South Calgary Crash

[Strega]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/s ... sh-tr.html


Too much air in the tanks??


S

[Doc]

Have I got this right? He landed short of the runway, deplaned his passengers and blasted off to try to make it to the runway? They're kidding, right?

[GyvAir]

The Sun phrases their headline differently:
Okotoks pilot injured after crashing plane twice
Photo

[jpilot77]

Good job!

[grimey]

Pretty bad when you ask yourself what you can learn from an accident, and the best thing you can come up with is that some people are too stupid to be allowed to fly.

[7thirtyseven]

I Love these kind of stories.... Cant wait for more details.

[oldtimer]

According to the Civil Aircraft Register the airplane was a privatly owned PA32RT-300T which I think is a turbo Lance or Saratoga registered to a company in Edmonton.

[pelmet]

Occurrence No. : A13W0090 Occurrence Type: ACCIDENT

Class : CLASS 5 Reportable Type:

Date : 01-07-2013 Time : 21:40 MDT

Region of Responsibility : WESTERN

Location : CFX2 OKOTOKS AIR PARK, ALBERTA




Aircraft Information:


Registration : C-GJDC Operator :





Manufacturer : PIPER Operator Type: PRIVATE

Model : PA-32RT-300T CARs Info:


Injuries: Fatal : 0 Serious : 0 Minor : 1 None : 0 Unknown : 0




Occurrence Summary :

A13W0090: The privately operated Piper PA-32RT-300T (Turbo Lance II), C-GJDC, was arriving at Okotoks, AB (CFX2) from Elko, BC (CBE2) when the engine (Avco Lycoming TIO-540-S1AD) began to lose power while downwind for Runway 16. The pilot switched fuel tanks with no change. With insufficient power to maintain altitude, the pilot conducted a successful forced landing in a stubble field approximately 1 km north of the airport. Two passengers and two dogs exited the aircraft and additional fuel (approximately 30 litres) was added for an attempt to reposition the aircraft to the airport. Shortly after becoming airborne from the stubble field (1 foot stubble), the aircraft struck a chain link fence and landed heavily short of the runway resulting in substantial damage to the aircraft. The pilot sustained injuries.

[crazy_aviator]

Maybe they should take his drivers licence as well

[Mdog]

I see three possible scenarios:

1. Miss judged takeoff roll on stubble and was unable to clear the fence.

2. Miss judged his short final and snagged the fence.

3. Wanted to help the farmer cut hay, didn't see the fence.

I'm guessing #1, hope he's alright.

[pdw]

1. Miss judged takeoff roll on stubble and was unable to clear the fence.

Lots of rain there in previous days. Soft field. No stubble yet .. until after grain harvest, likely just after the first cut of hay.

[Sidebar]

Shortly after becoming airborne from the stubble field (1 foot stubble) ...

Stubble one foot high? I would not want to take off from such a surface with a plane like this one.

[pdw]

High humidity on both counts if the first landing is from being choked off with carb heat application during prelanding check "downwind rwy 16" (a 1978 model), after a long descent.

The take off is near 100% humidity from evaporation/transpiration over a 12" moist/green field (this time of year) at 25C /8pm at 3-4000ft.

EDIT: You're saying ... a lot of excess power used up just pushing against the one foot high "stubble".

[Sidebar]

You're saying ... a lot of excess power used up just pushing against the one foot high "stubble".

"Excess power used up" is gobbledygook. This is not about power; it's about drag. Stubble one foot high is a major drag factor which reduces acceleration. In my opinion, it is an unacceptable takeoff surface for most fixed wing aircraft, never mind a PA-32.

Safety, according to TC, is "management of risk to an acceptable level." Does anyone out there think that taking off in a foot of stubble in a PA-32 is an acceptable risk?

[iflyforpie]

High humidity on both counts if the first landing is from being choked off with carb heat application during prelanding check "downwind rwy 16" (a 1978 model), after a long descent.

Not sure how carb heat is applicable in an aircraft with a TIO-540-S1AD......

[pdw]

Didn't see that at first ...

It didn't say they ran out, just that it lost power on downwind.

"Fuel problem" ... could also be refering to grade or quality

[crazy_aviator]

(approximately 30 litres) was added for an attempt to reposition the aircraft to the airport.

Cadors,,,,, A little over 7 gallons,,, enough for a circuit and still be legal Like i said before, should this fella also be in possession of a drivers licence with his decision making abilitie(s) ? ( First poor decision was most likely attempting to fly to destination WITHOUT enough fuel )

[Pratt X 3]

So the engine lost power in the downwind and the plane ended up landing 1 km from the airport. Hmm...

[Strega]

Who cares about the stubble.. or the humidity, or the fact "I" or not...

This bone head ran out of gas...

This bone head couldnt make the rwy from the dwnwnd

This bone head didnt have the judgment to throw in the towel and accept defeat and park the plane

This bone head not only put his px in an extreme situation of risk, but also the public

This bone head should not be permitted to fly for a long time... period


S

[light chop]

Stupid question:

if he refueled it and managed to make a successful takeoff and got it back onto the runway and tied down - would anyone be the wiser?
Would it be a reportable incident (in theory no damage, no injuries)?

How many times does this happen in a year and nobody knows about it?

[oldtimer]

I looked on Google maps and the airplane probably landed in crop land. To stop soil erosion in the wind, most farmers leave last years stubble in place and simply seed in the stubble so my guess is 6 or so inches of new crop rising up between one foot of old stubble. I personally would not even attempt a take-off in a lightly loaded Super Cub in those conditions, let alone in a Lance. Lots of roads in the area where the airplane could be towed to the airport.

[Sidebar]

This bone head ...

I think what people care about is helping the next would be "bone head" to avoid making a bad decision.

[pdw]

The "bonehead" post makes a good case for 'dough brain', seeing it was after a long weekend of holidaying.

But I'll be waiting for the report, if there is one, to see what exactly this fuel issue is all about before drawing the conclusion.

Was this a return leg ? Then it's probably the same tank of fuel, ... no fueling at Elko BC grass strip. What kind/ weight of gas ? Same as the "30 litres"/"7gal" ? One fuel can have a better burnrate (less used) than another for the same power produced ... which means if the grade is poor (poorer than the last filling) it will also use up more of your fuel-level faster than you expect ... faster than planned.

Depart Elko at 30C, short-rwy / high-density-alt / not-overloaded ... good job! ... but a heat-inflated gauge-indication (typical on old-style gauges) is showing the pilot an acceptable minimum fuel level for a 120 NM trip back home (yet only customary from cooler days and/or better/denser grade) now in less favourable than expected crosswind from the south (was more southeast and stronger) for an eastbound leg seldom with headwind.

PS: Shouldn't have taken that 20 minute sightseeing flight on the Sunday ....

[crazy_aviator]

Just a quick story to show that when we are young, we naturally are less wise,, I borrowed a customers Cessna 150, and on the way back from Washingtom DC to Ontario, I was flying into an unexpected headwind, the engine stuttered and quit when the gauges were still reading 1/4 and 1/3 ( And i thought i had LR tanks ) I dead-sticked off the tableland into a harvested corn field. Went to the airport and got 10 gallons of good stuff, loaded up, paced the field and took off to the airport 3 min away. Landed and was given a cell phone ( FAA wanted to chat with me ) well, I spent some time getting the green stalk stains off the prop and gear legs, got to Canada and a few weeks later got a call from the Cessna owner ( apparently TC called him inquiring about the "incident") It took a week to wipe the egg off my face, sent in a report and all was okay. MANY lessons learnt, could have been far worse

[CpnCrunch]

I don't think we need to wait for the report. If he added 30l of fuel to the plane, that means he ran out of fuel.

It looks like Elko doesn't have fuel, but still it's a pretty short trip to Okotoks, and there are lots of airports around there to get fuel.