have my first engine failure at 30 hours TT, carby heat fixed it fortunately.

I reckon you are the new planky :E

Come on - that is pretty insulting...:=

My trusty little C172H has been flying for 45+ years now with me flogging it for the last 10 or so, and I must report it is a right bitch with carby ice, to the extent that I personally instruct anyone that fly's it on the NEED for carby heat in any situation that the engine is under 1500 rpm, having done this for the last 45 years she manages to stay airbourne with her lumpy TCM six cylinder donk rattling away. Well done to the pilot for managing to survive this accident and may you continue to persue your dream. :ok:
cheers
A172

hahahha, well yeah I suppose it depends which way you look at it. Previously I did say you had a far better chance of being correct :ok:

Sorry if that hurt your "feeling" :}



Hey AVGAS, so you have the TCM Ice Machine too do ya! :eek: