Takeoff Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Golf Hotel Whiskey

Landing and takeoff videos from Lukla: The world’s scariest airport

Lukla, the tiny air strip that is the gateway to Mount Everest in Nepal, easily ranks as one of the scariest airports in the world to both land at and take off from. After all, Lukla is at 2,860 metres (9,380 ft) with a runway width of 20 meters and an incline that is a staggering 11,75° (almost 20%) that leads to a cliff. To further complicate matters, no landing aids are available while ATC is limited to AFIS (Aerodrome Flight Information Service).

As you can see in this first video, an aircraft landing at Lukla will need to go from 150 knots to (hopefully) a complete stop in just seven seconds:

That also means that a takeoff from Lukla is equally tricky:

Finally, here is a cockpit view of a takeoff from Lukla:

Landing on an unimproved soft field leads to problems

General Aviation News will often reprint excerpts from US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident reports, including this August 2009 report (NTSB Identification: WPR09CA421) that involved an Air Cam in Hamilton, Montana that had performed a soft field landing on an unimproved surface.

According to the accident report, a pilot was performing takeoffs and landings on a river sandbar without incident until the last landing. At this point, a main landing gear wheel separated after an attachment weld sheared and according to witnesses, the wheel rolled towards them and then into the river.

The pilot then performed a go-around but when he landed back at the departure airport, he could not maintain directional control of the aircraft. Hence, the aircraft hit objects and suffered substantial damage to its right fuselage (but there were no injuries).

The probable cause of the accident was ruled the separation of the right main landing gear wheel after contact with soft terrain while a contributory factor was the pilot’s decision to land on an unimproved soft field surface. In other words and if you plan to make any soft field landings or take-offs, make sure that you know how good the surface is that you plan to use.

Cessna 172 flies into the side of a house

Hat tip Sylvia from the Fear of Flying blog for finding and posting this old but amazing photograph of a Cessna 172 that flew into a Canadian house (the pilot limped away with a broken ankle) after its engine failed after take off. According to Sylvia, versions of the photo have been popping up all over the place (but she noted that she is “pretty sure the original is by Glenn Steplock and so I’ve used the version with his attribution from Airliners.net”)

The investigation by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (AVIATION REPORTS – 2001 – A01O0157) summarized the incident by noting that:

The pilot was conducting a visual flight rules local flight from the Toronto / Buttonville Municipal Airport, Ontario. When the aircraft reached about 400 to 500 feet above ground level during the initial climb after take-off from Runway 33, the aircraft engine (Lycoming O-320-H2AD) stopped. The pilot began a forced approach and attempted unsuccessfully to restart the engine. The aircraft struck a treetop and the back of a house and came to rest on the back deck of the house. The aircraft and the house were substantially damaged. The occupants of the house were not injured; however, the pilot received serious, non-life-threatening injuries. The accident occurred at 1952 eastern daylight time during daylight.

According to the accident investigation, it was not determined why the aircraft engine stopped during the initial climb right after take-off but the engine operated successfully during the engine tests and no mechanical abnormalities were noted. However, it was also noted that:

The pilot did not complete the appropriate emergency checklist, but concentrated instead on attempting to restart the engine. Directional control of the aircraft was not maintained during the forced approach, and the aircraft proceeded toward and crashed in a residential area.

My suspicion would be that the pilot may not have properly gone through all of the necessary checklists before taking off – which may have found the reason for why the engine failed. Nevertheless, he ended up in the side of the house due to the fact that he did not follow the engine failure procedure that is clearly outlined in the Cessna Aircraft Information Manual. Hence, the report is well worth reading and noting by other pilots so as to avoid a repeat of what happened.

Here is another photo from the accident report itself:

Off-centered landing leads to an off the runway excursion

General Aviation News will periodically reprint accident reports from the USA’s NTSB and recently they noted the following accident that involved a Cessna 152 in Ellensburg, Washington that resulted in substantial damage to the aircraft but no injuries:

The student pilot, who was practicing touch-and-go landings in calm winds, inadvertently landed near the left edge of the runway. During the landing roll, he did not correct back to the runway centerline. When he added power for takeoff, the airplane veered off the runway. The terrain was rough and the airplane’s nose-wheel collapsed.

In other words, watch for that runway centerline!

How to perform an effective departure briefing

An effective departure briefing will be key to keeping you safe during and after takeoff. Hence, a recent video by Jason Schappert for his MzeroA site is well worth watching as he shows viewers how he does an effective departure briefing. Moreover, the video is intended to help students pass their checkrides and hence, it should be watched by any student pilot readers.

Scary video encounter with density altitude

Density altitude can be an invisible danger for high-altitude mountain flyers on hot summer days. Moreover, combine the perils of density altitude with adverse or misjudged runway conditions plus shifting winds and you can easily and quickly have a disaster on your hands.

And there is no better evidence of this than some of the footage in this recent video interview of Chris Palmer by Jason Schappert. As you will see in the video, Chris explains to Jason how “something happened with the wind that totally took our margins away.” However, both luck and “pilot instinct” allowed Chris to pull out of this particularly dangerous situation where he literally had to fly through a gap between some very tall trees.

Among the lessons mentioned by Chris included the need to really KNOW you aircraft (a Bonanza in his case) as an aircraft’s actual performance may not meet your expectations should you find yourself in the same situation as he did.