4 seater emergency landing on dual carriageway
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4 seater emergency landing on dual carriageway
Last edited by NutLoose; 2nd May 2011 at 22:18. Reason: spelling
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I saw some nice fields that could have been safer than the highway but it's a PIC call. If there is a lot of traffic going for a highway over a nice field can be a poor choice. BUT it worked out OK so he did well. If I had to offer a critique of his landing it would be that he did not hold the centerline but drifted right to the hard shoulder before touching down. Poles etc. can ruin your day big time.
Cheers
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Couple of questions though, he is reported be a student pilot. How does he have a) 180 hours and not a licence (given his obvious skills) and b) why is he carrying passengers?
Hell of a job though, I particulary like the way he shuts down the engine whilst declaring a Mayday - 30/40' above the traffic!!
Well Done!!
Hell of a job though, I particulary like the way he shuts down the engine whilst declaring a Mayday - 30/40' above the traffic!!
Well Done!!
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More on the story here
Plane brave: Trainee pilot emergency lands aircraft in rush hour traffic | Mail Online
He is a qualified private pilot, currently training for his commercial ticket. Of course, it sounds more frightening, and therefore newsworthy if they call him a trainee.
As for heading off to the right, it looks from the video like he lands centrally, and then only when the barriers have gone, heads over to the right so he is not blocking the road.
Raw video: Emergency landing on highway : Featured Videos : Canoe TV
Well done to him!
Plane brave: Trainee pilot emergency lands aircraft in rush hour traffic | Mail Online
He is a qualified private pilot, currently training for his commercial ticket. Of course, it sounds more frightening, and therefore newsworthy if they call him a trainee.
As for heading off to the right, it looks from the video like he lands centrally, and then only when the barriers have gone, heads over to the right so he is not blocking the road.
Raw video: Emergency landing on highway : Featured Videos : Canoe TV
Well done to him!
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Being a pedant
It doesn't look like he opened the door before touch down a very small detail. Well done to the pilot.
I do wonder, if it happened to me, would it be almost like I'm along for the ride with the training being reflex to handle the outage, or would it suddenly be a blind panic as this time it's for real ? Hopefully, I'll never know....
I do wonder, if it happened to me, would it be almost like I'm along for the ride with the training being reflex to handle the outage, or would it suddenly be a blind panic as this time it's for real ? Hopefully, I'll never know....
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It makes me wonder how I would cope in a similar situation. Can you imagine having to bring down a light aircraft onto a busy motorway in the UK? I wonder if the traffic would give way 
I could not open the movie, so I have no image of what actually happened. Still I can't help wondering: aren't we supposed to always remain within gliding distance of a suitable place for an emergency landing? And I don't think a busy motorway can be termed suitable.
The emergency landing may have been a nice piloting accomplishment, but I have my doubts about the preceeding phases.
The emergency landing may have been a nice piloting accomplishment, but I have my doubts about the preceeding phases.
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Originally Posted by newfoundglory
Can you imagine having to bring down a light aircraft onto a busy motorway in the UK?
In the UK you'd likely be far safer finding a nice field next to the motorway.
Why do it if it's not fun?
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aren't we supposed to always remain within gliding distance of a suitable place for an emergency landing?
- Over a built up area, you must not fly below such a height as would enable you to land clear of the built up if you have an engine failure.
- You must not fly below such a height as would cause danger to people or property on the ground if you have an engine failure. (This applies universally, whether over a built up area or not, in contrast to the first rule which only applies over a built up area.
Neither of these specify anything about a "suitable place for an emergency landing"... so no, there is no such requirement. Good airmanship, however, might dictate otherwise!
As others have said, what might be safe in one country with a particular road layout and traffic density might not be safe in another country. But at the end of the day, this forced landing was completed safely, apparently without any further damage or injuries - and that's a success in my books. Well done to the pilot concerned!
FFF
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To echo FFF comments about different countries etc, the road is described as busy. Well, i live in London, use the large A roads and motorway pretty much daily, and obviously the Canadian definition of a busy road is VERY different to the UK one :-)
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I particulary love how a young pilot (whose total years is probably less than 50% of those posting on this forum) with 3 passengers on board is placed in a situation where life is threatened and not only manages to save those lives but does so in a way that causes no injuries and even manages to leave the aircraft without a dent. Yet the wonderful armchair pilots of PPRuNe still manage to find fault and critique minor details.
Let's be clear, the outcome of this incident was above and beyond any pilot training. In the event one is flying along and all goes quiet the priority (and what we are all trained to do) is get the aircraft back on the ground in such a way that the persons on board can walk away from, the resulting condition of the aircraft is not (should not be) considered - this guy not only managed that but also kept the plane in the same condition he took off with.
I say again well done to the young pilot and some folks on here really should descend from atop their lofty armchair cockpit.
Let's be clear, the outcome of this incident was above and beyond any pilot training. In the event one is flying along and all goes quiet the priority (and what we are all trained to do) is get the aircraft back on the ground in such a way that the persons on board can walk away from, the resulting condition of the aircraft is not (should not be) considered - this guy not only managed that but also kept the plane in the same condition he took off with.
I say again well done to the young pilot and some folks on here really should descend from atop their lofty armchair cockpit.
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Well said, though most comments to be honest are simply refering to the differences (UK to Canada) and don't detract from his achievement.
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Hi Ryan
I'm not trying to start a flame, but you are quite wrong to state that "Let's be clear, the outcome of this incident was above and beyond any pilot training.". Did you not do and demonstrate FLWOP skills? That he carried out what he was trained for competently is a testament to his training and skills, and he is a obviously a cool pilot under pressure (who was in the R-seat?) but sycophantic adulation is not wanted here, and I bet he would like/appreciate constructive comments on his choices post landing.
You seem to be taking the PC route of not wanting any form of criticism when the point of discussing/criticing incidents is to improve knowledge for the future. In the case of my post, I am not an "armchair pilot", I was correctly (IMHO) pointing out that when you land on a highway you should hold the centerline (just like on a runway). If you search youtube I think you can see a crash of a cessna where the pilot hits a utility pole being off centerline during FLWOP. The resulting electrical sparks and the almost inevitability of lots of avgas ll over the place after such a wing strike are a _massive_ risk/danger, possibly much worse than a normal FLWOP. In this case pilot choices have clearly increased risk. This is constructive criticism and warranted in this environment. By the way, we train endlessly for FLWOP and this was not a novice pilot. He handled the emergency well and for that he was congratulated, but he also could have turned it to custard by his drift to the edge of the road. BUT a the real question in my mind is, was there not a better choice available and if so, was his choice of a road driven by the common obsession with tarmac over grass? The second puzzle is why the _very_ late mayday when masters should have been off.
Cheers
I'm not trying to start a flame, but you are quite wrong to state that "Let's be clear, the outcome of this incident was above and beyond any pilot training.". Did you not do and demonstrate FLWOP skills? That he carried out what he was trained for competently is a testament to his training and skills, and he is a obviously a cool pilot under pressure (who was in the R-seat?) but sycophantic adulation is not wanted here, and I bet he would like/appreciate constructive comments on his choices post landing.
You seem to be taking the PC route of not wanting any form of criticism when the point of discussing/criticing incidents is to improve knowledge for the future. In the case of my post, I am not an "armchair pilot", I was correctly (IMHO) pointing out that when you land on a highway you should hold the centerline (just like on a runway). If you search youtube I think you can see a crash of a cessna where the pilot hits a utility pole being off centerline during FLWOP. The resulting electrical sparks and the almost inevitability of lots of avgas ll over the place after such a wing strike are a _massive_ risk/danger, possibly much worse than a normal FLWOP. In this case pilot choices have clearly increased risk. This is constructive criticism and warranted in this environment. By the way, we train endlessly for FLWOP and this was not a novice pilot. He handled the emergency well and for that he was congratulated, but he also could have turned it to custard by his drift to the edge of the road. BUT a the real question in my mind is, was there not a better choice available and if so, was his choice of a road driven by the common obsession with tarmac over grass? The second puzzle is why the _very_ late mayday when masters should have been off.
Cheers
Last edited by moreflaps; 2nd May 2011 at 23:05.
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Not having done a forced landing in anger one rather hopes that much like the first solo the training was adequate and it kicks in, the plane doesn't know it's not landing on an airfield.
I wonder if some of the current TV shows with bush pilots doing their stuff will spawn more landings on highways? Who knows. I do know that when doing a PFL I once chose the most unsuitable field out of dozens. Why? Because it was the one that 'looked' most like an airfield. Weird ****, glad it happened during a practice run not the real deal and I learnt form it. I don't see any armchair pilots here, just real pilots discussing and learning from this event.
Could just be that a tarmac highway might have the same effect as the field that 'looked' like an airfield had on me. I chose it because it was 'comfortable'. It however clearly wasn't the best choice available and my instructor made a point of making this clear to me and my error.
End of the day, this pilot was PIC, he made his call, did a good job well done to him. Doesn't mean however that people shouldn't discuss the scenario, who knows it might save someones neck one day.
I wonder if some of the current TV shows with bush pilots doing their stuff will spawn more landings on highways? Who knows. I do know that when doing a PFL I once chose the most unsuitable field out of dozens. Why? Because it was the one that 'looked' most like an airfield. Weird ****, glad it happened during a practice run not the real deal and I learnt form it. I don't see any armchair pilots here, just real pilots discussing and learning from this event.
Could just be that a tarmac highway might have the same effect as the field that 'looked' like an airfield had on me. I chose it because it was 'comfortable'. It however clearly wasn't the best choice available and my instructor made a point of making this clear to me and my error.
End of the day, this pilot was PIC, he made his call, did a good job well done to him. Doesn't mean however that people shouldn't discuss the scenario, who knows it might save someones neck one day.
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Strangely, there are 2 different videos, perhaps someone has been messing with the sound sync and been video editing...
In one he's flying slowly, gives an early mayday and touches down on centerline and then rolls out right.
In the other he's flying faster and drifts to the right and maydays late. So that could be the cause of some disagreement in landing picture.
Novice pilot lands plane safely on busy highway - Yahoo! News
Young pilot lands plane on highway - Canada - Canoe.ca
I sure hope it was not a fuel shortage as if he ran out of fuel he will go from "hero" to "goat" pretty quickly. CAA are investigating apparently.
Cheers
In one he's flying slowly, gives an early mayday and touches down on centerline and then rolls out right.
In the other he's flying faster and drifts to the right and maydays late. So that could be the cause of some disagreement in landing picture.Novice pilot lands plane safely on busy highway - Yahoo! News
Young pilot lands plane on highway - Canada - Canoe.ca
I sure hope it was not a fuel shortage as if he ran out of fuel he will go from "hero" to "goat" pretty quickly. CAA are investigating apparently.
Cheers
