Hard Landing

[Mac Bowden]

Recent hard landing in U.K. No injuries but looks like a write off...... Pity.

http://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=176311

[Mick]

It does look a little hard. Any one hurt ?

[Doug G.]

Probably could have repaired it except for the damage by wing root.

[Anticept]

Hard to see, but nice catch on that crack.

 

I was looking more at the firewall area.

 

Hell I would fix it if they give me the airframe

[Doug G.]

Get a hold of the insurance company, you'll get a deal. Don't expect FD to help you in that repair. They won't want to have anything to do with a repair in that area. (Of course the shipping may be an issue.)

[CT4ME]

A couple of the sources say two aboard, no injuries.  

[Doug G.]

He said no injuries in the post.

[FastEddieB]

I'm eager for more details.

 

The good news is how well the CT seems to protect occupants.

 

The bad news (again) is what seems like a lot of damage for a typical Light Sport landing accident. Which may imply a lot of energy carried into the landing.

 

Or not. Again, love to hear the details on this one.

[Anticept]

We've repaired wing roots before.

 

In fact, aside from landing gear, everything is repairable on our aircraft. The spars might be a pain in the butt and FD would likely want to repair them under their engineer's supervision, but it's all fixable.

[FlyingMonkey]

There's hard landings, and there are HARD landings.  

 

This one looks like the latter.  

[Mac Bowden]

Just to reiterate, no one was injured and if you follow the sources you can read the witnesses observations. My interest in this accident was the outcome of the occupants and the integrity of the cockpit area. The 'egg' seems to have been unaffected....... Good result.

[Doug G.]

We've repaired wing roots before.

 

In fact, aside from landing gear, everything is repairable on our aircraft. The spars might be a pain in the butt and FD would likely want to repair them under their engineer's supervision, but it's all fixable.

I have not shared this before, but I flipped my 2008 CTLS after an off runway excursion that dropped into a three foot ditch between the runway and taxiway. The nose wheel was detached in the soft wet dirt and the plane slowly nosed over onto the wings. The engine was not damaged and the plane was in much better shape than the one pictured here, but the spar box at the wing root was damaged. At first it sounded like it was repairable, but FD the German FD composit tech said FD would not do the repair work in that area and would not take responsibility for it. That led to the totaling of the plane an insurance payment to me, and the plane being sold and parted out. As usual a number of things contributed to the accident, but the positive is that I am a much more cautious pilot who spends a great deal of time practicing the basics.

Oh, I was not hurt except for a tiny scratch on my pinky that didn't bleed and was about 1/4" long. That was written up as a "minor injury."

[FlyingMonkey]

Just to reiterate, no one was injured and if you follow the sources you can read the witnesses observations. My interest in this accident was the outcome of the occupants and the integrity of the cockpit area. The 'egg' seems to have been unaffected....... Good result.

 

Mac, that grass looks tall.  What this a hard landing at an airport, or an off-airport landing?  If the latter, a REALLY good result.

 

EDIT:   Ah, I read the description, looks like RLOC on landing that put them in the tall grass.

[Anticept]

I have not shared this before, but I flipped my 2008 CTLS after an off runway excursion that dropped into a three foot ditch between the runway and taxiway. The nose wheel was detached in the soft wet dirt and the plane slowly nosed over onto the wings. The engine was not damaged and the plane was in much better shape than the one pictured here, but the spar box at the wing root was damaged. At first it sounded like it was repairable, but FD the German FD composit tech said FD would not do the repair work in that area and would not take responsibility for it. That led to the totaling of the plane an insurance payment to me, and the plane being sold and parted out. As usual a number of things contributed to the accident, but the positive is that I am a much more cautious pilot who spends a great deal of time practicing the basics.

Oh, I was not hurt except for a tiny scratch on my pinky that didn't bleed and was about 1/4" long. That was written up as a "minor injury."

 

Well that's unfortunate. I'd really like to get ahold of a cabin to make a sim out of.

[FlyingMonkey]

I'd really like to get ahold of a cabin to make a sim out of.

 

THAT would be cool.  Now I'm thinking about that too!  

 

If it doesn't have to be CT specific, I'm sure you could find an old Cessna, Taylorcraft, Luscomb, etc cabin from a rusted out hulk to use.

[Anticept]

I do want it to be CT specific.

[FlyingMonkey]

I do want it to be CT specific.

 

There must be insurance auctions and such for wrecked airplane hulks...

[Anticept]

Usually totals mean the hull isn't in very good shape. I've asked a lot already.

[FastEddieB]

Until we have more info, might the thread title be a misnomer?

 

I mean, I can picture a smooth but fast touchdown that did not go to heck until the swerve took it into inhospitable terrain.

 

Again, looks like a LOT of damage if touchdown was at or near stall speed.

[Anticept]

To me, it looks like a grass operation gone wrong. There's grass embedded in the prop, and I know GA in Britain pretty much only operates out of backwoods grass strips due to how much their ATC doesn't like little planes buzzing in their airspace. And from the amount of prop damage, I want to believe they were not at idle power, chopping blades off before the engine finally stopped, probably once that bottom right blade dug in and it came to rest on the spinner.

 

EDIT: It kindof looks like the left blade broke off from front to back instead of torsionally, so maybe they were at idle.

 

EDIT 2: Article does claim gear collapsed after landing, but also says "crash landed"...

[Mac Bowden]

In the middle of the Aviation Safe report link it states that the aircraft drifted during landing. Looking at the website for the airfield it's looks like the long grass could be easy enough to get into with a strong crosswind.

 

http://northcoatesflyingclub.com/flight-information/

[IrishAl]

Mac, 
I recall you once saying that you were always hot on the rudder pedals when landing in your CT2K......I assume due to the smaller vertical stab.

There's a fair likelihood that this was one that 'got away' and ran out of rudder authority, thereby ending up in the grass - ?

 

(BTW, it's a CT2k, not a CTSW as stated in the report.)

[procharger]

go around might have saved this one I'll do one when ever I think I going to screw it up

[Mac Bowden]

IrishAl, that invitation to visit still stands.I've made the run off areas wider by removing the 4 feet deep ditch beside the 12 feet tarmac runway. Hence the busy feet! Fred Astaire would be proud.

[Doug G.]

go around might have saved this one I'll do one when ever I think I going to screw it up

Yup, two other things I learned from my off runway excursion - go around and keep active on the rudder. I thought I would be OK on the grass between the runway and the taxiway until I got to the on ramp and the 3' ditch on the other side.

Also, one thing my instructor never talked about was transition training. I didn't have any. No excuses, I screwed up, but I had a bit of benign assistance along the way.