Have you ever be a witness to a plane crash?

[Brutuskend]

I have.

When I was in the service.

One day I was walking back to the hanger after lunch and I saw a A4 T (trainer) doing loop'd loops and barrel rolls over the run way. It would head for the ground and look like it was going to crash and then pull up and start doing "weird stuff" again. I remember thinking "This guy is in deep sh!t when he lands!"

This when on for a few minutes and then the plane headed straight up into the clouds and I thought "That's it, shows over."


Next thing you know, the plane came straight out of the clouds and plowed right into the ground!

HUGE fire ball!

Come to find out after words that the plane had done a touch and go and when it touched down the cockpit had filled with smoke. Then the pilot and CO pilot had "punched out" (ejected) but had failed to kill the electrical system, where upon the plane had taken off again with no one in it and flew around empty for 4-5 minutes!

This was in Southern Ca. and it was REALLY lucky that it had stayed where it did (over the base), if it had headed out into town, no telling how many people could have gotten killed! As it was, there were no human fatalities.

Have you ever seen anything like that?

 

[mchammer]

no

 

[Zim Hosein]

Have you ever seen anything like that?

Thankfully, no.

 

[EyeMWing]

Would that incident be in the FAA's accident database (I'd assume not, since it was military?)? If so, I want to read that report

 

[akubi]

nope..

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Would that incident be in the FAA's accident database (I'd assume not, since it was military?)? If so, I want to read that report

No.

 

[dug777]

well by old man had an engine blow a cylinder out on a Twin Otter in teh Solomons, a hour or so over open water/jungle to the nearest airstrip...but that was all. He said it was a kinda hair raising flight back and landing

 

[Rubycon]

No but I saw Discovery launch last July from port canaveral and that was a-ok.

 

[mchammer]

Originally posted by: dug777
well by old man had an engine blow a cylinder out on a Twin Otter in teh Solomons, a hour or so over open water/jungle to the nearest airstrip...but that was all. He said it was a kinda hair raising flight back and landing

:Q

 

[crab]

No, but my good friend saw THIS crash happen directly in front of him. He shut his airplane down, grabbed the extinguisher and ran over to put the fires out. The pilot crawled out white as a ghost and just sat in the grass in complete shock. He had nearly no injuries.

Ironically, he was flying his sister and mother over the family farm to spread his brother's ashes after he was killed in THIS crash.

 

[kalster]

not exactly witness, i was at hong kong airport once when an Air China flight skid during landing and sort of crashed, luckily only a few people got hurt, no one seriously, our flight was delayed for 20 hours though which wasnt cool

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: kalster
not exactly witness, i was at hong kong airport once when an Air China flight skid during landing and sort of crashed, luckily only a few people got hurt, no one seriously, our flight was delayed for 20 hours though which wasnt cool

i remember that, it slid into the water IIRC..one very ruined jumbo jet :laugh:

 

[Sketcher]

Originally posted by: dug777
well by old man had an engine blow a cylinder out on a Twin Otter in teh Solomons, a hour or so over open water/jungle to the nearest airstrip...but that was all. He said it was a kinda hair raising flight back and landing

Those are cool. Was in a Single engine last month. Your Dad's Twin look something like This? Other pics of the planes here.

Answer to OP:
Haven't personally seen a plane go down. Saw a C46 Helicopter almost bite it during unrep (USN underway replenishment) while in high seas. Helo's were transferring goods between our ships and due to high seas the landings were a bit tricky. The pilot would hover 15 feet or so above the flight deck and time the swells. They'd suddenly reverse blade pitch and slam the helo on the deck; effectively 'pressing' the helo on the flight deck until the cargo was unloaded. Then at the top of the next swell they launch into the air. On one of the launches, it appeared that the pilot didn't quite get the blade pitch corrected in time and the next swell rose higher than the last - giving the helo a little smack into the air. Flight report said the helo had to make a gearless landing back on the carrier.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: Sketcher

Originally posted by: dug777
well by old man had an engine blow a cylinder out on a Twin Otter in teh Solomons, a hour or so over open water/jungle to the nearest airstrip...but that was all. He said it was a kinda hair raising flight back and landing

Those are cool. Was in a Single engine last month. Your Dad's Twin look something like This? Other pics of the planes here.

Answer to OP:
Haven't personally seen a plane go down. Saw a C46 Helicopter almost bite it during unrep (USN underway replenishment) while in high seas. Helo's were transferring goods between our ships and due to high seas the landings were a bit tricky. The pilot would hover 15 feet or so above the flight deck and time the swells. They'd suddenly reverse blade pitch and slam the helo on the deck; effectively 'pressing' the helo on the flight deck until the cargo was unloaded. Then at the top of the next swell they launch into the air. On one of the launches, it appeared that the pilot didn't quite get the blade pitch corrected in time and the next swell rose higher than the last - giving the helo a little smack into the air. Flight report said the helo had to make a gearless landing back on the carrier.


yeah but without the floats. I loved the Islanders myself

 

[skyking]

Dug, the twin otter in the picture is a turboprop, no cylinders to blow
Maybe your dad was in a caribu?

I was out at our hangar with my wife, and watched a mooney executive depart the 60ft. wide runway and essentially perform a groundloop.
I was watching him land, and commented to my wife, "there's a pretty mooney", then "looks a little hot, typical mooney float", followed by a muttered, "he looks too far away".........
Groundloops are thought to be a malady of only the taildraggers, but this guy started hooking into the scotchbroom shrubs along the runway, and it got his plane started around. He then figured a go-around was the best cure, and cobbed it! The plane came around, pivoting on the left wingtip and the nosegear. The right main came clear off the ground, and the engine revved up to full power for the subsequent propstrikes. It came back down on all three as it was sideways to the direction of travel, then finished out the 360 and rolled out in the brush.
Both my wife and I started moving, she headed out there and I went for a fire extinguisher
He climbs out and <captain obvious> "dang, I got the prop!"
turns out he is a doctor, moving his plane from the 150 ft wide runway at TIW to his new hangar at our airport. The winds were almost calm, only a slight crosswind breeze.
The plane fared remarkably well, considering. Of course, the prop was toast and the engine needed a teardown for inspection. The wingtip that went to earth only had scratched paint, and the only bent thing on it was that right main gear. It had about a 7 degree set from getting slammed into the ground 90 degrees from normal.
Another time we were working on some stuff and heard a big continental 6 rumble by on the taxiway. We commented on how nice they sound. A minute later we hear this 300 hp beast revv up to 2850 and then a horrible grinding bang.
At the end of the runway is this beautiful cessna 185 standing on its prop. The guy thought he'd show off and stand on the brakes for a short takeoff. Well and good, you can do that. You MUST keep the yoke buried in your lap, however!
He must have moved the yoke forward just enough. 300 HP pivoted his plane right around the locked tires, and the rest is history!

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: skyking
Dug, the twin otter in the picture is a turboprop, no cylinders to blow
Maybe your dad was in a caribu?

I was out at our hangar with my wife, and watched a mooney executive depart the 60ft. wide runway and essentially perform a groundloop.
I was watching him land, and commented to my wife, "there's a pretty mooney", then "looks a little hot, typical mooney float", followed by a muttered, "he looks too far away".........
Groundloops are thought to be a malady of only the taildraggers, but this guy started hooking into the scotchbroom shrubs along the runway, and it got his plane started around. He then figured a go-around was the best cure, and cobbed it! The plane came around, pivoting on the left wingtip and the nosegear. The right main came clear off the ground, and the engine revved up to full power for the subsequent propstrikes. It came back down on all three as it was sideways to the direction of travel, then finished out the 360 and rolled out in the brush.
Both my wife and I started moving, she headed out there and I went for a fire extinguisher
He climbs out and <captain obvious> "dang, I got the prop!"
turns out he is a doctor, moving his plane from the 150 ft wide runway at TIW to his new hangar at our airport. The winds were almost calm, only a slight crosswind breeze.
The plane fared remarkably well, considering. Of course, the prop was toast and the engine needed a teardown for inspection. The wingtip that went to earth only had scratched paint, and the only bent thing on it was that right main gear. It had about a 7 degree set from getting slammed into the ground 90 degrees from normal.
Another time we were working on some stuff and heard a big continental 6 rumble by on the taxiway. We commented on how nice they sound. A minute later we hear this 300 hp beast revv up to 2850 and then a horrible grinding bang.
At the end of the runway is this beautiful cessna 185 standing on its prop. The guy thought he'd show off and stand on the brakes for a short takeoff. Well and good, you can do that. You MUST keep the yoke buried in your lap, however!
He must have moved the yoke forward just enough. 300 HP pivoted his plane right around the locked tires, and the rest is history!

you are 100% correct would have been one of the Islanders then The twin otters were def turbo props...damn it's been a long time since i've been in either...

 

[skyking]

That would suck in an islander or trislander. They did not have stellar single engine performance.

 

[SNiPeRX]

I hope I never see one, got a pilot slot for the Air Force... would be flying now, but I had to get my wisdom teeth removed.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: skyking
That would suck in an islander or trislander. They did not have stellar single engine performance.

yeah, he said landing was quite 'exciting'

 

[FoBoT]

no
only seen a couple of auto accidents

 

[Ricemarine]

If I did.
It would crash into a lot of trees...
Since I live near a bunch of conifer trees, and it would bound to crash into a house heh.

 

Originally posted by: FoBoT
no
only seen a couple of auto accidents

 

[UNCjigga]

Yep. Saw two Snowbirds clip wings and crash at an airshow in Toronto back in the early 90s. One pilot died, the other ejected safely. My dad was interviewed on the local news after.

 

[montanafan]

Didn't see the actual crash, but saw the beginning of it and heard it and then saw the results.

When I was 16 or 17 a friend and I went to the top of a nearby mountain to see the view from the fire tower and have a picnic. We saw this plane flying low over the mountains and the engine sounded strange. Then it looked like it was going down over the next ridge and we heard a loud noise. We weren't sure it had crashed, but we decided to head down the mountain to tell my parents what we had seen and heard just in case.

By time we got to my parents' store and told them about it, some people came in and said that they'd heard a plane had crashed and that they believed they knew the general area in the mountains where it had happened. They asked my friend and I if we wanted to go with them to help in the search for it, so we and my brother, who was/is a newspaper reporter went along with them. On the way we met some members of the volunteer fire department who told us to follow them up an old logging/strip mining road that they believed would take them near the suspected crash site and then we could help them search on foot. It's a good thing we were in an old jeep because it was rough going.

We found the plane just to the side of that old road near the top of the mountain. It looked like the pilot had tried to land on the road, but it was a steep, narrow, rutted, dirt road with a steep wall on one side and trees, overgrowth, and a steep bank on the other side. The plane was parallel to the road, but had landed in the trees on the bank side. There hadn't been any fire and it just looked banged up, but not real bad.

When we got there the fire fighters went to the plane and then came back and told us to not look in the plane. All four people inside had died. It turned out that I knew two of them. One was a girl 2 years younger than me that went to my school and the other was a 19 year old boy that lived just up the road from me. We made a trip back down the mountain to direct the other emergency people to the crash and then stayed there until they took the bodies out.

I can still remember everything about that day just like it was yesterday.

 

[lavagirl669]

whoa...freaky