Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/02/small-plane-flips-into-headstand-as-pilot-crash-lands-it-on-a-long-island-beach-video.html
…
1 Like
Having been a glider and small plane pilot for far too many years, there are two things one can do to make sure of a successful and inexpensive off field landing. First, cut the ignition the moment you touch down (no sound, so it may have been done). Second is to gradually pull the control yoke fully back (up elevator) and hold it there until the plane comes to a halt (which it appears was not done). If the nosewheel touches the while still moving, it will dig in with a good chance it will go up its nose, if not on its back. Better and cheaper to drag the tail. That’s probably a $10K repair bill in best case, upwards of $30K if the engine was still running when the prop hit the sand. Lucky there weren’t more people on the beach (or perhaps it was a planned event), as a fixed gear plane would flip upside down the moment the wheels hit the water.
I would sometimes fly a glider across Lake Tahoe when returning to Truckee Tahoe Airport. If I lost more altitude than I was expecting, there was a good chance that the beaches and golf courses would have too many people about, so the only option would be a water landing. Never happened to me, but I knew pilots who did it.
3 Likes
Thank you for the explanation, interesting. I was going to assume it was all the passengers grabbing their luggage and rushing to the front of the plane before the captain gave them the go ahead.
Back in the late 1970s I used to run to work in the morning along the Venice/Santa Monica beach. This beach (it’s really all one beach) is in the takeoff path for the Santa Monica Airport. I remember one morning seeing a single-engine plane standing perfectly vertically, nose down and tail up, right at the surf line. Several people were standing around it.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
