Crosswind takeoff on floats...um, not really

Geico266

Geico266

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
19,136
Location
Husker Nation, NE
Display Name
Display name:
Geico
Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

This past sunday in Anchorage at Lake Spenard... it looks like this pilot really pushed the load envelope or lacked an understanding of his take off requirements and could have easily killed everyone onboard; fortunately everyone is okay. The cause is being reported as 'a gust of wind'.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVwlodvWh7w
 
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

Geico266 said:
This past sunday in Anchorage at Lake Spenard... it looks like this pilot really pushed the load envelope or lacked an understanding of his take off requirements and could have easily killed everyone onboard; fortunately everyone is okay. The cause is being reported as 'a gust of wind'.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVwlodvWh7w
Click to expand...

I'm confused, the post refers to Lake Spenard but the video refers to Lake Hood? :dunno:
 
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

kevin47881 said:
I'm confused, the post refers to Lake Spenard but the video refers to Lake Hood? :dunno:
Click to expand...

Not sure it would have made a difference would it? :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I just copied and pasted it from another site, I don't really know where it was, exept it did not end well.
 
Not sure it is overgross...

I sat right there and watched takeoffs last summer. I don't know that he was overgross, and I can understand that a gust or crosswind caused it. The two lakes are joined by that channel, and often their takeoff "roll" went right down part of the channel.

Tim

Watched it a couple more times, and don't see much evidence of gusty or crosswind conditions. Maybe he was overloaded, but still poor technique. He had the rest of the channel to go down, and another lake at the end of it.
 
Last edited:
Re: Not sure it is overgross...

Troska said:
Tim

Watched it a couple more times, and don't see much evidence of gusty or crosswind conditions. Maybe he was overloaded, but still poor technique. He had the rest of the channel to go down, and another lake at the end of it.
Click to expand...

Kinda makes me wonder what the camera man was doing there. Looks like he took off in a cross wind, instead of into the wind, down the channel. I wonder if the dude taping it was making a home movie for the people in the plane?:dunno:
 
Last edited:
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

I never saw where he really got it up on the step.. he just forced it off the water at too low a speed. Looks like he almost made it.. must have caught the fence or it just stalled in.
 
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

Geico266 said:
This past sunday in Anchorage at Lake Spenard... it looks like this pilot really pushed the load envelope or lacked an understanding of his take off requirements and could have easily killed everyone onboard; fortunately everyone is okay. The cause is being reported as 'a gust of wind'.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVwlodvWh7w
Click to expand...

Unless there was a control cable problem, he could have aggressively lowered the nose & probably flown in ground effect or landed, instead of high AoA like he did. Didn't sound like full power for a Beaver either...
 
Last edited:
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

BillTIZ said:
I never saw where he really got it up on the step.. he just forced it off the water at too low a speed. Looks like he almost made it.. must have caught the fence or it just stalled in.
Click to expand...
That was my take, too. Looked like he tried to pull it off before it was ready, because the shoreline was looming. I wonder if the wind was really such a limiting factor that he felt he had to make the takeoff run in that direction... ?
EDIT: looking again, at the sock specifically, it seems really odd that he went that way. More to his right, and it would have been more on the nose, I think.
Not sure how much room there was to his right, but it almost looks like he intended to buzz the cameraman (although yes, it did drift right a bit because of the wind).
 
Last edited:
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

I can't see that as anything but a cool video idea going wrong. He took of at that angle to the wind and pulled it off right then for the shot.

He would have been much better off flying the airplane instead of posing for the camera.

.02.

As far as over gross this months flying has a real good article "The myth of Gross Weight" which provides some insight into the "problem".
 
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

Pilots in Alaska fly over gross all the time. They couldn't survive if they didn't. Unfortunately, there are limits. :frown3:
 
Re: Over Gross? No Problem.....I think.

Between the water, the trees, the bushes, and the sock, there isn't much sign of any wind to have caused that loss of control.

Also, I'm kind of amazed but not that surprised that the cameraman held his ground as long as he did. I guess he forgot that objects in the viewfinder are closer than they appear.
 
I looked at other vids, I think the wind took him just too close to the edge. Others would do that also, then down the straight away. I don't know floats......but I guess ya just can't "turn on a dime". He did what he thought was best. These guys have take quite a few vids, doubt the PIC was "puff'n out his chest".

Then again.......why so close to the downwind side of the bank? 20' to the right and he'd been ok, guess'n.

Too bad, glad no one was hurt. Lesson learned........for many. :D

nice post, thanks.
 
I am not seaplane qualified, so maybe I'm missing something.

Big lake. Choice of directions. Why would you have a crosswind?
 
Unless there was a control cable problem, he could have aggressively lowered the nose and stayed flying in ground effect but didn't and the sound on video doesn't sound like quite full power for a Beaver floatplane either...
 
Last edited:
never looked like he really got on the step to me. Nose seemed high the whole time.
 
Rumor has it Obama is going to disband the NTSB and leave it up to people on the INTERNET to determine the cause of transportation accidents. That should save the tax payers some money.:rolleyes:
 
Tim said:
Rumor has it Obama is going to disband the NTSB and leave it up to people on the INTERNET to determine the cause of transportation accidents. That should save the tax payers some money.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


:D

That being said, why NOT speculate? It seems to ruffle feathers of some, but just about every one of these threads has raised some good piloting points. I really don't see the harm.
 
Tim said:
Rumor has it Obama is going to disband the NTSB and leave it up to people on the INTERNET to determine the cause of transportation accidents. That should save the tax payers some money.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


ROLMAO:rofl::rofl:
 
Tim said:
Rumor has it Obama is going to disband the NTSB and leave it up to people on the INTERNET to determine the cause of transportation accidents. That should save the tax payers some money.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

PFFFFFFFFFFFFT ROFLMAO.... :rofl::rofl::rofl:

There is now a mouthful of Pepsi all over my screen. Good stuff.
 
flyersfan31 said:
:D

That being said, why NOT speculate? It seems to ruffle feathers of some, but just about every one of these threads has raised some good piloting points. I really don't see the harm.
Click to expand...

Sure go ahead. We should be speculating about car wrecks too! That idiot ran a stop sign and didn't see it; now my insurance is going to go up....................... Some one should have turned in the bozo for speeding he was 10 miles an hour over. If we don't get this under control the law's will change and we won't be able to drive to Washington DC any more!:eek: yea sure this is fun:rofl: If you carry two spares you will be safer.:confused:
 
Tim said:
Rumor has it Obama is going to disband the NTSB and leave it up to people on the INTERNET to determine the cause of transportation accidents. That should save the tax payers some money.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

About time! The TV news people are tiring of saying "The cause of the accident is not known." 25 minutes after the crash.



...But they know "The plane did not file a flight plan."
 
Tim said:
Sure go ahead. We should be speculating about car wrecks too! That idiot ran a stop sign and didn't see it; now my insurance is going to go up....................... Some one should have turned in the bozo for speeding he was 10 miles an hour over. If we don't get this under control the law's will change and we won't be able to drive to Washington DC any more!:eek: yea sure this is fun:rofl: If you carry two spares you will be safer.:confused:
Click to expand...

:dunno: Have you been drinking?
 
BigAL said:
I looked at other vids, I think the wind took him just too close to the edge. Others would do that also, then down the straight away. I don't know floats......but I guess ya just can't "turn on a dime". He did what he thought was best. These guys have take quite a few vids, doubt the PIC was "puff'n out his chest".

Then again.......why so close to the downwind side of the bank? 20' to the right and he'd been ok, guess'n.

Too bad, glad no one was hurt. Lesson learned........for many. :D

nice post, thanks.
Click to expand...

Looks to me like he just didn't use enough rudder to control P-factor. More right rudder should have kept him away from the shoreline.

Dan
 
Dan Thomas said:
Looks to me like he just didn't use enough rudder to control P-factor. More right rudder should have kept him away from the shoreline.

Dan
Click to expand...

Yep, and if he had full throw and no response.....then he should have shut down/abort.

I guess either way he did what he thought he needed to do. I always say "do it once, you were ignorant.........do it twice, you are stupid". The kids hate that.:D
 
Last edited:
your stupid what? "your" indicates possession.
 
Last edited:
smigaldi said:
RRIIIGGHHHTTTT!!!

The old gust of wind defense. Watch the video again and look at the wind sock in the upper right corner. Woo, those gusty days!
Click to expand...

LLWS? That sock only says what's happening here the sock is. Who's to say it was a full 20 kts in the opposite direction several hundred ft away where the beaver was?:rolleyes:
 
Pi1otguy said:
LLWS? That sock only says what's happening here the sock is. Who's to say it was a full 20 kts in the opposite direction several hundred ft away where the beaver was?:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
RRIIIGHHHTTT . Perhaps it was clear air turbulence, or maybe the space aliens that took out the Air France flight. :rolleyes::rolleyes: + :rolleyes::rolleyes: = :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
I was there today. I flew down to Lake Hood last night at the last minute and this morning walked from the hotel back to my plane right by the little park. The crash site was actually much closer to the guy with the camera than it appears (to me) on the video. Lucky he ducked.

IMG_0837.JPG

IMG_0838.JPG

IMG_0839.JPG



Oh, and I took this today too. Thought some would get a kick out of it :rofl:

IMG_0842.JPG


IMG_0843.JPG
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top