Stearman incident at Watts Bridge, 30.8.2014
 

Here's one for all you tailwheel fans. The pilot states that "one brake locked up"...

See
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i8oqVNgA6fI&sns=em

That was pretty quick work! I only saw the second half, so can't comment, pretty fortunate on the whole that he didn't trip over on the thick grass next to the runway.

One bit of excitement in a fine day's aviation.

Benefit of the doubt, NCD :ok:

Could have been MUCH worse. What looks like thick grass is actually drainage ditches and short grass.

Some observations (not criticisms - I wasn't there!)

Was it a wheel landing or a 3-pointer? Seems to me that the pilot was undecided and tried to convert a wheeler into a 3-pointer.

He seems to be travelling too fast to have three wheels on the ground since the port wing had enough lift left to raise the upwind wheel.

Either elevator travel is limited or pilot wasn't using the full travel in either direction. "Should have" used more forward stick for longer to keep the tail from falling.

I say "should have" because I remember vividly having solo "passengered" a bucking PA-18 down a grass strip which thankfully didn't turn into a a ground loop, but so easily could have. When things begin to go wrong, it's easy to forget to notice what you're doing wrong in time to correct it.

Stearman incident at Watts Bridge, 30.8.2014
 

I know of two very experienced tail dragger pilots who've been in ground loop incidents in Stearmans. The drum brakes do drag, heat up, then grab. This is a known issue with this type, most owners opt to fit discs. A popular kit fits without requiring any significant mods for about $2.5k.

Stearman incident at Watts Bridge, 30.8.2014
 

Stearman restorers thread:
http://stearman.net/forum/textthread.cfm?catid=3&threadid=3988

Nice crosswind blowing...

Bloggsy, I presume you're being sarcastic? At the time it was less than 5 knots.

Bloggsie is rarely serious :E

:ok:

It was a challenging 1kt gusting 2kt. How do I know ?, I was standing there and saw the whole thing. As Andy RR said, the basic handling was maybe a tad behind the aircraft. If there was a dragging brake, it would , or possibly could , have been the left one, but it was hardly on the ground, and when the aircraft went past the camera, both wheels were rotating freely...as a dragging brake, you would think, could create a dusty rooster tail . Yes, its all very well to be monday morning quarterbacks, but a nice clear and up close video, does not lie.
Damage is more than stated in the Youtube clip. In fact its quite severe, as the starboard lower wing aileron is snapped in half, and the adjacent wing spar suspect, and therefore upper wing spar needs very close examination, as the metal struts would have passed on the shock load.
Shame, as it is a very nice example of a Stearman.

Crosswind...
 

Not at all, Dora. Looks to me like there's significant crosswind on short final (unless the thing is being majorly sideslipped...but not much bank?). Just short of the threshold it's pointing straight at the camera. Note the use of full right rudder for a significant part of the rollout and the major wing-lifting just after touchdown.

Looks like a classic crosswind-induced groundloop to me. Done the same meeself (bl@@dy tailwheel locks...)!

(Note Youtube comment from poster).

If it was a x-wind, then the bank angle and rudder don't correlate correctly.

The port wheel brake might have grabbed but it didn't lock.

Given the result they'd be happy with the lack of damage. I wouldn't reckon it's the first time that thing has done a quick 180 either.

Capt. Bloggs has it in one.

The runway should have been changed to 12. At the time the Stearman landed, a cross-tailwind from about 240 sprung up to >5kt. Look carefully as many observers have already at the component shown in the video.

My take is that the pilot decided to take the taxiway too early and was caught by a gust at the same time!

G'day ;)

BTW, of greater potential for disaster is the jet wheelbarrowing!! Discuss??

G'day ;)

He he, #3 that one seemed to pass unnoticed by most punters, I got a photo of the last part of the exercise, will get it up on photobucket and post.

This one was for sale earlier in the year.

Jabba trying to land his new Citation 10? :=

#3...yes, looking at the film several times, it could be a slight quartering tailwind, but maybe the guy has minimal tailwheel time, as indicated by the control surface deflections, as also mentioned by RR, so was not prepared for the landing and rollout.
His technique was then , shall we say, not quite right for the given conditions.
But the main thing, was nobody was hurt, and there was an engineer to say, under no circumstances fly it home.