Accidents Archives - Page 11 of 19

Two night landings that went awry

Night landings, takeoffs and approaches can be a tricky business even for experienced pilots as two summaries of recent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident reports from General Aviation news reveal. The first accident report from September 2009 covered an incident that resulted in one minor injury and a heavily damaged Cessna 172 in Minnesota.

According to the accident report, the pilot was attempting to land at night in VFR conditions and he performed a go-around on the first attempt. For the second attempt, he landed mid-field and performed a touch-and-go landing with 10° of flaps on takeoff which he retracted when he reached about 100 feet above ground level. However:

He felt that the airspeed was a little low so he pushed the nose over. He stated that he did not think he was in a descent, but the airplane hit the ground about 100 feet from the end of the runway.

The impact caused the nose gear to collapse and both wings were also damaged. An investigation of the accident site revealed eight ground scars in the grass that were consistent with propeller strikes while the pilot himself had about 112 hours of flight time with 9 hours at night (including two hours of night experience when he was pilot-in-command). Hence, the pilot’s failure to maintain a proper climb rate during a night takeoff was ruled the cause of the accident.

The second NTSB accident report also dated September 2009 involved a Cessna 210 in Texas where there was one fatality. The pilot had 1,276 total hours which included 475 hours in the same make and model airplane plus he had landed five times at the airport where the accident occurred.

However and this time around, he was attempting to land in dark night conditions with visibility at 3 to 5 miles in drizzle or light rain with overcast clouds. Moreover, the airport was a private rural airport whose lighting system was inoperable due to a recent lightening strike. Hence, a local resident radioed the pilot to inform him of this while another resident attempted to illuminate the runway with the headlights from a car.

According to witnesses, the pilot was not aligned with the runway and also appeared to be too high to land. The pilot radioed at 50 to 150 feet that he would perform a go-around but instead the aircraft began a descent, hit trees on the edge of the runway and then crashed into an empty house.

The investigation ruled that night and poor weather conditions meant that spatial disorientation was the probable cause of the accident as the FAA’s “Instrument Flying Handbook” (FAA-H-8083-15A) states that:

A rapid acceleration…can create the illusion of being in a nose up attitude. The disoriented pilot will push the aircraft into a nose low, or dive attitude.

In other words and if you plan to do any night flying, it would be a good idea to keep these incidents in mind.

Model walks into a spinning propeller blade

Apparently over the weekend, Lauren Scruggs, a fashion blogger / model accidently walked into the blades of a spinning propeller after a night flight to view Christmas lights in Dallas. The victim will survive but she did end up loosing a hand plus suffered severe injuries to part of her face and shoulder.

Its not clear how the accident happened but her parents believe she went back to the aircraft to thank the pilot when she inadvertently walked into the spinning propeller blades.

Nevertheless, the accident shows both pilots and their passengers alike the need to be extra careful, especially at night, when entering and exiting propeller driven aircraft. In other words, be extra cautious and mindful when that propeller is spinning and tell your passengers to not enter or exit the aircraft until it has stopped.

Landing on a wet grass runway proves fatal

General Aviation News will often reprint accident reports from the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), including an October 2009 accident report that involved a Piper Archer in Oliver Springs, Tennessee.

According to the accident report, a pilot was attempting to land on a grass runway that was wet. When the Piper touched down on the runway, it bounced back into the air.

The Piper then touched down on the runway for a second time. However, the aircraft then turned about 45° to the left and skidded toward the woods bordering the runway. The aircraft crashed through a fence and hit a tree with the left side of the cockpit taking the full force of the impact – causing one fatal injury and three minor injuries.

To avoid having the same situation happen to you, check out a great article by William L. Gruber that’s posted in the Flight Training section of the AOPA’s website. Gruber noted that landing on a grass field takes extra care because they are constantly changing depending upon the season and the amount of recent rainfall in the area. He also noted that it will take much longer to get off the ground on a wet grass runway than on one that is dry.

In other words, be extra careful during any wet season and be sure to talk to pilots who have recently used the grass runways you intend to use.

Anatomy of a Cirrus stall accident video

Hat tip to the FlightSchoolList.com for posting this video showing the anatomy of a Cirrus stall accident that was put together by AVweb a few years ago. The video noted that over-the-top or cross-control stall accidents have been common in general aviation for many years. However, no one has ever really documented what happens in such an accident until more recently thanks to the widespread use of glass cockpits.

Hence, this video shows a recreation of exactly what happened in one such fatal stall accident that was also well documented by accident investigators thanks to modern technology.

Pilot misjudges runway and lands too fast and too far down it

General Aviation News often reprints excerpts from US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident reports, including this one from October 2009 that involved a Cessna 182 in White Plains, New York where there was substantial aircraft damage but no injuries. According to the accident report, the pilot was attempting a night landing and was told by ATC to expect to use runway 29 at the best forward speed in order to expedite his landing. The pilot looked at his approach charts and noticed that the runway was more than 4,400 feet long. He choose to land with no flaps.

The Cessna 182 touched down past a runway intersection with 2,854 feet of runway remaining to the departure section. However, the pilot could not stop the aircraft as it slid off the runway, down an embankment and then onto a service road resulting in the nose landing gear collapsing. The aircraft’s pilot-rated-passenger would later report that the aircraft’s estimated speed to the runway had been 110 knots.

After the mishap, the pilot learned that the runway’s displaced threshold meant that it only had about 3,164 feet available for landing instead of the 4,400 feet he thought was available. Hence, the probable cause of the accident was ruled the pilot’s failure to land at the runway’s proper spot plus excessive airspeed in order to comply with ATC’s request to expedite landing.

Night takeoff mistake causes a passenger to abort the takeoff

General Aviation News often reprints accident reports from the USA’s National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), including one from October 2009 that involved a Piper Cherokee in Angwin, California which led to substantial aircraft damage but no injuries.

According to the accident report, the pilot of a Piper Cherokee was attempting a night takeoff after he thought he had positioned the aircraft for a takeoff 1/4th mile from the start of the runway. He then attempted to use his radio to activate the runway lights – which did not activate. Hence, the pilot used his landing light to taxi and then attempt a takeoff.

However and when the aircraft reached 65 mph, the pilot figured out that he was not on the runway as he saw dirt and grass. At this point in time, his passenger requested the takeoff to be aborted while the pilot felt he could continue the takeoff.

When the groundspeed reached 80 mph, the passenger decided to abort the takeoff by grabbing the yoke while having her feet on the rudder pedals. The aircraft ended up hitting a fence.

The accident investigation revealed that the pilot had not selected the right radio frequency in order to activate the runway lights. Moreover, it was ruled that the pilot (rather than his passenger….) should have aborted the takeoff when he realized that he was not on the actual runway.