VIDEO: Vintage Grumman TBM Avenger Ditches Off the Beach, Florida, 17 Apr 2021

[challenger_nami]

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Vintage Grumman TBM Avenger ditches off the beach, narrowly missing swimmers in a public swimming area.
The aircraft was part of the Cocoa Beach Airshow.

. No injuries reported.
. Date: April 17th 2021.
. Cocoa Beach, Florida.
. Aircraft type and model: Grumman TBM Avenger (Contributed by user @New Antique Pilot)

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/e14c_MhDwQ4


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[New Antique Pilot]

Grumman TBM Avenger

NAP

[challenger_nami]

Thanks for the info NAP.

[Inverted2]

Excellent forced ditching but he’s lucky he didn’t hit anyone swimming. Pretty close to shore to save the aircraft but it could have ended a lot worse.

[photofly]

Would PilotDAR (or anyone else knowledgeable) comment on the work needed to get the plane airworthy again?

[photofly]

double post

[AirFrame]

Would PilotDAR (or anyone else knowledgeable) comment on the work needed to get the plane airworthy again?

I don't know if this is *needed* per se, but a number of years ago a Harvard pilot ditched his aircraft short of the runway at Delta, BC. Forget whether it was fuel starvation or engine trouble that precipitated it. The aircraft was carefully lifted back to dry land, the wings (and maybe tail) removed, and then it was lifted and lowered into the pilot's fresh-water filled swimming pool.. where it was irrigated for some time to wash out the salt residue.

Last I checked that Harvard was still flying... Airshows too.

[PilotDAR]

Were this to have been a Canadian airplane, Standard 625, Appendix G (12) would apply:

https://tc.canada.ca/en/corporate-servi ... tions-cars

In any case, as I expect that this plane would have been zinc chromate'd inside, and with fresh paint, as long as it is very thoroughly rinsed with fresh water, and everything overhauled, I'm sure it'll fly again. The pilot seemed to do a great job of ditching, so perhaps the damage was minimal.

[DH82EH]

The airplane will need to be completely disassembled and very promptly flushed with lots fresh water.
Everything should then be covered in something like ACF-50 or equivalent corrosion inhibitor.
All of the avionics are probably junk.
The prop got bent, but is likely repairable. They can be straightened if the bend radius is not too sharp.
The engine will need a full teardown.
The flight controls should be stripped of fabric and the hinges checked. they have been bashed about in the surf.
It will be expensive, but someone will rebuild this Avenger.

[valleyboy]

The "turkey" was built like a brick shit house, I personally know of a couple of guys that have put them in the trees and walked away(bud worm spraying). If there is an aircraft on this planet you would want to be in under those conditions the turkey is right near the top.

I would assume very little damage in the ditching. So drag it up on shore and truck it away.

https://nbavengers.com/history-of-the-s ... 8-to-1993/

[New Antique Pilot]

The "turkey" was built like a brick shit house, I personally know of a couple of guys that have put them in the trees and walked away(bud worm spraying). If there is an aircraft on this planet you would want to be in under those conditions the turkey is right near the top.

I would assume very little damage in the ditching. So drag it up on shore and truck it away.

https://nbavengers.com/history-of-the-s ... 8-to-1993/

Apparently they did a lot of damage dragging it out of the water and up the beach. Environmental concerns took precedence over a good recovery.

NAP

836957CF-6ABE-4440-B974-CFEE74AC9A6A.jpeg (327.72 KiB) Viewed 1573 times

[valleyboy]

As I speak

This would be a very viable rebuild when you think of what they resurrect from hulls after years in the bush.

[New Antique Pilot]

As I speak

This would be a very viable rebuild when you think of what they resurrect from hulls after years in the bush.

Very true. Apparently the pilot of this TBM had another bad day with a TBM back in 2009.
He had just taken off from an airport in New Jersey and noticed that the left wing was on fire. He got it back on the ground quickly but still experienced major burns before he got out.

NAP

[linecrew]

It seems there is a lot more to this story....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVFwYqueJ58

[pelmet]

Here is what Juan said. Basically Rah, Rah. Super professional, good job.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZurqpGk ... Qoeoyqs3s1

Then you hear the real story and you shake your head. I don't pay much attention to Juan. I think he makes assumptions and jumps to conclusions in general and has a tendency to talk authoritatively about certain things when he should state that he just doesn't know.

These two videos are a good example of the BS you can run into in aviation(and no doubt elsewhere) where it can be extremely difficult to know the real truth. You have to dig, and dig and dig to get to it and much of the time, there is just no way to find out anything useful for a particular incident when so far away from knowing the inside scoop.

Be suspicious of the credibility of anybody who who seems to automatically give accolades or condemn with no evidence favouring either.

Maybe I should start a Youtube thing;).

[PilotDAR]

Dan Gryder's video is pretty telling. Letting alone the comments about personalities, and opinions about the work accomplished on the engine pre flight, the simple fact that the pilot continued the flight after being told by two people that the plane was trailing smoke is unforgivable. Let alone the value of a rare, antique airplane, which should be flown at reduced risk, the plane should not have been flown "onward" in an unairworthy condition, when a "land as soon as possible" might have saved the plane, the day, and certainly reduced risk to people on the ground.

We pilots need to raise the bar on risk taking, normalization of deviance does not work, particularly in this type of operation!

[CL-Skadoo!]

Dealing with ancient aircraft and large EGOs here, you gotta think this was inevitable. With these attitudes, it's a miracle it wasn't worse.

Good job on the pilot by saving the bose headset from the salt water immersion.