Engine Problems - Forced landing Video

[Dark Star]

Having flown the YAK-50 myself I think the Pilot did very well and would also like to thank him for putting that video into the public domain. One can get instruction, read manuals and so on but to see a real situation unfold is very informative and thought provoking.

As mentioned above, standard procedure is to leave the gear up when making a forced landing to mitigate risk of nosing over. Looking at the video the aircraft did float a long way at the end. With the gear up there would have been less drag than normal, which could have been a factor. We dont get to practice that bit !.

[J.A.F.O.]

I'd like to echo what Dark Star said - thanks to the pilot for allowing the film to be used, it just might help one of us to walk away, too.

Also, I think (barring engine failures) I'd be happy to spend the rest of my days over the Lakes in a Yak, it's may years since I've flown up that way and I must get back up there as soon as I can.

[Molesworth 1]

It's not unfair criticism to point out that the aircraft was too high for the chosen field - it's just obvious and something from which to learn. As it happened a safe landing was made in any case - and with lots of fields around that's hardly surprising.

Perhaps the pilot was afraid of undershooting the field- in which case he (?) would have hit the road.

[Big Pistons Forever]

The YAK has a power off glide ratio close to that of a greased brick...further worsened in this case by the enormous drag of the windmilling prop. I think it is instructive to look at how quickly the ground rushes up in the final part of the video. The video recording does not IMO give a true sense of how steep the descent was. The temptation is to unconciously raise the nose in these circumstances which is why so many for real forced approaches result in a stall/spin short of the field. A bit too fast is always better than a bit too slow in the last stages of a forced approach.

[chris-h]

Well done to that pilot, I hope if i was in the same situation id stay as calm and profesional as he did.. Oh and walk away from the scene with my video tape still in tact

[FleetFlyer]

Many thanks to the pilot who posted the video. Its obvious that your actions throughout are a lesson to all of us on the handling of an EF.

I used to live in the Lakes and know that had you continued to fly North to Carlisle, you would have had another 10+ miles of very uneven terrain to fly over with few choices of landing field anwhere near civilisation (ie emergency services access to you by road). The flexible planning approach, altering plans as better alternatives are decided upon is something that pilots should always be ready to do. I'm sure many other pilots would have continued to try to make Carlisle and killed themselves somewhere near Ullswater in the process.

Re the landing, it looks like it was stalled in from about 6-8 feet up. Given the choice, having slightly misjudged the approach and coming in a little hot, knowing that I would be going through a dry stone wall at possibly 50kts I may well have opted to do the same and stretch the glide over the top.