Jump to content

Was this pilot lucky?


Recommended Posts

Well....

If the video is related to the latest Mooney off field landing this week...

Yes and No...

Yes, walking away with no injuries... luck favors the prepared...   :)

No, having an engine problem... forcing an off-field landing... not lucky at all...

Maybe, Engine out in a crowded neighborhood, and luck throws you a busy street... kind of a roll of the dice for predicting the outcome... streets can make some really hazardous landing areas... and involves other people...

PP thoughts only, not able to see if the video is related to the other story of the week...

Jonás, if you want to share the video to a wider audience... place it in YouTube... and post/share the link here...

Best regards,

-a-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, kortopates said:

Final last second isn't exactly all tha useful.

Is viewable on my PC.

Plays fine on my Samsung tablet. Shows the white car hitting the Mooney last week, but missed how the plane got to be sideways in the road.

If you play it at work, be shre to turn the volume way down! The guy with the camera was excited . . . . in a NSFW manner. Fortunately I'm alone in the kitchen making coffee this morning. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Jonás said:

Indeed,

 the video captures the exact moment when the white car hits the plane

What most likely happened was the plane landed behind the car, hit it from behind with the right wing and spun around in front of the car.  That's where the video starts.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Jonás said:

Indeed,

Contrary to what they said, the vide captures the exact moment when the white car hits the plane. Luckily the passenger had not exit. 

Your point is well taken, but for the few seconds after the car hit the plane and everything came to rest, there wasn't even movement to open the door. A lot could have happened, the worst case scenario being a fuel leak.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, David Lloyd said:

What most likely happened was the plane landed behind the car, hit it from behind with the right wing and spun around in front of the car.  That's where the video starts.

Plane landed perpendicular to traffic from what I have read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My take away from this video is that the airframe is surprisingly resistant to impacts from angles that I would think would be disastrous.   A modern car is expexted to take that type of impact but a T-bone like that would render most a total loss. 

1 minute ago, Hank said:

That's a really short runway! :o

I do not understand ho he ended up oriented as he did...

378715509_Impactsite.thumb.jpg.89a3728a27927c45aa5ca3030382a51a.jpg

1874149644_Impactsitestview.thumb.jpg.9d9af9ebfee3be66136d69eb5acfa1a2.jpg

728724629_HOVsign.jpg.10898c20d55ed54add27f1c5ab0ba1f0.jpg

818876601_MooneyLivermore.thumb.jpg.86a1cd8a0d8baa979e9a4085f81db968.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a somewhat similar incident in my first K model in 2003.  The engine quit after a cylinder barrel blew apart.  There was no open terrain around and I decided to land on a road.  The road started out as a divided highway, but after I dodged some high tension wires the road transitioned to undivided highway with one lane in each direction.  I was carrying enough speed that I realized I would hit the back of a pickup truck at the point of touchdown.  I was able to pop up and just clear the roof of the pickup before passing through an intersection and landing "normally".  I even had a green light through the intersection - what are the chances of that??  After going home and having a few adult beverages I told my wife that if this ever happens again I am going to put it in the trees.  Landing on a road subjects too many innocent people to too much kinetic energy (not to mention the fire risk).  

This is not meant as a criticism of the pilot in Livermore CA - I'm sure he was trying to do the best with the situation he was facing.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Shadrach said:

My take away from this video is that the airframe is surprisingly resistant to impacts from angles that I would think would be disastrous.   A modern car is expexted to take that type of impact but a T-bone like that would render most a total loss. 

I do not understand ho he ended up oriented as he did...

378715509_Impactsite.thumb.jpg.89a3728a27927c45aa5ca3030382a51a.jpg

1874149644_Impactsitestview.thumb.jpg.9d9af9ebfee3be66136d69eb5acfa1a2.jpg

728724629_HOVsign.jpg.10898c20d55ed54add27f1c5ab0ba1f0.jpg

818876601_MooneyLivermore.thumb.jpg.86a1cd8a0d8baa979e9a4085f81db968.jpg

One possibility is he hit the car that was moving much slower with his righting tip, that could have pulled the aircraft around 90 degrees to the right?

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

7 hours ago, David Lloyd said:

What most likely happened was the plane landed behind the car, hit it from behind with the right wing and spun around in front of the car.  That's where the video starts.

 

35 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

One possibility is he hit the car that was moving much slower with his righting tip, that could have pulled the aircraft around 90 degrees to the right?

I agree.

If you expand the second last pic and look closely, although you can't see the front of the right wing, you can see the wingtip lens cover is slightly dislodged, the rear window is shattered with glass strewn immediately underneath and the trunk lid has damage to the rear and left side as well as being forced open.

All consistent with a rear impact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tire marks indicate a pretty long drag sideways to go with that....

Unlucky to be there...

Very Lucky with the end result...

Damaging the wing next to the emergency exit... can lead to treacherous results... 

+1 for avoiding streets... they have poles, wires, heavy moving objects, intersections, and innocent people...

+1 for being able to walk away from this one...

Too much luck involved with street landings...

Reminder of Mark... engine out, forced street landing... with cars... Mark avoided the cars, but got a lamp post instead... 

Best regards,

-a-

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

That really shows how strong the wingspar really is as well as the gear.Imagine the side load on the main gear..that drag mark from the right main must be 20-30 ft!Also rear damage to car besides trunk,rear window etc shows the rear bumper plastic is popped along its entire margin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, steingar said:

He had an emergency so bad he had to land on a busy street.  Doesn't sound lucky to me.

He had engine trouble, made a successful off-field landing and was unhurt. That's a great ending to the story!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.