Please can you jump out now, then I'll crash it.
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Join Date: Mar 2007
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Please can you jump out now, then I'll crash it.
(see May AAIB)
Join Date: Feb 2007
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"Captain goes down with his ship" is alive and well.
The only disadvantage I can see is that you've got to open the doors of the plane in order for the parachutists to bail out. This lessens the aerodynamic efficiency of the plane. Depending on whether the door can be closed afterwards or not, this might have a detrimental effect on the approach and landing.
A hero, in my very humble opinion, is somebody who places the interests of somebody else before his own interests in a dire situation. But in this case, the interests of the pilot and of the parachutists were exactly the same.
Nevertheless, well done, once again, to all 'round.
Join Date: Feb 2006
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With en engine failure 7,000ft directly above an airfield I would hope any pilot would have a reasonable go at getting it on the runway and succeed without damage to life, limb, or aircraft; with a 99%+ chance of success.
Having said that, with the windscreen full of oil and hence poor forward visibility this is a more difficult propositon... so nothing of the above implies that I think that overshooting the runway was a bad job. Rule 1 of accident speculation: nobody of us was there...
Having said that, with the windscreen full of oil and hence poor forward visibility this is a more difficult propositon... so nothing of the above implies that I think that overshooting the runway was a bad job. Rule 1 of accident speculation: nobody of us was there...
Join Date: Jun 2002
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Had the parachutists at the Dunkeswell accident several years ago jumped from several thousand feet when the engine failed then the outcome may have been different. As the pilot, your first act of self-preservation should be to get them all out and so reduce your stall speed, improve manoeuvrability and extend glide range.
Join Date: Oct 2005
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I wonder if the pilot had had a parachute himself, would he have used it?
I've always worn my helmet to 1,000' AGL, then removed it for the climb to altitude. This is generally a safety precaution in the event of a rejected takeoff or low power failure with insufficient altitude to leave the airplane. Official recommendation for a low departure is to forget the main and open the reserve. The pilot doesn't have that choice.
There's no need for a pilot to jump following an engine failure, when one has a flyable airplane available.
I experienced an engine failure in a Cessna 182 once, after releasing some jumpers, and landed the airplane on a gravel strip, without incident.
The airplane in this case was a Cessna Caravan, which I've also flown with jumpers, and jumped many times. There's no significant glide penalty with the door open. Normal descents after putting jumpers out are at idle, with the door open (or removed, as the case may be).
