Beverly MA, 17 YO student pilot lands after wheel fell off.

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PaulS

Touchdown! Greaser!
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PaulS
Starting to see a lot of these failures on the Cherokee line. I've heard of several around here that were found with cracks that necessitated inspection after one broke on the runway.
 
Someone's gonna have a rough day after that! Wheels don't just "fall off"!!!
 
Student solos are getting harder. Mine was delayed a few hours because of a bank robbery, hijacking, and shooting. But at least the wheels on my Warrior stayed on.
 
I think this happened to another Cherokee a week or so back. I wonder if sideways motion whilst landing would perhaps damage stuff. But is the scissor link the only thing holding the strut together?
 
It would be interesting to see exactly what fell off. If it was just the wheel, its only held on with a nut and a cotter pin. If the torque links (scissors) broke it would probably be dangling from the brake line unless the force ripped the brake line out of the caliper as shown above. Yes, the torque links are the only thing preventing the strut from exiting the strut housing.
 
Pilawt said:
Another Warrior, several years ago ...
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Yup, for a minute I thought this was a necro post. From the photo in the article it looks like the same type of failure

Nice job to the pilot!!
 
Being Boston, she will probably be fined for littering the runway:D

Great piloting for a low time student.

Cheers
 
She did a great job through the stress but also props to the Waco pilot for seeing the wheel fall off on takeoff. She knew it was coming and it gave them all time to prepare for the safest landing possible.
 
X3 Skier said:
Being Boston, she will probably be fined for littering the runway:D

Great piloting for a low time student.

Cheers
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Nah, Beverly isn't Boston, they probably want to throw her a party.

I don't believe the family has spoken to the press, they've requested privacy, but that young lady sounds like a great pilot and hopefully this doesn't dash her dream.
 
PaulS said:
Nah, Beverly isn't Boston, they probably want to throw her a party.

I don't believe the family has spoken to the press, they've requested privacy.
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Consulting with attorneys....;):)
 
So, given that the pilot is responsible for the aircraft being airworthy (which it wasn't), and given that the parts that failed should have been easily inspected during preflight, who gets dinged? The student or the instructor?

Or, as the song goes...
The wheel on the Piper goes down, down, down,
down, down, down,
down, down, down.
The wheel on the Piper goes down, down, down,
soon as it left ground.
 
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Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
So, given that the pilot is responsible for the aircraft being airworthy (which it wasn't), and given that the parts that failed should have been easily inspected during preflight, who gets dinged? The student or the instructor?
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Is the failure something that can be seen during preflight?

Sounds like she did a great job, at least as good as many pilots would.




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SkyDog58 said:
I’m getting sick and tired of all of these teenagers, especially the girls, performing so admirably in difficult situations. It really flies in the face of the prejudices of us old farts. The nerve!
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That's funny...and well said. What a great job controller did and this young woman in regaining her composure after the initial shock


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Timbeck2 said:
Yes, the torque links are the only thing preventing the strut from exiting the strut housing.
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I bet someone could come up with a restraining cable that could easily prevent such losses. Still might be a slightly messing landing though.
 
I gotta adopt that radio phraseology..... Piper 321, tower..... yeah...... cleared for take off.....arright.....:lol::lol:


On my private checkride, I found the right wheel was just about to fall off on the 152. A little closer inspection showed the rollers were gone and lots of rust dust. It did not just happen, it had been over looked during many pre-flights.

And since it was late in the day, my checkride was postponed for another week...:sigh:

Still this girl did a great job.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I bet someone could come up with a restraining cable that could easily prevent such losses. Still might be a slightly messing landing though.
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The problem is without the links, the wheel is also free to turn around the strut. One instance that occurred near here the link broken on landing and allowed the wheel to toe out about 30 degrees, making taxiing impossible. Probably almost better for it to fall off than wind up turned 90 degrees. Although it would be even better to see a SB or AD on the issue, but that hasn't happened that I know of. I know our local flight school does thorough inspections of all PA-28 gear during 100 hour and annuals, and has replaced several in the fleet that were cracked.
 
Congratulations on not losing her cool and landing that wounded warrior. (3RP, it's catching on!! :) )

But the reporting is just pure sh*t. (well, it's MSN, duh)
"The Beverly Airport shut down to all other traffic to give the pilot no distractions." LOL I seriously doubt that was the reason for airport shut down. ;)
 
BigBadLou said:
Congratulations on not losing her cool and landing that wounded warrior. (3RP, it's catching on!! :) )

But the reporting is just pure sh*t. (well, it's MSN, duh)
"The Beverly Airport shut down to all other traffic to give the pilot no distractions." LOL I seriously doubt that was the reason for airport shut down. ;)
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Heh - they shut it down to reduce distractions, like when tower told her to move to left traffic instead of right because there were other flights coming in.
 
Would have loved to see video of the landing. Great job on the outcome.
 
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SkyDog58 said:
Not sure I get the Alan Alda reference.
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That's who I thought the CFI's voice sounded like and the calm, familiar voice of Dr. Hawkeye Pierce would be comforting to me. But I'm often told me 'sounds like'/'looks like' impressions are way off, so *shrug* If you have to explain the joke, it wasn't very good. I'll try again later.
 
Possible dinner table conversation:

Parent #1: I'm so proud of you, honey!
Parent #2: I TOLD you she shouldn't be in those dangerous little airplanes!

--

It was good CRM by all those involved - keep her head clear so she could fly the plane, which she did very well. Come up with a plan, then work the plan. Remind her there's no need to panic, to land it like she's already done hundreds of times, no big deal.

edit:

Actually, there's a certain phrase that always make me pause to think, and that's "say intentions". When tower said, "Hey, parts of your airplane are falling off, say intentions", I kind of figure that might have caused a little bit of a WTF moment, but she recovered well.
 
Oblivion said:
That's who I thought the CFI's voice sounded like and the calm, familiar voice of Dr. Hawkeye Pierce would be comforting to me. But I'm often told me 'sounds like'/'looks like' impressions are way off, so *shrug* If you have to explain the joke, it wasn't very good. I'll try again later.
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No worries, I have trouble distinguishing different people's voices. My wife can recognize someone's voice much better than I can.
 
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