Yak 50 wheels up at Breighton
 

The new owner of 30 minutes of a Yak 50 preceded to give a very impressive display of his capabilities followed by a wheels up landing at Breighton today.No injuries fortunately but a very sick aeroplane!!.The vendors having delivered the aircraft were no doubt relieved to have been paid for the aircraft.No wonder insurance is so expensive.

Great shame G-YAKA was a great looking plane hope they can put her right ,glad to here the pilot was ok and he is not the first and sure wont be the last pilot to forget the reds blues and greens !.. . . . <small>[ 12 March 2002, 20:46: Message edited by: maxalpha ]</small>

There are those who have and those who will....

I was told that the new owner mis-rememberd to get insurance.

If so, our insurance got a bit cheaper as of yesterday <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" />

....forget the paperwork.. .. .What do you think I meant?. .. .He does have my sympathy though.

As you say Ivchenko, those that have and those that will.. .. .I'm glad I got that hurdle out of the way early in my flying career. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

<a href="http://communities.msn.co.uk/TURWESTONAEROCLUB/aircraft.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=161" target="_blank">http://communities.msn.co.uk/TURWESTONAEROCLUB/aircraft.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=161</a>. .PICTURE OF G-YAKA

" There those who have and those who will ". .. .That statement in all fairness should also have the addition of.. .. ."However for the vast majority of pilots who fly retractable gear aircraft only a small minority of pilots are unfortunate enought to make this error.". .. .I truly feel sad for the guy or gal who did this to his / her new machine. . .. ................. . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

I recall reading an article on this topic in one of the aviation magazines - apparently a significant number of those unfortunate enough to forget to lower the landing gear still call "final, 3 greens" out of habit, even with the gear clearly retracted. . .. .I think I'll stick to fixed gear and fixed prop for the moment!. .. .SD

Saab Driver. .. .Not sure I agree, IMHO. I've seen or been near to about half a dozen wheels ups (grammar?) and in every case something has distracted the chief lever puller. Mostly go arounds after the gear is lowered, in one case wrong way circuit traffic, but basically something that disrupts the routine of (e.g. in a Yak) "downwind, airspeed falling through 200, pop the gear".. .. .Once something breaks that binary cycle, the chances of a mistake grow exponentially.. .. .Doing aeros in a brand new aeroplane over your field would definitely fall into that category, but in my view there is no correlation between wheels up history and piloting ability (Stephen Grey did it twice, I think).. .. .If the pilot is reading this I hope it makes him feel a bit better.

ivchenko:. .. .I am not trying to get into a pi**ing match with you but I am still interested in knowing why you stated " There are those who have and those who will". .. .I am sure you were saying that tounge in cheek, however many, many readers of these forums will be left with the false impression that pilots who fly retractable gear aircraft will land with the wheels in the wrong position eventually.. .. .I agree that when the regular routine suddenly changes or when an emergency arises there is the possibility that we will miss some item we normally do or check in a given order.. .. .There is no reason to believe however that it is enevitable that every pilot will screw up in something as important as gear lowering or insuring not to lower the gear before landing. ( As in the case of landing an amphibian on the water. ). .. .One of the cautions we must observe when teaching or learning a skill that is subject to so many variables as flying is to not get into a rote learning, rote acting frame of mind. Rather it is important to constantly vary your flying routine to ensure you do not get into habitual responses to the same routine. By "thinking" every action rather than "doing" every action it will drastically reduce the senario that sooner or later you will F**k up. . .. .So to all those of you who are not experienced pilots or who are thinking of learning to fly, reflect on the advice that I have placed here on your computer screen.. .. .And don't fall into the " It is enevitable " school of thought.. .. .And hey' ivchenko I mean no offence to you personally, we just look at the same subject in a different manner. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" /> . .. ................... . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

Cat Driver, I cannot speak for Ivchenko but my tongue was firmly in my cheek when I repeated the comment.. .. .That saying, with minor alterations to the wording, had been around a lot longer than I have.. .I would bet it was originally made by someone after doing a wheels up as a means of laughing off the razz directed at him by his fellow pilots. . .. .I would hope that no pilot, budding or otherwise, reading this forum would think there is some sort of inevitability about the occurrence, because, as you have pointed out, the overwhelming majority. .do not.

Hi Cat Driver. .. .You're right - tongue was firmly in cheek - it was just an old cliche that makes me smile and it does just remind those of us who haven't that we are not superior to those who have. And anyway, I was talking about forgetting the paperwork! . .. .Still stand by my comment that in the majority of cases it happens because something breaks the normal landing routine.. .. .By the way I agreed with your comments on the taildragging thread.. .. .Happy splashing

I was quite sure you guys were only using that old saying tounge in cheek. However newbies to flying sometimes really do take us seriously and when we make some off hand remark some take it as the absolute gospel.. .. .Soooo I was just posting for no real good reason and as soon as this weather gets warmer I will be to busy to play with this keyboard..... ................ . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> The hardest thing about flying is knowing when to say no. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" />

One of our group members in a Yak 52 group did it a while back. I did not laugh and point at him like some did. In the 52, it is easily done (this guy had gone around - classic conditions for it to happen) and the radio was U/S so tower culd not warn him. Ther but for the grace, I say.. .. .SSD

SSD, that wasn't 44470 at BZN a few years back? If so, that guy would regulary fail to give a gear check even though he was fully aware of the procedures at the airfield (Flying Club member?). Consequently, one Saturday afternoon with controller's attention split equally between said Yak and Des Lynham, the inevitable happened.. .. .On the positive side, I was well impressed with the lack of damage. The ac landed perfectly well on the steps at the trailing edge of the wing.. . . . <small>[ 17 March 2002, 10:31: Message edited by: Whipping Boy's SATCO ]</small>

The 50 is not difficult to land - it's light and hence forgiving - but it can be tricky to nail the speed until you get used to it, and it helps psychologically if the first few landings are on a long runway.. .. .Breighton would not be my choice of place for first time to try, unless the pilot is very confident and experienced with taildraggers.

I believe the pilot concerned was on his first flight in type though had flown a Yak52 and was experienced flying the "Yorkshire Air Forces" Hurricane.As one of "Yorkshire,s finest" warbird pilots normal caution and easing gently into a low level routine on a new type was obviously not required.Eye witness reports paint a very sad story of great confidence,to which end I believe the AAIB are seeking reports in order that others might learn from this area of human fallibilty.Sadly unless really prepared and practised attempts to impress can often have the opposite effect as in this case or even more tragic outcome.

Saker. .. .I have personally witnessed a really odd form of environmental capture / strange human failing when instructing a chap on a Bonanza:. .. .Hurried / b*llsed-up approach led to a late (and prompted) decision to go-around during which the gear was not raised. Being the patient type I waited to see what would happen theorising that he might be leaving it down for the sake of simplicity. Ah, sadly not - we reached the downwind point where the chap raised the gear at the point where it would normally be lowered. He then had a hard time understanding why this approach was so slippery feeling and the leapt out of his skin when the full flap triggered warning went off.. .. .I (in the manner of a smug instructor type) pointed to the gear lever. Embarrassed looks and a lesson VERY well learned. This also illustrates how useful it is to learn from (less expensive) mistakes.. .. .No such warnings (or flaps) on the '50.. .. .i believe that in a situation such as I descibed the psychological mechanism is very similar to 'get-there itis' i.e. a desire to complete or end the final objective at all costs.. .. .If you can't learn by your own mistakes, try to learn from others'