Van's RV-9A Crash @ Saluda County (6J4) SC

[Daleandee]

Accident Van's RV-9A N94NF, Sunday 30 June 2024

The pilot was executing a forward slip to land. On short final approach to the runway, as the airplane descended below the tree line of a forest that was to his immediate right, he encoun...

asn.flightsafety.org

"The two occupants were seriously injured and the aircraft was destroyed."

 

[Tools]

Well… the plane isn’t reusable. They didn’t WALK away. But still, survived! Good to hear! That looks awful…

 

[Half Fast]

If “walk away” is the definition of a good landing, is “serious injuries” the definition of a mediocre landing?

Hope they have a quick, full recovery.

 

[Salty]

I know the guy that built this plane. He said it has well over 3,000 hours on it.

 

[FORANE]

Must be hard for the builder also. Very sad.

 

[texasclouds]

Loss of power then aimed for golf course?

 

[Lycosaurus]

Loss of power then aimed for golf course?

I can't even discern an engine amongst the rubble!

Glad they made it out alive.

 

[hindsight2020]

it probably separated or is rolled under and behind the cabin floor.

 

[Salty]

Word is over aggressive slip resulting in stall spin. Pilot seems to be doing a lot better than the picture would make you imagine.

 

[skyking3286]

Word is over aggressive slip resulting in stall spin. Pilot seems to be doing a lot better than the picture would make you imagine.

Or a slip done too slow. You should be able to put the rudder on the floor and still be above stall angle of attack.

 

[Salty]

Or a slip done too slow. You should be able to put the rudder on the floor and still be above stall angle of attack.

I’m merely quoting what was passed on.

 

[francisco collazos]

Is an overaggressive slip and a slow slip the same thing?

 

[woxof]

Accident Van's RV-9A N94NF, Sunday 30 June 2024

The pilot was executing a forward slip to land. On short final approach to the runway, as the airplane descended below the tree line of a forest that was to his immediate right, he encoun...

asn.flightsafety.org

A link to the final report is here which says "failure to maintain an appropriate glide path during the landing approach in variable wind conditions, which resulted in collision with trees."

The report has a link to a docket which has a pilot statement of "On short final, a forward slip was initiated as is commonly utilized given the RV9A has long, high aspect ratio wings and a fixed pitch prop. On short final, as I was descending from above the tree line of the forest immediately to my right and just as I was passing a cut out for a road that is cut through the forest perpendicular to the runway, I experienced a downdraft and Crosswind from the right resulting in marked increased sink rate and weather vaning to the right. Go around procedure was immediately initiated, however, the landing gear encountered the tops of the trees in the adjacent, wooded area,....".

The docket has pilot statement including an overhead diagram view showing the plane far to the right of the final approach path. To be honest, it seems like there must be more to the story to get so far to the right of the centerline than a crosswind on a light day. I have seen videos of semi-stalled aircraft at high power drifting uncontrollably.

 

[Tools]

You might be surprised how far off centerline is common… albeit bad.

I see this A LOT as an instructor to gets asked to fly along with who I thought were good pilots. And I suppose they are, just ain’t got no control of centerline!

 

[FORANE]

We owned a RV-9A for a few years. It was a super easy to fly aircraft in calm wind. Problem is it had a big fat wing and was lightweight; that combo made it kite like in gusty winds. The stall speed was only 38 kts.

It was so easy to fly in smooth air I felt like I could not fly it for years and step right into it safely. When I bought it I didn't get transition training in it and was confident flying it from the first flight. But, get into strong gusty winds and it became close to uncontrollable at times.

Contrast that with my lancair which I would have crashed on first flight without transition training, took hundreds of hours to get comfortable with but once comfortable is easier to fly in strong gusty winds.

 

[woxof]

"I experienced a downdraft and Crosswind from the right resulting in marked increased sink rate and weather vaning to the right."
"The nearest automated weather, is from KAIK, Aiken Regional, 17.5nm to the South and at 10:12 EDT, their ADS-B broadcast list the wind at 270 degrees at 7 mph."

Flying skill issue most likely.

 

[ateamer]

"I experienced a downdraft and Crosswind from the right resulting in marked increased sink rate and weather vaning to the right."
"The nearest automated weather, is from KAIK, Aiken Regional, 17.5nm to the South and at 10:12 EDT, their ADS-B broadcast list the wind at 270 degrees at 7 mph."

Flying skill issue most likely.

Is it possible that the wind as reported by one-minute averaging 17 miles away could be markedly different from the airport in question at the moment of landing?

 

[Tarheelpilot]

Is an overaggressive slip and a slow slip the same thing?

A reasonable person would think any slip that results in a departure from controlled flight and crash could be summarized as “overly aggressive.”

Then there’s POA…

 

[RoscoeT]

Is an overaggressive slip and a slow slip the same thing?

There is no such thing as an "overaggressive" slip. In the majority of airplanes (including RVs) you can fully deflect the rudder and ailerons in a slip, AND slow to the point where you end up with the elevator fully aft and the airplane bobbling along, but still neither properly stalled nor spinning out. The sideways angle of the airplane blanks the elevator and rudder such that their authority is limited in a full deflection slip.

In most airplanes, the main way you spin out of a slip is if you release the ailerons before the rudder as you attempt to come out of the slip, which momentarily turns the slip into a skid, which is then very prone to spinning.