DHC-2 Crash - Northern BC

[PilotDAR]

the aircraft was 682 pounds over its maximum weight and its centre of gravity was 3.1 inches beyond the aft limit.

Just in case there's any doubt, an aircraft which is stalled, let alone spun in that condition is likely unrecoverable no matter how good a pilot you are, and how much altitude there is. Weight and balance limits are there for a reason. The fact that an aircraft may fly out of limits does not mean it will be flyable as expected during the unexpected. Accidents in which three or four people were on board a 172 which was spun for fun are similar, behind that aft C of G limit. I did some of the slight testing required for the STC approval of the relocation of the engine of the Beaver. It was moved 9 3/4" further forward to allow aft cargo to be carried, and maintaining the C of G limits. I did all the W&B calculations for that, and there were a lot. It is a great mod for keeping a Beaver in balance (and accessing the mags for maintenance too!)

[Independence]

I doubt that a stall horn would have made any difference in this case. I can't imagine a 300 hr private pilot with less than 10 hrs experience with a Beaver on floats, recovering a 700 lb overweight aircraft (that takes climb power to maintain level flight) and that is 100 ft above the trees when it stalls, even if a stall horn did sound.

[SuperchargedRS]

Maybe I read that wrong, but the overweight and aft CG were of course not good, but they were not the cause of the crash, seems choosing a improper altitude for that flight and waiting till the last minute to climb were the cause of the crash.


As much as I enjoy flying low on floats, with the visibility not being restricted and no real cloud decks, seems like if he was a thousand feet higher, which he appears to have easily been able to do, this wouldn't have happened.

Flying low is fun, but I've always been a fan of stay above 5 to stay alive (500AGL).

[Redneck_pilot86]

Maybe I read that wrong, but the overweight and aft CG were of course not good, but they were not the cause of the crash, seems choosing a improper altitude for that flight and waiting till the last minute to climb were the cause of the crash.


As much as I enjoy flying low on floats, with the visibility not being restricted and no real cloud decks, seems like if he was a thousand feet higher, which he appears to have easily been able to do, this wouldn't have happened.

Flying low is fun, but I've always been a fan of stay above 5 to stay alive (500AGL).

What gives you the impression he was easily able to climb another 1000'? I read it that he was unable to climb whilst headed into rising terrain, and he didn't turn away soon enough so when he did start the turn, the bank angle needed for the turn increased the stall speed above the current airspeed. If he was able to easily climb another 1000', he wouldn't have ended up 100 AGL. The trouble started when he couldn't climb.

[C.W.E.]

The trouble started when he couldn't climb.

Or maybe he couldn't climb fast enough to clear the rising terrain?

[SuperchargedRS]

I don't mean a "oh chit" last minute climb, I'm talking picking a cruise altitude that worked for the real estate he was planning on flying over and climbing to that altitude on his INITIAL takeoff and climb.

And I don't believe for a second that beaver was hitting its service ceiling at a few thousand feel MSL lol

[beaverpuq]

Setting climb flap and adding power= great things in a Beaver. It's sad to see guys living out their dreams ending like this.

[co-joe]

A friend with a schwack of time on Beavers told me that when they are slow and heavy, that you have to chose between climbing OR banking, they won't do both. He said he'd been in numerous cases where more than a few degrees of bank required a descent to stay flying. Just because you can get off the water doesn't mean you can manoeuvre so you really need to know what's ahead of you and have a plan before you get there. Sad.

[CpnCrunch]

A friend with a schwack of time on Beavers told me that when they are slow and heavy, that you have to chose between climbing OR banking, they won't do both. He said he'd been in numerous cases where more than a few degrees of bank required a descent to stay flying. Just because you can get off the water doesn't mean you can manoeuvre so you really need to know what's ahead of you and have a plan before you get there. Sad.

Is that when operating within its W+B?

[co-joe]

Knowing him, I doubt it.

[Redneck_pilot86]

This one was well out of W&B as well. I don't know beavers all that well, but 700lbs overweight would be about 150% of the allowable payload, would it not? Its a significant deviation from whats allowed. I could totally see it struggling to climb in those conditions, which could be why he never reduced it from climb power.