Chinese built Nanchang CJ-6 Crash Landing [video]
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FWIW my opinion is that they forgot the gear but what I did see was what looked like deliberate right rudder pedal being applied half way through the slide.
Clearly they though it better to go off the side than off at the end! Happily the outcome was favourable, a gentle touch down and no fire resulting in no injuries and only some dented pride.
One for the file of "I learned about flying from...."
Out of curiosity - just how much runway did they have? Not easy to stop sliding with no brakes .....
From my experience having two crew is not as helpful as you might think and sometimes you are much better off on your own! The Auster had a flap lever mounted on the cockpit roof which you had to pull down for flaps. One "helpful" pax (also a pilot but not familiar on type) thought the lever was the hand brake, you can guess what happened next. The pax dumped the flaps on on short finals, in his opinion, to stop us landing with the brakes on.
Laws of physics do NOT take kindly to being treated that way! Full throttle, rapid re-application of flap and a lot of swearing JUST saved the day......but the outcome could have been a lot, lot worse .
MB
Clearly they though it better to go off the side than off at the end! Happily the outcome was favourable, a gentle touch down and no fire resulting in no injuries and only some dented pride.
One for the file of "I learned about flying from...."
Out of curiosity - just how much runway did they have? Not easy to stop sliding with no brakes .....
From my experience having two crew is not as helpful as you might think and sometimes you are much better off on your own! The Auster had a flap lever mounted on the cockpit roof which you had to pull down for flaps. One "helpful" pax (also a pilot but not familiar on type) thought the lever was the hand brake, you can guess what happened next. The pax dumped the flaps on on short finals, in his opinion, to stop us landing with the brakes on.
Laws of physics do NOT take kindly to being treated that way! Full throttle, rapid re-application of flap and a lot of swearing JUST saved the day......but the outcome could have been a lot, lot worse .
MB
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As for the "it could happen to anyone" camp I respectfully disagree. A commitment to the personal discipline that comes from doing a final gear down check on every single landing will prevent this kind of accident.
Its the environmental capture that gets people. How many people in your time have you flown with have said out loud "reds, blues, greens" or similar words and physically have not checked the gear. I for one have flown with a few like this (PPL level checkouts etc) and turned it in to a good learning exercise for them. The other thing that gets my goat in light aircraft is pilots selecting flap and not visually checking the position.
As an SOP at work, the pilot non flying, when commanded, will select gear after a speed check, and leave his hand on the lever until indications are as expected, i.e. reds out and three greens indicating.
Us pilots can chose to take responsibility for our actions or pass off pure incapacity and neglect as "there but for the grace of god go I"
The runway was 3200 X 50 feet, has a somewhat obstructed approach path and can have challenging winds. He touched down almost 2/3 rds of the way down the runway. Even if the wheels had been down it would have been a challenge to stop in the runway remaining, which leads to the question of why did he not go around when he was well down the runway and still in the air.
Again personal flying discipline should mean having a pre selected touchdown point and going around if it is obvious you are going to be long......
I feel bad for the guy especially as I hear he has no hull insurance, but the bottom line is he is flying a higher performance complex aircraft and failing to exercise the personal discipline to operate it properly is a choice.
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If the aircraft went tech (the engine has stopped so I ain't listening to the lynch mob,) It will have less drag, more speed and more float. It will also touch down later on the runway. If you know that you are going to belly land it, you probably spend an extra second just checking that the wings are level and the attitude good before planting it on. After all, you are unlikely to have done this before.
The engine had not stopped, the pilot forgot to put the gear down, it is just that simple.
A little less conversation,
a little more aviation...
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Gear did appear to operate correctly once selected down...just rather later than is usually deemed to be prudent.
I was expecting the boom on the lift truck to snap though.
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NFW would I be allowing a tow truck designed for hitching up illegally parked sub compacts to attempt to lift/move such a smart aircraft, even with the crash damage they should be using proper slings with cushions to prevent further damage.
Last edited by piperboy84; 24th Sep 2013 at 19:48.
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I read somewhere that nobody has ever landed a 747 gear-up. I find it very impressive that human beings can, under the right circumstances, be so reliable.
I suspect the Nanchang, however, is like the Yak52 I used to fly - no gear unsafe warnings at all. A member of our group (not me) did a go-around at a very busy airfield and retracted the gear. On the subsequent landing, trying to fit in between slower traffic so under some stress, he forgot to lower the gear again as he had already mentally 'ticked off' gear-down. The first he knew of his error was when the prop hit the runway.
This instance in the video must be deliberate presumably because the gear wouldn't come down, as the pilot switches off the engine just before the landing.
A little less conversation,
a little more aviation...
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True, the propellor did stop as it made contact with the runway, but the 'changs have those gutless Huosai Mickey-Mouse clockwork things at the front, which have trouble pulling the skin off a rice-pudding at full chat, let alone at idle - had it been a proper hairy-harsed Yak engine, even at idle it would have shredded the prop, gouged a trench in the runway, and then probably wrenched itself off the engine mounts and bounced off looking for something else to attack....
...and if that doesn't get me fined a round of drinks by the Chang Gang, nothing will. Luckily, buying two Diet Babycham Spritzers isn't going to break the bank
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...and if that doesn't get me fined a round of drinks by the Chang Gang, nothing will. Luckily, buying two Diet Babycham Spritzers isn't going to break the bank
What is the horsepower in that Chang engine? Is it 360?
285 stock. There is allegedly a Housai with 400 hp available, which would be quite sporty and a few folks in the States have fitted them with the Vedeneyev from the -52.
Last edited by Tay Cough; 25th Sep 2013 at 22:22.
When you are paying for the gas 285 Horses is plenty . I find it plenty zippy and it is lighter than a Yak 52 (360 hp) so performance is pretty close for less fuel burn, plus it it a lot nicer looking airplane.
The 400hp Husoi makes the airplane a climbing fool and it is a wonderfully smooth engine too. Unfortunately only a few dozen 400 hp variants were made so they are very hard to find.
A lot of US guys have put the MP14 engine in theirs although I think many are driven by anti Chinese sentiment rather than a dispassionate comparison of the benefits vs the cost. All of the 5 Changs at my home drome have the Husoi engine and all of us have had excellent luck with the reliability and low cost of parts for this engine.
Finally according to a guy I know that witnessed the "landing" shown in the video, the Husoi engine was running just fine until the blades started hitting the pavement still under power. In this case forgetting the gear destroyed a 20 K USD MT prop and will require a engine tear down. Since the engine is geared I expect the nose case is toast. Sadly further damage was done with the very poor job made of the recovery.
The 400hp Husoi makes the airplane a climbing fool and it is a wonderfully smooth engine too. Unfortunately only a few dozen 400 hp variants were made so they are very hard to find.
A lot of US guys have put the MP14 engine in theirs although I think many are driven by anti Chinese sentiment rather than a dispassionate comparison of the benefits vs the cost. All of the 5 Changs at my home drome have the Husoi engine and all of us have had excellent luck with the reliability and low cost of parts for this engine.
Finally according to a guy I know that witnessed the "landing" shown in the video, the Husoi engine was running just fine until the blades started hitting the pavement still under power. In this case forgetting the gear destroyed a 20 K USD MT prop and will require a engine tear down. Since the engine is geared I expect the nose case is toast. Sadly further damage was done with the very poor job made of the recovery.
Last edited by Big Pistons Forever; 26th Sep 2013 at 00:16.
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Finally according to a guy I know that witnessed the "landing" shown in the video, the Husoi engine was running just fine until the blades started hitting the pavement still under power.
The prop stops rotating before ground contact
Quick thinking - that sadly doesn't make up for the preceding lack of it
FP.
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SSD: I agree, in my view the pilot realised at the last moment what was to entail and shut the noise off (remembering that we'll get to hear that a little after we see what's going on). Probably thought there was no other way out of the inevitable at that height...
Quick thinking - that sadly doesn't make up for the preceding lack of it
Quick thinking - that sadly doesn't make up for the preceding lack of it
Far more likely, surely, that he knew the gear wasn't down so had his hand on the mags already, and switched them off as late as possible but before the prop touched?
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The gear extends just fine, on the recovery video, no sign of an external air supply being attached to the aircraft to help extension, suggesting that the integrity of the landing gear system was just fine on touchdown.
NC has two air systems in flight, normal and emergancy bottles, gear is extended by a seperate air path on use of the emergancy bottle, and comes down at a hell of a rate.
There is no aural gear warning alert on the NC, position indication is by means of gear position lights and barbers poles, only, elec failure would render the indicator lights inop.
Pilot error i say.
NC has two air systems in flight, normal and emergancy bottles, gear is extended by a seperate air path on use of the emergancy bottle, and comes down at a hell of a rate.
There is no aural gear warning alert on the NC, position indication is by means of gear position lights and barbers poles, only, elec failure would render the indicator lights inop.
Pilot error i say.
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In any case, if our super sharp pilot had recognised at the last minute he was about to touch down gear up why not apply power, make a go-around and do the landing checks next time downwind??
If the gear system had malfunctioned and he was stopping the engine to save the prop why leave ti so late?? Stop the thing as soon as you are assured of making the runway then concentrate on the landing!
No, simple logic tells you that the first eh knew all was not well was when the engine stopped due to the prop striking the runway - simples!!
If the gear system had malfunctioned and he was stopping the engine to save the prop why leave ti so late?? Stop the thing as soon as you are assured of making the runway then concentrate on the landing!
No, simple logic tells you that the first eh knew all was not well was when the engine stopped due to the prop striking the runway - simples!!
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No, simple logic tells you that the first eh knew all was not well was when the engine stopped due to the prop striking the runway - simples!!
2) Simple logic tells me that if the prop stops before it strikes the runway (and it clearly does in the video), it didn't stop because it struck the runway. Another clue is the undamaged state of two of the prop blades as seen in the 'recovery' vid, with just the downward-pointing one (which can be seen in the original vid contacting the runway after the prop had stopped) being damaged. Simple!
Last edited by Shaggy Sheep Driver; 1st Oct 2013 at 19:50.