Tales from the Log of the Ruptured Duck

[oldsparkey]

"uncontrolled landing"= The pilot has lost control of the plane and it is not flying ( air born ) anymore but is in contact with the ground , usually not in the best of shape.
Or...."uncontrolled landing"= Crash.

It's my impression that a lot of pilots refer to a landing as nothing more then a controlled crash. It might be said in joking since Our pilot would refer to a landing in such a manner , he could of been joking since his landings were nice and smooth.

 

[Kayak Jack]

OK, now I think I understand your definition. FAA reports that "loss of control" accidents often lead to fatalities. The description of one plane settling down onto another during landing, probably doesn't fit within that definition. From what I read, it sounds like both pilots were in control right up to the point of collision.

Flying - like driving a car, jeep, truck, airboat, bus, etc. - requires our utmost attention to what we are doing and what is going on around us. Same conditions apply to paddling in tense conditions, shooting a gun, choosing a doctor, and voting for a president.

Life is tricky.

 

[mike]

.......... From what I read, it sounds like both pilots were in control right up to the point of collision.........

I think that was the case, Jack. Neither pilot knew of the proximity of the other aircraft until the mid-air collision. At the time, this was an uncontrolled airport. It has long since been a controlled airport, but I heard the federal sequestration was furloughing the controllers there. Then, I heard the State of Texas was going to pick up the tab and keep the controllers at work. Not sure of the current status.

Mike

 

[Kayak Jack]

Controllers may well have prevented that accident. On the other hand, there are cases where controllers have vectored aircraft right into each other. I lost a good friend in Taiwan when a controller vectored a C-130 into a mountain.

 

[oldsparkey]

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (AP) — Two small airplanes apparently collided in midair over the Southern California mountains Monday, sending one crashing into a rocky ridge while the second was able to maneuver a belly-flop landing on a nearby golf course, officials said.

Three people on the plane that landed on a fairway while stunned golfers looked on had minor injuries. Rescuers searched for survivors from the fiery crash. The plane that crashed was on an engine test flight, but authorities did not know how many people were onboard at the time of the crash.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said a preliminary review of radar records showed the two flight-paths crossed just after 2 p.m. A single-engine Cessna 172 carrying three people was flying west at an altitude of 3,500 feet when the second plane, also a Cessna 172, approached from the east after leaving Santa Monica Airport for a test flight.

The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating.

Shortly after 2 p.m., firefighters responding to a report of a small wildfire spotted aircraft debris on the charred site. Los Angeles County Fire Department Inspector Quvondo Johnson said ground crews later confirmed that a small plane had crashed.

KNBC-TV broadcast footage of the second plane sitting on the golf course in Westlake Village. The landing gear was not visible.

FAA records show the plane on the golf course is a four-seat Cessna 172 Skyhawk manufactured in 1980. It's registered to Ameriflyers of Florida, LLC. A message left at a number listed for the company was not immediately returned.

Aaron Jesse, 47, said he had left work early to play golf with friends and saw the low-flying plane hit a tree, spin around 180 degrees and land surprisingly gently.

"Finally being a bad golfer paid off," Jesse told the Los Angeles Times. "I hit it in the trees to the right. They landed 50 feet to the left of us in the center of the fairway. All we heard was a thud and then he made a gentle bounce and slid down the center of the fairway."

 

[Kayak Jack]

Another tool that helps when I fly under Visual Flight Rules (VFR), is "flight following". Pilots have to request it, and the service is on an "as workload allows" basis. I call in, identify myself, tell them approximate location and altitude, intended destination, and altitude I intend to fly at, and request flight following. They tell me to squawk a unique code from the transponder, they then get a uniquely identifiable radar contact, and watch to keep separation between me and other aircraft. They always see other planes before I do. Sometimes, they will vector me away from their flight path.

I always thank them for their service.

 

[Paddlin'Gator]

Jack, I haven't flown for several years, except with friends, but when I was flying a fair amount my greatest concern was a mid-air collision. The corridor along the southeast Florida coast is like a super highway with traffic. In addition, there are numerous airfields, large and small, with traffic coming and going. There have been a number of mid-airs since I have lived in the area. In one of them a CAP member was taking a student for a ride and overshot when turning from base onto final for a landing on 09R at PBIA, taking him right into the path of a commercial jet on final on 09L, a parallel runway. Fortunately, the commercial plane was able to land safely, not so for the smaller aircraft. In another incident a Lear with a professional pilot and copilot was climbing and turning after departing Boca Raton airport. Obviously, neither pilot was aviating, probably busy punching buttons on their "geewhiz avionics" rather than at least one of the having his head out of the cockpit. The result was that they hit a Pitts that was transiting the area who had done everything right, including communicating. What he couldn't do was see a plane overtaking and climbing up under him. It didn't end well for those three, either.

 

[oldsparkey]

Just think of all the drivers , out there today , talking on there cell phones or texing , now I wounder how many continue to do that when piloting a small aircraft.
If they do it on the ground I'm sure they continue to do it in the air and that has me worried because you can't pull a plane over to the side and call a wrecker.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Yeah, once in a while, it gets crowded up there. I've learned that a sunny, Saturday morning may not be the best time to fly near the airport. Lots of other guys out there too. Get up - get the hell away from the field and enjoy. Stay visible, stay on the radio, get flight following, have another pilot aboard.

 

[catfish]

jack i guess you may not be flying the next day or two? see on puter where yall and others may get some more white stuff? :shock: :!: :?:

 

[Kayak Jack]

Wrong forecast. Was bright & sunny today, 80 here. Tomorrow bright & 75. I fly in the morning and ride bike in the afternoon.

 

[Wannabe]

Wrong forecast. Was bright & sunny today, 80 here. Tomorrow bright & 75. I fly in the morning and ride bike in the afternoon.

Harley? Or maby an Indian? I hope not a Ringgg dingg dinggg.
Bob

 

[Kayak Jack]

Pedal bike, like real men ride. Not one of those sissy things where the guy needs help getting down the road cause he can't do it for himself. :wink:
Us geezers need our exercise. I used to ride dirt bikes; gave it up for lent.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Antique Aircraft Association (AAA)

Saturday, 18 May, Tom Botsford and I flew to HHH Airfield (2H4) just N'ly of Kalamazoo. AAA had a fly in lunch. Now- THIS is my kind of an air patch. Sod runways both NS and EW, 2,600 feet long, hangars, houses, coffee pots, cold pop, hot dogs, hamburgers, folks from 6 weeks to 90 years, kids galore, dogs - and all with planes! I've died and gone to heaven!

The Ruptured Duck is 50 years old, and didn't quite qualify as antique yet. No sweat, I qualified for homburgs and ice cream. Close enuf fer guvmint werk. I'll likely join just to be around these kinds of folks. Tom's plane is a 1946 Cessna 140. 67 years old is older than some of our GITs (Geezers In Training) on the forum. The secret is, it's very well maintained. Might be a message there for us Geezers?

Several Stearmans flew in. Boeing made those open double-cockpit, bi-wingers as trainers for WWII trainers. Nicknamed "the Yellow Peril" for their easy-to-see, bilious yellow paint job, thousands of new pilots started out on them. The big, rotary engine even sounds like a plane is supposed to sound. It growls, rumbles, and belches. It's like the difference between listening to a real steam locomotive versus a Diesel locomotive. Big time difference.

Our flight home was not as easy as the flight down. Morning air was calm and pleasant. Afternoon air was full of thermals rising off of freshly worked fields, marshes, parking lots, and innocuous sites that kept catching us by surprise. As a result, my altitude holding was kinda sloppy on the way home. At one point, I'd shot up about 300 feet, lowered the nose, and all that did was to reduce the rate of assent.

All in all, we had a very good day. And, as we landed, taxied in, and shut down, I told Tom, "We'll - we cheated Death again."

 

[Wannabe]

Jack,
I love a Stearman. During rice growing season on weedends and during the summer I flagged for a crop dusting service and they flew Stearmans. My first airplane ride was in side the hopper of a Stearman. We would hand prop them to start them. That was the R985 450 hp engines. The last year I was there they switched to a double bank engine of 600 hp. We did not hand crank those monsters, they were electric start only.
Bob

 

[Kayak Jack]

Hand cranking a 450 hp engine is a HELLUVA task! Now, crop dusters use turbo prop engines of 650 to 800 hp. Lighter weight, more powerful, and more reliable. GE just came out with a stellar performer made in the Czech Republic.

 

[Wannabe]

A friend of mine just bought 4000 gal of Jet A for his two Ag planes.
Bob

 

[Kayak Jack]

The Ruptured Duck took me on another round robin flight today. I got up early - 06:00 - to get the calm, morning air. We took off into the sun at 08:10, and flew S'ly to Hillsdale, a small, college town near the Michigan-Indiana-Ohio borders. This was a nav point only, and we turned NNW'ly towards Marshall.
I'd hoped to see a couple of friends there, John Riske and his big dog, Baron. Alas- nobody around at all! So, I took off again and flew N'ly to Charlotte to see Todd and Phil. Zounds! Struck out again! Took off and flew E'ly back to Mason.
Oh well, the Bestsellers Coffee Shop is chock full of friends. Lots of gossip, two cups of coffee, and a sandwich later, I was satisfied.
Conditions were CAVU today, Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited. Visibility was 15-25 miles. Wheat fields are dark with rich, green wheat growing. Corn and soy bean seedlings aren't quite discernable from the air yet. A few, isolated first-cuttings of hay are in progress. Cattle dot a few pastures, and horses frolic in the early summer sun. Oddly enough, I didn't see any Canadian honkers or sand hill cranes. Not complaining about that! Just surprised.

This Saturday, our EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) chapter 55 meets. A pancake breakfast starts us out. Then one of our Young Eagles rallies. Some of our pilots take up kids for their first flight. Lots of grins and apprehension. Sunday morning, I report in at 06:00 to start cooking eggs and pancakes for a Dawn Patrol fly in.
Flying, like paddling, seems to run on its stomach.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Dawn Patrol
Yesterday, our Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Chapter# 55 sponsored a Dawn Patrol fly in breakfast. I was flying pancakes. Reported in for duty at 07:00, and made a bushel of light, fluffy pancakes (that were suitable to use as a boot in a truck tire.)
At least 80 planes flew in, and a lot more folks drove. There were planes there ranging from a 72 year old bird in pristine shape, to a Rutan Long EZ - and a Russian jet.
It's always good to eat and drink coffee with all sorts of folks who are interested in planes. Many of them, I'd had breakfast with at the EAA meeting the morning before, and lunch with at a nearby sod strip with the Antique Aircraft Association (AAA) the noon before. Lots of smiles, airplane talk, and a few kids running around.
One couple had just opened a previously private field for public use. They purchased the Tecumseh Products (Tecumseh small, gas engines) field near Tecumseh MI, and it is now Tecumseh Mills Field. I told them about having been to drag races on their runway in the mid-fifties. A plane would circle the field, all dragsters would clear the area, plane would land and taxi off the runway, and dragsters would reclaim the concrete and roar off again. It was a part of their history they hadn't known about.

 

[Wannabe]

Thanks Jack.
I always enjoy your aviation stories. That was my first love as a kid. I lived and breathed airplanes. All through High School I flagged for crop dusters. The Fates never allowed me to get my license or an airplane.
Consider your self lucky that you could. You are Blessed.
Bob