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View Full Version : The Good, the Bad and the Ugly



Rick Galati
08-06-2011, 04:26 PM
I have to believe that sober reporting and in-depth coverage of the mishaps that sometimes occur on Whitman Field during AirVenture week would be a good thing for all pilots to consider and learn from. Prop strikes, wingtip damage, hard landings, and the rest of it occur with some frequency. This year, while seated comfortably on the grass near the Super 8 motel, I watched arrival after arrival taxi past my vantage point. Most airplanes were taxiing waay too fast and if you've taxied on it, know how bumpy that surface can be. Worse, too many planes had the elevators pointing in the wrong direction while they were doing it. A lot of oleo struts got a serious workout, that's for sure.


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Item: Tuesday, July 26 around 7:40 more or less, I was witnessing the always fascinating organized chaos of getting all the departures out while working in the inevitable last minute arrivals. On this particular evening, Runway 9 was in use. Such as it was when something happened. I did not actually see what occurred but I could partly see the result....a red high wing aircraft resting at an acute angle. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I believe the accident airplane just arrived. Several emergency vehicles immediately swarmed the aircraft. As a consequence, all departures suddenly came to a screaming halt. A few departing aircraft, apparently tired of waiting did peel away from the stalled queue and taxied to parking in the grass. It took many minutes for the emergency crews to clear the incident aircraft away from the runway. Departures finally resumed and that occurred just minutes before official closing time of 8:00 P.M. In the end, those that decided to leave managed to leave but for the last of the departures, that was past 8:00 P.M. As for what part of the damaged aircraft I could see, anybody know what that was about? Think of the sick feeling that guy must have felt upon his dramatic arrival in Oshkosh. What happens then? Certainly, some planes are field repaired, others, the wings removed and the wreck trucked home. Whatever the circumstances, there are stories to be told here. I once saw a warbird nose over and trash its huge and expensive propeller while taxiing in the Warbird area. How does one deal with that? Expensively for sure. If most people stopped to think about the logistics involved when the unfortunate does happen, maybe the odd pilot who knows he or she is rusty just might decide to brush up on landing technique or as illustrated above, taxiing technique.

Stuff happens. You can't bring so many aircraft together and have nothing happen. The world doesn't work that way. Still, when the unfortunate does happen, I want to hear it from the perspective of the first responders, the controllers, the FBO, the repair facility and its mechanics, the pilot involved...all of it. That type of slant is what makes the TV show "ICE PILOTS" so popular with pilots and the public. The EAA has proven to be very professional employing its camera and sound crews. The production value of its videos can be excellent. As EAA members, we know the propaganda about AirVenture. Sell that part of the story to the public but maybe it is time to give a little more focus to its pilot population and share the unvarnished INSIDE scoop, the sometimes ugly truth about what can and does occur. After all, what better learning experience for pilots of all experience than is found on the celebrated grounds of our beloved Oshkosh?

FlyingRon
08-07-2011, 07:05 AM
I've seen some really bad screwups at Oshkosh, but I've seen some really good things as well. We got alerted (I work Flight Line in Vintage which has a standby job of crowd control in the case of an accident to keep the crowd back and out of the emergency access lanes) that there was a P-51 coming in that only had one main gear down. The pilot did a text book job of keeping it flying on the one gear until she bled all the speed off and when it came to rest it was a non-event.

But you are right, I can't tell you the number of times I've seen people bottom out coming off the taxiway onto the grass no matter how many times we give them the slow down signal.

Janet Davidson
08-07-2011, 06:53 PM
Rick,


Think of the sick feeling that guy must have felt upon his dramatic arrival in Oshkosh

That pretty much says it all for me. Why on earth would anyone then want to have the press etc crawling all over them, dissecting their piloting skills & lives just for your pleasure?

A clearly written accident report for the NTSB should that be required is available to whoever is interested enough to take the time to find it, read it and hopefully, learn from it.

Not turn one person's misfortune in to some sort of media circus.

Bill Greenwood
08-07-2011, 09:13 PM
Rick, we were unable to get out Mon eve with the long lines and delays. We had the same thing Tue eve, but I shut down some and must have taken off just minutes before the accident airplane arrived.
On arrival Sat we had to taxi all the way from the south end of 18 to parking near Super 8. On Mon eve had to taxi from Super8 area down to rwy 27 end, never got to take off and on Tue eve taxi all the way from Orion FBO back up to the end of rwy 9, all on the grass. They would not less us singles use the taxiway.
It was pretty bumpy, I was worried about banging a prop, and the general bouncing around. I didn't hit anything and surprisingly I didn't see anyone else hit either, but there may have been.

Bill Greenwood
08-07-2011, 09:23 PM
I recall when Connie Bowlin had the landing in the P-51 with one gear down, and one up. She circled for quite awhile trying to get the other gear down or at least both up. A belly landing with both up is not a major risk, but with one down the plane could flip and she might not get out. But something was broken and jamned in there, and finally she came in. Lots of us were saying a prayer. She did a fine landing and even though it spun around when the wing tip hit, it stayed upright.
There was also a gear up landing by a T-28, but not much suspense or damage.

Diana
08-11-2011, 07:21 AM
Item: Tuesday, July 26 around 7:40 more or less, I was witnessing the always fascinating organized chaos of getting all the departures out while working in the inevitable last minute arrivals. On this particular evening, Runway 9 was in use. Such as it was when something happened. I did not actually see what occurred but I could partly see the result....a red high wing aircraft resting at an acute angle. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I believe the accident airplane just arrived. Several emergency vehicles immediately swarmed the aircraft. As a consequence, all departures suddenly came to a screaming halt. A few departing aircraft, apparently tired of waiting did peel away from the stalled queue and taxied to parking in the grass. It took many minutes for the emergency crews to clear the incident aircraft away from the runway. Departures finally resumed and that occurred just minutes before official closing time of 8:00 P.M. In the end, those that decided to leave managed to leave but for the last of the departures, that was past 8:00 P.M. As for what part of the damaged aircraft I could see, anybody know what that was about?
I happened to be sitting on the south side of Runway 9, near the registration booth, watching landings when that happened. It was a pretty Cessna 195. The landing looked good, as well as the roll-out. The ground loop seemed to start as the pilot was trying to get off the runway, into the grass, to the north. After changing directions, it went off the runway on the south side of the runway, I heard a loud crunch of metal...you know...that sad, sickening sound. :( Then it was sitting crooked, mostly off the runway. I texted a Cessna 195 friend to make sure it wasn't him. Took a few shots of it with my phone. Sad arrival for that pilot. :( Timing was bad, too, since a lot of people were trying to arrive and leave right before the cut-off.

FlyingRon
08-11-2011, 01:47 PM
I recall when Connie Bowlin had the landing in the P-51 with one gear down, and one up.
I believe this is the same incident I was referring to.