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dave(at)cfisher.com
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 Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:27 am Post subject: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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Good story here and another reason that your should be able to do dead stick landings in Realtime.
This fellow had 225 TT since 1978 and flew his Kitfox for 9 years. He has averaged 8 hours per year it seems.
Dave
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_objectid=17430372&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=ponty-air-crash-pilot-tells-of-horror-name_page.html
Ponty air crash pilot tells of horror
Jul 22 2006
Pilot relives the horror of his Pontypridd air crash
Ben Glaze, South Wales Echo
The pilot of a plane which crashed on an industrial estate today told of the journey's terrifying last moments.
Engineer Allan Dove fought desperately to ground the plane safely after it experienced engine problems 2,000ft above Pontypridd at lunchtime on Tuesday.
'It's not like the movies where your whole life flashes before you, but I realised we were in a very bad situation with diminishing options and I was trying very hard to concentrate on making the right choice,' said Allan.
He and his wife Pat, both 53, were taking their self-built two-seater Kitfox on a short pleasure flight from Cardiff International Airport when they got into difficulty.
Allan tried to make an emergency landing in a field, but bounced off a unit at Treforest Industrial Estate, near Pontypridd, before coming to rest upside down on the central reservation of a busy dual carriageway. Miraculously, they both escaped with minor injuries
Today, Allan, who began flying in 1978 and has amassed 225 hours' flying time, said: 'We had engine trouble above the Rhondda. The obvious thing to do would have been to get to Cardiff because there's more chance of finding flat land.
'But I could see we weren't going to clear the valley, which is quite steep at that point.
'The engine seemed like it was going to stop any moment and I didn't want to come down on any buildings or the road.
'My options were reduced to the field below. But I didn't approach it right. Nervousness cost me the correct positioning - if I had got it right I would have managed to land safely.
'I bounced on the field and could see we were approaching a line of trees which we would have hit at 50mph.
'They were very close together and there wasn't enough space to go in between them. I'm sure if we had hit that wall of trees we would have been killed. It was quite frightening.
'Just as we were trying to lift across the factory unit and try to land on the field again, the engine stopped completely and one of my wheels clipped the roof.
'It was terrifying. We were in shock. It was a blur because it all happened so fast and we were spinning.
'I released my seatbelt, came round and got my wife and disentangled her from the wreckage. Those seatbelts saved our lives.'
He admitted the plane went down so suddenly he didn't even have time to think about their 14-year-old daughter, Lucy.
'You can practise doing these things - and we do quite often - but when you have to do it for real and conditions are slightly different, you don't perhaps perform as well as you should,' he said.
The pair, who have based their plane at Rhoose since February when their airline moved from Hampshire, walked away with cuts and bruises.
'I'm very grateful to everyone who came to assist us, and particularly the staff at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, who were marvellous,' said Allan, who added that he intends to fly again.
'It's always been my dream to fly. I built that aircraft and have had nine years of totally safe flying,' he said.
'But now I think I'll become part of a flying school.'
An Air Accident Investigation Branch inquiry is under way.
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mike
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| Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:18 am Post subject: Re: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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I like the amassed 225 hours. Heck, I've done more than that in the last year. He sounded like he really loves to fly, but in 9 years he didn't show he's flown very much. Probably had bad gas or something in the tanks, as much as he flew. This whole thing comes down to, most people put in about 10hrs a year. Pretty sad.
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RichWill
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 24
Location: Southern Maine
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| Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:27 pm Post subject: Re: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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Ditto... 225hrs in 9 years??? Or 25 hours a year...!! Not saying , dead stick landing is any picnic, nor would I like to exp one as a surprize..but experience counts for alot here... Heck , I fly at least 100hrs a year and probably do 25 of that on shortfields and deadsticks...
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jc(at)arcom.com.au
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| Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:05 pm Post subject: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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Talk about dead stick landings, I had one on my first flight in my own plane
Aeropup from 800 ft turning onto final, diverted into a ploughed paddock and
no damage, it landed better without engine Rotax 2 stroke than with engine
ticking over, at the time I had not passed that in my training so the
instructor said he could tick that one off ! and it was my first flight in
that type.
rgds
John
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wingnut
Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 356
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:24 am Post subject: Re: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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You where 800ft up on final and you couldn't make the runway?
| Quote: | Aeropup from 800 ft turning onto final, diverted into a ploughed paddock and
no damage |
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mike
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:49 pm Post subject: Re: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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my guess is, with a first landing in training situation, he was probably on an airline approach, you know, the final is about 3 miles out. Just taking a guess.
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jc(at)arcom.com.au
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| Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:54 pm Post subject: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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Thats right ... I was not prepared to risk diving under a single power line
and then hope to have enough momentum to make it over the fence so I played
it safe !
If it was not for the obstructions it would have not been a problem, as it
was I gave a couple of radio calls and my son was out there with the trailer
to pick it up in no time, wings folded and off.
rgds
John
---
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wingnut
Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 356
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| Posted: Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:04 pm Post subject: Re: Kitfox Crash talk after the fact |
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ah. That makes sense. Scary stuff landing off field. I try to make it a habbit to scope out possible emergency landing sites wherever I fly. When possible, I like to double check from the ground. Often, the field looks much uglier from the ground than it does from the air. Power lines can be very hard to spot and they're all over the place out here in SC. They just don't like to bury those things.
Luis Rodriguez
824KF
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