Crash landing caught on tape

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

routine training flight

engine starts sputtering 30sec into the clip

instructor takes over and crash land in a field; all caught on tape

 

transcript:

0:09 TOWER - AIW respond to LLMG

0:12 AIW - LLMG responding to LLMG

0:16 AIW - LLMG Hello, AIW approaching Afula (the town ahead) 1500ft for landing

0:22 TOWER - AIW LLMG 1500ft approaching afula

0:27 Student to Instructor - are you taking over?

0:28 Instructor - oh no

0:32 Student - What happened

0:34 Instructor - im taking over, im taking over

0:41 AIW (calling Tower) - Pluto?

0:43 Tower - LLMG

0:47 AIW - with you in a second

0:49 AIW - my engine about to shout off

0:52 Tower - HG 1500ft to Sharon by 2993 (instructions to LLMG for another incoming aircraft)

0:56 Instructor to Student - looks like crash landing in the field

1:01 AIW - Pluto Mayday Mayday Mayday AIW

1:07 Instructor - ooh no, what is going on there?

1:12 AIW - Pluto AIW Mayday Mayday Mayday

1:16 Tower - what's your emergency

1:18 AIW - my engine is sputtering and about to shot off

1:22 AIW - im around Afula; i will be crash landing on a field

1:27 Tower - crash landing on a field? will you be able to land it?

1:29 AIW - affirmative

1:13 Tower - roger that; do you need emergency services sent over?

1:35 AIW - going to land... hmm on the east side of Afula

1:39 Tower - roger that; east side of Afula, if you need help let me know

1:44 AIW - rgr

1:45 Student - are we landing the field?

1:46 Instructor - yes

1:57 Instructor - hold on tight

2:00 Instructor - protect your head

2:14 Instructor - going to hit the trees!

2:28 Instructor - out

[allardjd 1,853]

I guess that gap in the trees was a little too narrow. I never saw him put any flaps down, but hard to tell.

The student/pax on the left side looked pretty relaxed after he turned over the controls.

 

John

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

i think he was busy praying the instructor knows what he is doing; in those final few seconds

 

your right; i didn't see flaps come out either; he was too busy keeping the engine running

 

i think over this terrain + the speed they were banking right to touch; pulling flaps  would created a lift instead

he was very smart landing along the fields vertical  lines; or they would have been planted face first

 

aiming for the the gap between the trees was perfect to keep them both safe

very smart decisions throughout a crisis situation

 

[allardjd 1,853]

Yep, I have to agree.  It looks by and large like it was fairly well done.  Not sure if he picked the best place available, but not sure that he didn't either.  The pucker meter must have been deep in the yellow.  That gap in the trees saved their lives, probably - they were still motoring along pretty fast yet when they hit it. 

 

John

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

it looks like thats a dirt road their crossing with a tiny ditch right before they hit the tree's

if not that; they were coming way to fast to just stop; it is confirmed the aircraft suffered minor damage at the tip of both wings

[allardjd 1,853]

Israel?

 

John

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

yes, in route to approach LLMG

http://skyvector.com/airport/LLMG/Megiddo-Airport

[britfrog 180]

hopefully this is one instructor now jobless, that was an awful example of a forced landing he had loads of choice and cocked it up. and what was he doing pumping the throttle like that ? he did not make sure their belts were extra tight, he didnt shut off the fuel, cut off the mags, no flaps, , very poor show indeed.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

here's the path the pilot choose shown on Google maps
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zglL8L_moK3s.kd-HujBBo3lw

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

As Nigel said, that instructor wants shooting. He was too busy buggering around with the throttle to do all the correct procedures. He had a choice of fields and also what appeared to be a metalled road, yet he came in way too fast on a rough surface and bent his aircraft. My guessing is that he was bricking it and wasn't sure what to do!

[allardjd 1,853]

The linked map of the flight path shows him directly over a HUGE field while on the base leg before the final turn, and he was lined up parallel with the furrows. I don't think it would have been difficult to shed the extra altitude and get down into that one with a lower touchdown speed and lot more room to roll out. Flaps sure would have helped if he'd chosen that field. Having said that, not sure what the wind was doing either, so maybe that one had a bad crosswind component.

 

I wasn't there and the video only shows so much, so we probably shouldn't be too critical. He did bend the airplane, but they both walked away and that's what it's all about. A lot of people have killed themselves trying to avoid bending the airplane.

 

John

 

EDIT

I'd always be very leery of roads unless it's a freeway - power lines are really easy to see from down here looking up but are practically invisible from up there looking down. With no power or degraded power, a go around is not an option so a "sure thing" is the best option.

 

JDA

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

if you look up close in google map;

you will notice there is a huge power line crossing right where he banks for leg 1

the line winds and twist in the same direction they were going

 

i agree with you John; they walked away unharmed

who cares about procedure's and fancy term

they get to see their families; and that's all that matters

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

transcript added

[JoHubb 1]

A very lucky escape.

 

The instructor did not appear to do any routine engine failure checks. So far as I can see he did not switch tanks, did not apply carb heat, did not ensure that belts were tight, and did not open the door just before touchdown.

On the other hand he was low altitude and made the decision, in my view correctly, not to bother with checks, but to make a Mayday call and look immediately for a safe landing site.

 

It's easy to be critical but this chap got three very big things right. 

Number 1 - he kept the aircraft flying.  Number 2 - he didn't kill or injure anyone on the ground.  Number 3 - they both walked away. 

 

 

John

 

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Any landing you can walk away from is ok in my books. He got the aircraft down in more or less one peice. But his lack of proffessionalism worries me. I really don't think he should be instructing just yet.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

little more info to shade some light over the incident

here's the temperature reports for the crash site that day
http://www.evweather.info/wxhistory.php?lang=en#

and here's the investigators report for the incident
(it’s in Hebrew; I’ll try to get this translated)
http://aiai.mot.gov.il/REPORT/RAI_85-14.pdf

it appears the aircraft had a known issue with the fuel gauges being defective and showing 100% constant
with that when they take off; they were convinced they had enough fuel for the flight duration
what you see happening with the engine sputtering; is because they run out of fuel!
Hence the continues manual pumping you see; the instructor immediately know what’s going on!

Later they also found the fuel tank cap was left off on the ground
They were forced to wait for long time on the ground before takeoff; which added to being short on fuel

 

[ddavid 149]

Chris - that sort of attitude (known fault with fuel guage and leaving fuel cap off) is O.K. with tractors (I do it regularly!) but is it on when you're about to take off with a student pilot? All I can say is that they were ......... lucky!

Cheers - Dai.

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

agreed 100% David

after learning the little details; the instructor should be grounded for not making these basic preflight checks

as the instructor seeing the cap off; id refuse to take off point blank

 

an angel was watching these two souls closely there

nothing short than a miracle got them out with these compounding facts

[mutley 4,498]

At the end of the day, as Al said, they walked away from the landing, the instructor will get his comeuppance if it is deemed necessary. It made for an interesting video for the rest of us.

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Unfortunately the age old fuel shortage problem can have tragic consequenses. When I worked at Booker we sent some of our WW1 aircraft out to the 1995 Johannisthal  airshow in Germany. Our guys were prepping their aircraft for display when they became aware of a situation developing outside their hangar. It seems a BF108 Taifun (D-EFPT)was about to take a passenger on a brief aerobatic display. They had to raise the tail of the aircraft to get a reading on the fuel gauge!( All this was recorded on video by our engineer who was a CAA acredited aircraft inspector.) The aircraft then took off and displayed with minimum fuel aboard. As the aircraft came round the pilot floored the throttle and apparently appeared to try to do a barrel roll over the airfield. (it later transpired that a leading edge slat had come loose at a critical moment leaving the pilot out of options) the aircraft was on its back , nose down when the fuel ran out. they had nowhere to go. the ensuing crash was right outside our hangar. there was a brief fire, but boith occupants were already dead when the aircraft ploughed in inverted. Our crew helped recover the bodies.

 

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

sad story Alan

 

this case could have easily ended tragically for very simple reasons

i got some of the report translated;
it appears the instructor trusted the students verbal confirmation for some of the preflight checks

its little confusing; he reports the students had issues concluding the right wing fuel amount,
than the instructor replaced the student after he reported issues with the left wing as well

it was later confirmed with local surveillance cam that the instructor did in fact only test the left wing fuel amount;
after the student handed him the gauge showing the right fuel amount he wasn’t sure about; instructor taken over and handled the left wing
according to the report; it was the left side fuel cap that was left off,
the one the instructor handled from the start

[brett 2,316]

I think I would go to another flying school at this point.