airshow incident

NoHeat

NoHeat

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Today at the Quad Cities Air Show in Davenport IA I saw an incident that abruptly ended a performance.

John Klatt was making a low pass over the runway -- on the flight line, as they say. The plane was a speedy aerobatic model that I'm not familiar with. I saw debris coming off his plane when he was about halfway down the runway, at about 50 feet, and at a high speed. He landed without a go-around - this must have been a very difficult landing as he was really fast and running out of runway. Emergency vehicles then sped down to the end of the runway where his plane was stopped. After a delay of about 15 minutes, the air show continued.

I'm not sure what the debris was - I saw multiple dark-colored parts - my first thought was that perhaps it was pieces of the canopy, but that's just a guess. It appeared to me that there was no longer a canopy on the plane, as it passed by on its descent to the high-speed short-field landing.

The announcer later alluded to a minor injury, reassuring the crowd by saying that Klatt had been cut worse while shaving.

klatt_plane.jpg
 
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I think we all need to worry about real accidents like the one in this thread and ignore these non-events seen here.
 
Interesting, wonder what the flying debris and minor injury was?

NoHeat said:
Today at the Quad Cities Air Show in Davenport IA I saw an incident that abruptly ended a performance.

John Klatt was making a low pass over the runway -- on the flight line, as they say. The plane was a speedy aerobatic model that I'm not familiar with. I saw debris coming off his plane when he was about halfway down the runway, at about 50 feet, and at a high speed. He landed without a go-around - this must have been a very difficult landing as he was really fast and running out of runway. Emergency vehicles then sped down to the end of the runway where his plane was stopped. After a delay of about 15 minutes, the air show continued.

I'm not sure what the debris was - I saw multiple dark-colored parts - my first thought was that perhaps it was pieces of the canopy, but that's just a guess. It appeared to me that there was no longer a canopy on the plane, as it passed by on its descent to the high-speed short-field landing.

The announcer later alluded to a minor injury, reassuring the crowd by saying that Klatt had been cut worse while shaving.

klatt_plane.jpg
Click to expand...
 
NoHeat said:
Today at the Quad Cities Air Show in Davenport IA I saw an incident that abruptly ended a performance.

John Klatt was making a low pass over the runway -- on the flight line, as they say. The plane was a speedy aerobatic model that I'm not familiar with. I saw debris coming off his plane when he was about halfway down the runway, at about 50 feet, and at a high speed. He landed without a go-around - this must have been a very difficult landing as he was really fast and running out of runway. Emergency vehicles then sped down to the end of the runway where his plane was stopped. After a delay of about 15 minutes, the air show continued.

I'm not sure what the debris was - I saw multiple dark-colored parts - my first thought was that perhaps it was pieces of the canopy, but that's just a guess. It appeared to me that there was no longer a canopy on the plane, as it passed by on its descent to the high-speed short-field landing.

The announcer later alluded to a minor injury, reassuring the crowd by saying that Klatt had been cut worse while shaving.

klatt_plane.jpg
Click to expand...

I hope he and his plane are back in service by OSH.

I worked the QC airshow when I lived Blue Grass and Davenport in the late 1990s. I'm glad to see its going strong, especially after last year's L-39 crash.
 
John suffered an engine failure, he lost forward visibility due to oil so he jettisoned the canopy. He has some bumps and bruises but he is ok.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Even though I agree with you guys that its a non event and there are more pressing issues, I think that's unduly harsh on the OP.
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I believe they're referring to the immaturity of MMW and nothing to do with the OP.
 
Inverted said:
John suffered an engine failure, he lost forward visibility due to oil so he jettisoned the canopy. He has some bumps and bruises but he is ok.
Click to expand...

Any idea what happened to the engine? Oil line, or thrown rod?

This guy sounds like a pro who has a plan of action ready that was nicely executed when needed. Glad he is okay.
 
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Geico266 said:
Any idea what happened to the engine? Oil line, or thrown rod?

This guy sounds like a pro who has a plan of action ready that was nicely executed when needed. Glad he is okay.
Click to expand...

I am not sure. I will try to find out.
 
MultiMediaWill said:
I think we all need to worry about real accidents like the one in this thread and ignore these non-events seen here.
Click to expand...

Will, a piece of advice. No incident in aviation is small.

From what information that has come forward a disaster was averted because the pilot had a plan of action. The engine failed and he executed his plan. There is usually more to the story than what you think. The lesson in both airshow incidents are valuable lessons in aviation safety. One was survivable, one was not. I'll leave it up to you to decide which one is of more value to future aviators.
 
Inverted said:
John suffered an engine failure, he lost forward visibility due to oil so he jettisoned the canopy. He has some bumps and bruises but he is ok.
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Thanks for sharing that. I didn't realize that the engine had failed. When things happen in a split second, there are things you just don't notice as a spectator.

I think he did an exceptional job of recovering from the inflight failure. This required a very fast response and just the right action.

Here's an aerial photo of the airport.
http://goo.gl/maps/XIYml
At this point in his routine, Klatt was on heading 150. He had already crossed the approach end of Rwy 15 when I saw the canopy parts flying off. He had a lot of speed, maybe twice the usual final approach speed, and he was about 50 feet above the runway, so this was definitely not favorable for a landing, but at least he wasn't inverted or in some other unusual attitude, something that I saw often at the show.

If he touched down on pavement, it must have been in the last 1000 feet before the grass -- I couldn't see the landing from where I stood near the runway intersection, but he was certainly running out of runway.
 
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The plane, post incident, looks pretty good:

51c7b45623ed4.preview-620.jpg


Here's a piece of the canopy that came off:

22665244_BG2.jpg
 
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Now that I have a plane with a canopy, I'm curious as to how one is "ejected" or "jettisoned". Must be an interesting piece of machinery, or springs, or pyrotechnics to blow it clear of the tail?
 
Jay Honeck said:
Now that I have a plane with a canopy, I'm curious as to how one is "ejected" or "jettisoned". Must be an interesting piece of machinery, or springs, or pyrotechnics to blow it clear of the tail?
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Depends on the design but fighters have pyros to both blow the locks and eject the canopy enough for free stream air to blow it away. There are few like the AV-8B that just shatter the glass and also unlock it with pyros.

On the GA Aircraft with canopies, free stream air will tear the thing off if it comes unlatched although some just pop open and hang in there, especially the ones with forward hinges.

Cheers
 
Jay Honeck said:
Now that I have a plane with a canopy, I'm curious as to how one is "ejected" or "jettisoned". Must be an interesting piece of machinery, or springs, or pyrotechnics to blow it clear of the tail?
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RV-6s have a "T" handle that pull the hinge pins on the tip up canopy, but this is usually done on the ground if you flip over. Not sure what the guys building 8s do..... carry a hammer?
 
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Jay Honeck said:
Now that I have a plane with a canopy, I'm curious as to how one is "ejected" or "jettisoned". Must be an interesting piece of machinery, or springs, or pyrotechnics to blow it clear of the tail?
Click to expand...

No pyrotechnics on GA aerobatic planes generally speaking. Aircraft like Pitts, Extras, et. al. have canopies with quick release mechanisms and they're designed to depart the airplane from the force of the air as soon as they're cracked open. Ask any aerobatic pilot who's failed to properly latch their canopy and they'll tell you how quickly and efficiently this works. :yesnod:

Many aerobatic pilots wear a helmet to protect themselves from the canopy when it's leaving the airplane. People have been whacked pretty hard, sometimes terminally so, when the canopy get's loose.
 
Some tactical planes actually have det cord around the canopy rail. Some of the Navy planes, like I think the A6 series, actually are designed for the crew to eject through the canopy. Flying in the 16 requires the visor to be down at all times, gloves on, sleeves down.

The Extra I fly has a pretty heavy canopy that is hinged on one side, with a break away strap. It is designed to break away with the windstream, and the canopy will depart. Usually it will fragment, punching holes in the tail with pieces. Last annual my mechanic accidently let the wind take away the canopy- cost $12,000 to replace. Got to be sure the canopy is down and locked prior to engine start. I also carry a survival knife strapped into the cockpit to punch through the plexiglass in case the jettison mechanism doesn't work.

Makes a lot of sense to get rid of the canopy in case of a forced landing. John Klatt is, or was, an F-16 driver in the ANG, I believe the MN ANG.
 
Interesting. On the RV-8 series, you still have a windscreen left, even if you were to eject the canopy, so Klatt's technique would not have helped with an oil obscured windshield.

I question this tactic, regardless, and wonder if that's what really happened. If you look at that video of his emergency landing, he's coming in super-hot, and puts it into a deep slip to scrub off as much speed as possible.

Basically, he's looking out the side of the plane, all the way down, so there was almost no point in ejecting the canopy.

Of course, all's well that ends well, but it seems like ejecting the canopy had the potential to make the emergency worse, not better. If it had hit the tail, for example.
 
NoHeat said:
Goggles, too?

At 150+ mph, I cannot imagine being able to see without eye protection.
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In an open cockpit, of course. An open cockpit airplane at anything more than about 100 mph is miserable. Not too much need for googles in an enclosed canopy. A lot of helmets have a sun shield that can flip down or retract. That's not going to be much protection though.
 
So is this what they look like after a canopy dump or is it a failure of the canopy?

Sure looks like plexiglass is still on the plane.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Interesting. On the RV-8 series, you still have a windscreen left, even if you were to eject the canopy, so Klatt's technique would not have helped with an oil obscured windshield.

I question this tactic, regardless, and wonder if that's what really happened. If you look at that video of his emergency landing, he's coming in super-hot, and puts it into a deep slip to scrub off as much speed as possible.

Basically, he's looking out the side of the plane, all the way down, so there was almost no point in ejecting the canopy.

Of course, all's well that ends well, but it seems like ejecting the canopy had the potential to make the emergency worse, not better. If it had hit the tail, for example.
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The canopy may have been completely covered in oil with no outside viz. I know if at least one unlimited pilot that's blown a couple of engines and landed his Edge 540 by looking through the clear panels at his feet.
 
The slip may have been dual purpose - one to bleed off airspeed and altitude, but also to keep the oil that might have been getting on the windscreen from getting into his face as well.

Ryan
 
I was watching Sean Tucker at Oshkosh one year. As he turned towards the when I could see a ring of orange flames around the engine cylinders under the cowl. He did what effectively an overhead break at midfield and dead sticked it on 18 in about 1000 feet.

You could see him running up the engine on the ground and then he quietly taxied back to air show center and called it a a day.

I suppose it blew a cylinder.

It is amazing how well they can thread the plane through a needle and put it anywhere.
 
How fast will your survival knife get through that thickness of plexiglass?

AcroBoy said:
Some tactical planes actually have det cord around the canopy rail. Some of the Navy planes, like I think the A6 series, actually are designed for the crew to eject through the canopy. Flying in the 16 requires the visor to be down at all times, gloves on, sleeves down.

The Extra I fly has a pretty heavy canopy that is hinged on one side, with a break away strap. It is designed to break away with the windstream, and the canopy will depart. Usually it will fragment, punching holes in the tail with pieces. Last annual my mechanic accidently let the wind take away the canopy- cost $12,000 to replace. Got to be sure the canopy is down and locked prior to engine start. I also carry a survival knife strapped into the cockpit to punch through the plexiglass in case the jettison mechanism doesn't work.

Makes a lot of sense to get rid of the canopy in case of a forced landing. John Klatt is, or was, an F-16 driver in the ANG, I believe the MN ANG.
Click to expand...
 
The old style survival knife will punch a hole through plexiglass easily. Just knocking it hard with a helmet can crack it easily. It's mostly a matter of focusing the energy.
 
The standard equipment escape hammer on the Diamond DA20 is pretty puny.
 
mikea said:
I was watching Sean Tucker at Oshkosh one year. As he turned towards the when I could see a ring of orange flames around the engine cylinders under the cowl. He did what effectively an overhead break at midfield and dead sticked it on 18 in about 1000 feet..
Click to expand...

That might have worked for John Klatt a week ago. He had a lot of speed that he could have converted into altitude. Although if he had no visibility, he might have been forced to land straight on his current runway heading, as he did. Not much time to make a decision, and lots of stress.
 
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