Wheels Up At Breighton
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Joined: Mar 2002
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From: Midlands
Wheels Up At Breighton
This subject was debated earlier in the year. However, a letter in Pilot Magazine prompts me to open a second thread on this incident.
The letter crticises a report in GASIL.
GASIL report - p.7 June 2002 issue -
Having agreed to buy a competition-level aerobatic aircraft, the new owner requested the vendor to deliver it to his home aerodrome. With the minimum of breifing on type from the vendor, and apprently never having flown one before, the new owner took off and returned within a few minutes to provide all assembled wth an impromtu low-level aerobatic dispaly.
At the concxlusion of his sequence his first attempt at landing resulted in a late go-around, having landed too deeply and too fast into a relatively short grass field.
On the second attempt, he appeared to make a much better approach but forgot to lower the undercarriage..THe aircraft slithered to a halt in a shower of mud, prop blades and panels.
The new owner then suffered the ignominy of watching his new aircraft being raised up on a crane, the gear lowered and then pushed into the hangar having suffered many thousands of pounds worth of damage.
The accident could also have been avoided if the pilot had maintained a listening watch on the Aerodrome frequency. Had he done so he would have heard frantic voices telling him to go around.
Pilot magazine - Air Mail - August 2002 issue p.78
LEST YE BE JUDGED
The report in the recent GASIL, 'Another new aircraft - look what I can do!' damages the reputation of a competent pilot who has flown Evans VP 1's to Spitfires over 20 years without so much as scratching an aircraft.
I personally witnessed the incident. The pilot has 100 hours on a similar type and did not perform - as stated in GASIL - a low-level aerobatic display. He had the sense to go around when unhappy with his first approach.
His only crime was forgetting to select gear down. Of course this is never going to happen to you is it?
Well done CAA, you've trashed a good blokes reputation on hearsay without even talking to the plot. You can't beat giving somebody a good kicking when they are down.
Tony Smith
THe Aerodrome
Breighton
YO8 6DS
(We've invited a reply from the CAA - Ed)
What is clear -
We are all capable of error - no debate on that.
However, this guy was showing off in a new plane and fxxxxd it up.
Tony Smith cites - '100 hours on a similar type'. Is this code for '100 hours on the Yak 52 and none on the Yak 50' ??
Would you immediately go into a low-level display on your intial YAK50 flight?
His first approach (with 10 minutes on type?) was hot and high. Is this hardly surprising in view of the fact that the 50 hasn't got flaps? During the late go-around he raised the gear but misremembered to lower it again for his second approach.
Maybe Tony Smiths letter doesn't actually do the pilot any favours at all for it now serves to identify him by virtue of the field and types flown. He previously enjoyed anonimity. We now know where to send the box of Kleenex.
Marvellous to get the opportunity fly(somebody elses) Spitfire(Pink?) - not so sure I fancy flying a VP1 though..
Accidents are often the result of a stream of errors and not just one single factor. This is the reason why GASIL is such an important read. We all need education. We can all learn by other peoples mistakes no matter how embarrasing it might be for the pilot concerned.
All Tony Smiths letter does is to place the dented pride of his chum before flight safety and puts a very weak defence forward in Pilot.
Insurance - It seems that the pilot may have misremembered to insure it. Is this somebody who actually believes that accidents only happen to others? How responsible is that? How would you feel if the smoking hole that was once a Yak 50 actually also contained the remnants of something you hold dear (whatever that might be).
Finally - it also appears that the pilot may have also misremembered to report the accident too. THe CAA - it appears - contacted the previous owner when they got to hear of the accident, only to be told 'I sold it half an hour before it happened'.
Lets see what the official report has to say.
The letter crticises a report in GASIL.
GASIL report - p.7 June 2002 issue -
Having agreed to buy a competition-level aerobatic aircraft, the new owner requested the vendor to deliver it to his home aerodrome. With the minimum of breifing on type from the vendor, and apprently never having flown one before, the new owner took off and returned within a few minutes to provide all assembled wth an impromtu low-level aerobatic dispaly.
At the concxlusion of his sequence his first attempt at landing resulted in a late go-around, having landed too deeply and too fast into a relatively short grass field.
On the second attempt, he appeared to make a much better approach but forgot to lower the undercarriage..THe aircraft slithered to a halt in a shower of mud, prop blades and panels.
The new owner then suffered the ignominy of watching his new aircraft being raised up on a crane, the gear lowered and then pushed into the hangar having suffered many thousands of pounds worth of damage.
The accident could also have been avoided if the pilot had maintained a listening watch on the Aerodrome frequency. Had he done so he would have heard frantic voices telling him to go around.
Pilot magazine - Air Mail - August 2002 issue p.78
LEST YE BE JUDGED
The report in the recent GASIL, 'Another new aircraft - look what I can do!' damages the reputation of a competent pilot who has flown Evans VP 1's to Spitfires over 20 years without so much as scratching an aircraft.
I personally witnessed the incident. The pilot has 100 hours on a similar type and did not perform - as stated in GASIL - a low-level aerobatic display. He had the sense to go around when unhappy with his first approach.
His only crime was forgetting to select gear down. Of course this is never going to happen to you is it?
Well done CAA, you've trashed a good blokes reputation on hearsay without even talking to the plot. You can't beat giving somebody a good kicking when they are down.
Tony Smith
THe Aerodrome
Breighton
YO8 6DS
(We've invited a reply from the CAA - Ed)
What is clear -
We are all capable of error - no debate on that.
However, this guy was showing off in a new plane and fxxxxd it up.
Tony Smith cites - '100 hours on a similar type'. Is this code for '100 hours on the Yak 52 and none on the Yak 50' ??
Would you immediately go into a low-level display on your intial YAK50 flight?
His first approach (with 10 minutes on type?) was hot and high. Is this hardly surprising in view of the fact that the 50 hasn't got flaps? During the late go-around he raised the gear but misremembered to lower it again for his second approach.
Maybe Tony Smiths letter doesn't actually do the pilot any favours at all for it now serves to identify him by virtue of the field and types flown. He previously enjoyed anonimity. We now know where to send the box of Kleenex.
Marvellous to get the opportunity fly(somebody elses) Spitfire(Pink?) - not so sure I fancy flying a VP1 though..
Accidents are often the result of a stream of errors and not just one single factor. This is the reason why GASIL is such an important read. We all need education. We can all learn by other peoples mistakes no matter how embarrasing it might be for the pilot concerned.
All Tony Smiths letter does is to place the dented pride of his chum before flight safety and puts a very weak defence forward in Pilot.
Insurance - It seems that the pilot may have misremembered to insure it. Is this somebody who actually believes that accidents only happen to others? How responsible is that? How would you feel if the smoking hole that was once a Yak 50 actually also contained the remnants of something you hold dear (whatever that might be).
Finally - it also appears that the pilot may have also misremembered to report the accident too. THe CAA - it appears - contacted the previous owner when they got to hear of the accident, only to be told 'I sold it half an hour before it happened'.
Lets see what the official report has to say.
Joined: Feb 1999
Posts: 586
Likes: 0
From: South East England
Well said Hairyplane but then again you don,t expect the inhabitants of the "Peoples Republic of Yorkshire" to conform to any sort of conventional behaviour,as this case so well demonstrates.This guy didn,t really get anything right did he!!.He is lucky to have a friend willing to defend him with such vigour and publicly.We are all capable of making mistakes and hopefully also admitting them to be learnt from!!.I,m not surprised the regulators were a bit miffed about the attempted cover up of such a notorious accident.
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 1,966
Likes: 0
From: Norfolk
I know the gentleman who had the unfortunate incident. Over a beer one evening he told me what happened.
The letter to Pilot was was initiated because of the very holier-than-thou tone of the GASIL article and as the accident report had yet to be published is almost sub-judice.
GASIL arrived a week after my conversation with BB and I thought it was a bit OTT.
Low level aerobatics/showing off really are not part of this chap's repertoire. We do all make mistakes.
As far as I am aware there is no legal requirement to insure an aircraft in the UK.
Stik
The letter to Pilot was was initiated because of the very holier-than-thou tone of the GASIL article and as the accident report had yet to be published is almost sub-judice.
GASIL arrived a week after my conversation with BB and I thought it was a bit OTT.
Low level aerobatics/showing off really are not part of this chap's repertoire. We do all make mistakes.
As far as I am aware there is no legal requirement to insure an aircraft in the UK.
Stik
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 1,274
Likes: 0
From: Glen Prosen, Scotland
I've met the chap in question as well and a more helpful, quiet and unassuming chap you'd be hard pressed to meet at an airfield. Breighton is one of the most pleasant places you can drop into for a bacon sarnie and it is in no small part due to his efforts. The GASIL article does seem to be unjustifiably condemnatory but more than that the thought occurs - what's the big deal? It's not a 'notorious accident' anywhere but pprune and then only because people have waffled on about it. Stoppit!
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 78
Likes: 0
From: U.K
Quite so DB6.
I have known the chap in question for many years, and indeed, he is not the sort to indulge in low level displays of any sort.
So, dear reader, why dont you just shut the **** up and carry on flying perfectly, as your rather pompous posting would have us believe.
Glass houses and stones spring to mind here.
Why was this dredged up after such a long time??
Jealousy, perchance?
I have known the chap in question for many years, and indeed, he is not the sort to indulge in low level displays of any sort.
So, dear reader, why dont you just shut the **** up and carry on flying perfectly, as your rather pompous posting would have us believe.
Glass houses and stones spring to mind here.
Why was this dredged up after such a long time??
Jealousy, perchance?
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 967
Likes: 43
From: 30 West
Having flown from, into and around Breighton for many years I have always found BB to be a thorough and competent chap. He has flown all sorts of stuff including the Hurricane and the report in GASIL was a typical CAA trouser trouting excercise. The number of times that both the publication and the organisation has come out with utter garbage alledgedly amazes me - (no libel there then ey ?) I have sat through a CAA safety evening at the Thirsk Berchtesgaden. It was not very comforting to hear the man say on the one hand you could bend rules in a safety related incident but not 20 minutes later he said how and when the Ministry would prosecute you for the slightest misdemeanour !
We all fork up from time to time, mostly we get away with skid marks various and a round of beer at Mrs Miggins, this time it cost him more than a round - it does not justify the slagging that he got in the press.
We all fork up from time to time, mostly we get away with skid marks various and a round of beer at Mrs Miggins, this time it cost him more than a round - it does not justify the slagging that he got in the press.
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,068
Likes: 0
From: Brighton. UK. (Via Liverpool).
It's not a 'notorious accident' anywhere but pprune and then only because people have waffled on about it. Stoppit!
Last edited by BRL; 20th August 2002 at 14:20.
