Amphib Otter crash-France

[Blakey]

Apparently the laws of physics apply in France as well!

http://www.aeroweb-fr.net/actualites/20 ... sur-le-lac

Interesting view of the bottom of the floats as the pax evacuate off the bottom surface of the wing!

[cdnpilot77]

I can't read in French, but seems the gear is in a curious position for landing on water...hmmm....must have been a former French Fighter pilot and the crappy Canadian Airframe not holding up that caused this one

[North Shore]

Mon Francais nest pas le meillure, but I think that this:

La thèse la plus plausible est que les roulettes avant se soient enfoncées dans l'eau à l'amerrissage, entrainant le reste de l'avion. Il semblerait en outre que le propriétaire de l'avion était aux commandes de celui-ci et non le pilote habituel qui a opéré sur le site tout au long du week-end.

means that it wasn't the usual pilot, and that the accident had something to do with the landing gear position - as shown in the picture.

[Just One]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhL2vFFvCP8

Use it to learn from, it could happen to anyone.

[mag check]

I'm really suprised how high it floated upside down and how far it slid on the gear before flipping.

Use it to learn from, it could happen to anyone.

I disagree, it can only happen to a pilot that leaves the gear down, then lands on water.

[Invertago]

Interesting how the main gear grabbed the water, but its the nose gear that pulled it tits over ass. I'm amazed how strong that nose gear is, I've often wondered if they could design a break away system that would shear off if jammed in the water like that, yet would be strong enough to handle the regular forces associated with paved runways.


Or just leave the gear up landing on the water, but that doesn't seem to be working well.

[. ._]

I'm used to seeing this video of a faster flip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6e3n1RYvsI

I think maybe if you have a bigger amphib, you have more time to contemplate your neglect before you get wet and upside down. Maybe it's got to do with all those force vector things I saw in From The Ground Up years ago.

Still, it's good no one was killed.

-istp

[mag check]

I know of a beaver that landed gear down many years ago, and didn't flip. It's the only time I know of. Maybe there is more?

[Pilot_king!]

I have a pretty good bilingual tongue, and the quote earlier says

The planes front wheels caught the sea as the plane was landing. Tthe owner of the plane was flying and the not usual pilot as the plane crashed early into the long weekend.

[Pilot_king!]

After reading further into the article.

The pilot took off just a few minutes earlier from an airport just a few miles away.
No one was hurt except for one person who was airlifted for x-rays. The plane did sink to the bottom of the lake a few mins later. The plane is going to stay there until Agro Inc. can find away to bring it to the surface.

One less Swotter flying.

[iflyforpie]

One less Twotter flying.

Looks like a swotter to me...

I'm really suprised how high it floated upside down

Me too. Fat wings full of air? I would imagine the volume is comparable to the floats.

[gongshowking]

Ive always wondered how much having that revenue seat beside the pilot may play. Yes its still a stupid mistake and pilot shouldnt be distracted but you know how those passengers up front are.

[mag check]

One less Twotter flying.

Looks like a swotter to me...

I'm really suprised how high it floated upside down

Me too. Fat wings full of air? I would imagine the volume is comparable to the floats.

I guess with the inspection panels on the underside of the wings, and the slow roll over not causing much damage, plus the fact it was nose low, keeping the trailing edge out, kept it up.
Even still I was suprised, I would have guessed that it would settle upto mid fuselage.

[Ogee]

An interesting vid to watch in the context of that raging discussion a couple of weeks back about whether to force into trees or water.

Water ain't pretty, but you're never going to be impaled, subjected to blunt force trauma, or burned going into water. Except in the mythical version of what it would be like, in which you still haven't gotten the doors open as you sink past 20 fathoms within 2.5 seconds of hitting the water. This is a good example of what really happens in a water landing. It's even less of a problem with a retractable.

[rigpiggy]

Don't worry she'll fly again, they have lots of parts, and most importantly a dataplate

[Ogee]

Question to those who have the answer...

In that situation, could anything have been done to get everybody out, close the doors, and try and right that thing?

[Fredster]

sad think that happened here ...

I believe something should be done on the amphibious airplanes ... i mean we should devise a way that the wheels lock inside the floats after a certain pitch after landing on water. Wheels out shouldn't make the whole airplane flip afterall ... (we're in 2010 by the way ...)

i agree this white otter looked pretty clean

[crazy_aviator]

I believe a good fix would be to install an arm complete with a boxing glove,,spring loaded to hit the pilot on the side of the head IF the LG is down and the hydro-radar altimeter picks up water below with the throttles retarded !! Another tool would be a hand , arranged to slap the co-pilot on the cheek IN ADVANCE of the boxing glove hit to the pilot !! A third option would be a "squirter" which fills the crews pants full of water,, simulating a water landing with the wheels down !! Which one should i patent ?

[. ._]

LOL! I like them all!

[rigpiggy]

Question to those who have the answer...

In that situation, could anything have been done to get everybody out, close the doors, and try and right that thing?

Uhh NO!

[floatman]

....must have been a former French Fighter pilot and the crappy Canadian Airframe not holding up that caused this one

Hey 77... did your mother have any children that don't ride the short bus?

WTF are you talking about?

[mag check]

Question to those who have the answer...

In that situation, could anything have been done to get everybody out, close the doors, and try and right that thing?

Uhh NO!

Sure there is, but it would depend on having the proper equipment there at the time.
It is not too difficult to flip it back over, but not much time before it goes down.

[xsbank]

This is a perfect example of why pilots will never hit the ranks of 'professionals.' We will be extinct long before that happens.

[c_172pilot]

This is a terrible incident, I am very glad that no one got seriously hurt! (at least by how it appears on the video)

I believe that in Jack Schofields book “Flights of a coast dog" he makes mention of a pilot who landed a single otter with its wheels down on water twice. Luckily the C of G was aft enough that it pitched forward and thrashed the prop in the water but did not flip over. The pilot was given a second chance after the 1st incident but was canned after the second.

What I don’t understand is how this nonsense keeps happening? I flew a beaver on wipline amphibs and as soon as you slowed down below a certain speed (80 KIAS I believe) the airplane would tell you either a: "Gear is up for water landing" Or b: "The gear is down for runway landing". I think the water landing voice was male and the runway landing was female, I cant remember exactly it has been ages! And of course there were the lights that would be either blue for water landings, green for down and locked or red for in transit.

Beyond that there where mirrors positioned all over the airplane so you could see what position the gear was in. I think that this is enough safety features to keep a pilot from landing with his gear in the wrong position. Add in a thorough pre landing check that is not "parroted" as quickly as humanly possible and there is no excuse for landing with your gear in the wrong position.

[Blakey]

Mods,

Is there a particular reason the title of this thread got changed? I have no gripe with the current title but I didn't think the original one was all that inflamatory or contentious!