Student Pilot Falls Out of Aircraft

[Floatsflyer]

This is tragic but also a headscratcher. In all my 39 years of flying I have never heard of such an event. And with an instructor on board, hard to fathom.

Buckle up folks!

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/30/tennessee-police-search-for-man-who-fell-from-plane/

Addendum: Another more recent report says he was not a student but in fact an experienced pilot who was being checked out in the plane he had recently purchased.

[David Pavlich]

Tragic, indeed, but bizarre. I wonder how long it will be until they release any details? David

[58boner]

Turbulence? seatbelt? Aerobatics? Seatbelt? When I was in A&P school a student pilot brought a C-150 back with a broken and mostly missing back window. His claim was a brief case that had been in the baggage compartment must have hit the window and broken it. A forceful interrogation revealed the student pilot had been out practicing aerobatics in the 150 when the window blew out. Not implying any subterfuge here, just sayin' there must be a lot more to this story!

[WLIU]

Funny things can happen in airplanes. Every once in a while the results are tragic.

A somewhat more humorous story - A number of years ago, I recall that there was maybe a NJ ANG F16 driver who went to use the "piddle pack" and somehow snaggeg the stick in his flight suit or harness. I believe that I recall the story as the airplane started rapidly rolling and the pilot could not get untangled. Essentially lost control of the airplane and finally ejected to avoid being part of the crash. Probably had to suffer through a lot of commentary back at the ready room.

Fly safe,

Wes
N78PS

[Jim Heffelfinger]

http://news.yahoo.com/body-pilot-fell-2-500-feet-plane-found-195402250.html

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Search crews in rural Tennessee have found the body of a man who fell an estimated 2,500 feet to his death after the cockpit canopy of his airplane opened, officials said on Saturday.
"They found him in a tree line, not too far off the road," about a half-mile from a volunteer fire station, said Bob Gault, spokesman for the Bradley County Sheriff's Office.
Gault said he would have to wait until the National Transportation Safety Board completes an investigation before confirming reports that the man was not wearing his safety harness and that the plane had gone into a nosedive at the time of the accident late on Friday afternoon.
Emergency personnel from Bradley County as well as a Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopter were called into the search for the missing man after his co-pilot was able to fly the plane back toCollegedale Municipal Airport after the accident, according to Gault.
Local reports said that man who died was an experienced pilot who was being trained to fly the plane, which he had recently purchased.
Gault said the single-engine aircraft left Collegedale Municipal Airport just outside Chattanooga between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday. The flight path took them over southern Bradley County, a rural area with many farms and few communities.
"There were two pilots on board," Gault said. "At some point during their flight, the canopy on the aircraft malfunctioned and, as a result, one of the pilots was ejected."
Search efforts from the air and on the ground were unsuccessful Friday night and resumed on Saturday morning. Gault said the fact that the body was in a tree line probably kept it from being spotted from the air.
The names of the pilots involved have not been released. A worker at the airport who asked not to be identified said both men were experienced pilots and "real nice guys."
(Editing by Nick Carey and Gunna Dickson)

[Jim Heffelfinger]

all other notes on the web are rehash of the same assumed wire service notes.

[Joe Delene]

One possible reason that may make sense is if he unstrapped & tried to close the canopy. The other guy that was with him should know some details.

[Floatsflyer]

One possible reason that may make sense is if he unstrapped & tried to close the canopy.

The canopy of the Zenith hinges at the front and opens from the back to a forward position. Unless there was a complete mechanism failure and the canopy just blew off, seems to me that the slipstream would of held it in a downward position somewhat which would not have necessitated unstrapping.

[rwanttaja]

The canopy of the Zenith hinges at the front and opens from the back to a forward position. Unless there was a complete mechanism failure and the canopy just blew off, seems to me that the slipstream would of held it in a downward position somewhat which would not have necessitated unstrapping.
Note that the top-fuselage shape is that of an airfoil, so there's a lot of lift forces at work. The canopy will rise until the drag overcomes the lift.

Here's a video that shows the pilot of a similar airplane deliberately opening his canopy in flight.... it opens surprisingly wide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGv0JqKJse4

Add additional "lift" from 180 pounds of wetware hitting it, and I'm figuring it'll open wide enough for exit. Note how wide one of the commenters in vhe video said *his* opened.

Ron Wanttaja

[Scrappman]

some one could figure out what chapter is local and call'm,,, someone has to know these guys,,,

[WLIU]

I will suggest that a front hinged canopy opening in flight will change the airflow over the horizontal stab. My off-the-cuff visualization suggest the result will be pitch up. If the pilot flying overreacts and pushes nose down too much too fast, which might cause the canopy to open further, might add up to how an unbelted individual could get started exiting the aircraft.

I have been in the back of a cargo aircraft when the pilot put us into zero G. I started to float out the open door. A friend who was anchored grabbed me and pulled me back inside. I was intending, and equipped to leave the airplane, but that particular spot would have been inconvenient.

So it is possible that the change in aircraft flight characteristics and the pilot reaction, combined with the deceased being unharnessed, could have resulted in what we see.

Fly safe,

Wes
N78PS

[Kyle Boatright]

So it is possible that the change in aircraft flight characteristics and the pilot reaction, combined with the deceased being unharnessed, could have resulted in what we see.

Fly safe,

Wes
N78PS

I'm betting control interference. Guy reaches up to close the canopy, can't quite reach it, braces his foot or arm on something solid. Gives it a push, and oops, he was pushing the control stick. Negative G's, open canopy, and bye-bye....

We had an Ercoupe fatal here 10 years ago where the airplane suffered an engine failure, was seen gliding to a landing in a field, disappeared behind a treeline, and was found with two fatalities from a very high angle crash into the field. Being an Ercoupe, you know it didn't stall. The only thing that made sense was that the pilot told the passenger to brace for landing and the passenger braced against something like the control column and pushed...

[Skydriver]

Or the flying pilot does an unannounced or unusual maneuver and the naive passenger pilot is not correctly strapped in to an unfamiliar aircraft. Since he just bought the airplane and was receiving instruction, it is quite possible he was a passive observer and likely not PIC. Stupid things have been done by owner/sellers on demo flights.

Anybody remember student pilot days when your instructor did something unannounced to test you.

[Kyle Boatright]

Slight change of direction. Today I was at a local restaurant for lunch and they had the news on TV. The commentator was covering this story. At some point, he started down the path of: "If you fly in one of these poorly built kit planes people build in their garage..."

I really hate when newspeople inject opinion/bias/baseless assumptions into what should be news stories. If it is a news segment, give me news. If it is an opinion segment, give me opinion. But maintain an obvious line of demarcation...

[cub builder]

Post deleted as the info was incorrect.

[rwanttaja]

I would put this under third hand rumors, but what I heard yesterday from someone that always seems to have the skinny on stuff like this is that they had a control issue, like something like a cell phone or similar had fallen out of a pocket and was blocking the controls. That would explain why someone was unbelted as he may have been squirming around trying to dig something out of the controls under the seat. It could also explain bumping into the controls while unbelted, possibly creating a negative G situation where he may have exited the aircraft with the canopy.


Not according to the NTSB Preliminary:

According to the flight instructor's written statement, the private pilot purchased the airplane about 3 weeks before the accident and was not familiar with it. The flight instructor agreed to provide instruction in the airplane and first wanted familiarize himself with it. The flight instructor flew the airplane solo uneventfully on two occasions, for a total of approximately 2 hours, with the second flight ending just before the accident flight began. After his second solo flight, the flight instructor shut down the engine and reviewed the airplane's characteristics with the private pilot. They then returned to the airplane, took their time entering the cockpit, fastened their seatbelts and secured the canopy; however, they were unable to start the engine.

The private pilot subsequently unlatched and raised the canopy to call for assistance from ground personnel. A ground person provided a charger for the airplane's battery. As he started to attach the charger, the private pilot unbuckled his seatbelt to assist; however, the ground person stated that the private pilot did not need to get out of the airplane as he did not require any help. The private pilot then put his seatbelt back on, more hastily than the first time, and appeared to fasten it again. The flight instructor thought he heard a "click," but could not see the private pilot's seatbelt with the center console between them. The pilots lowered the canopy and latched it a second time for the planned 20-minute flight.

About 5 minutes into the flight, the flight instructor heard a wind noise from behind their heads, which he did not hear on previous flights and thought that perhaps the canopy did not have a perfect seal to the fuselage. As the flight progressed, the canopy seemed like it may have separated a little more. By that time, the flight was headed back to the airport. The canopy then pulled up enough on the latches that the flight instructor could see daylight through the openings between the canopy and fuselage. The flight instructor attempted to pull the canopy down, but it instead opened completely and the airplane entered a negative g dive. He was not sure if the change in airflow or a control input by the private pilot caused the dive. The private pilot lifted out of his seat and ejected out of the cockpit. The flight instructor was able to grab the control stick, arrest the dive, and land back at FGU uneventfully. Emergency responders later recovered the private pilot in a wooded area.

Ron Wanttaja

[Floatsflyer]

Thanks for posting Ron. A chilling account and a cautionary tale. Buckle up and make sure you're secure and then check again.

[pacerpilot]

This serves as a horrible reminder to not get complacent.