How not to arrive at a party

iflyvfr

iflyvfr

Pattern Altitude
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Columbus, OH
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Greg
Happened yesterday afternoon at a private 1650' strip. Amazing that no one heard it or saw it happen, although there were many people standing outside. As we wondered why a 150 was circling overhead and what happened to the Comanche that just flew by, the pilot of the Comanche walked up to the fellow standing next to me and said "I just wrecked the plane."

He came in low, hit the far side of a shallow ditch, sheared the nose gear off and skidded on the turf. I walked the crash site, know the pilot (not well) and talked with him after the State Highway Patrol was finished processing him and the site.

Beautiful Comanche, but no one hurt. The second shot shows how low he was: there are tire marks in the bean field. The second arrow is the ditch he struck and the final arrow where he came to rest 225 down the field. Sorry for the glare of my shirt. I had left just prior to them loading it on a flatbed trailer, went and got some fuel nearby and then flew back over to check progress before heading home. Needs a new set of wings, engine tear down, prop and nosegear, at a minimum.IMG_4705.JPG
 

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You'll have to blow up the 2nd photo to see the details I mentioned.
 
Gotta be on your game putting a Comanche down on1600 feet of turf. Maybe he was trying to use the beans like bush pilots do water to slow them down before landing :p
 
That damage will total that aircraft.
 
Sad. Short strip for a Comanche? I dunno. Beyond the pilot's skill probably. Expensive repairs, oh yeah, if not totaled out.
 
Dang. He was fortunate on that one. I think it could have easily flipped. He probably became the talk of the party though.

Grum.Man nailed it. Slowing it down in the bean field first.
 
Joshuajayg said:
Dang. He was fortunate on that one. I think it could have easily flipped. He probably became the talk of the party though.

Grum.Man nailed it. Slowing it down in the bean field first.
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Yeah, that was the scary part. Probably 6" lower and it might have been a very different story. Of course he was bumming out hard, but he got out completely unharmed.
 
Tom-D said:
That damage will total that aircraft.
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I know we were just talking about that here on the forum the other day and that was exactly my thought when I saw the damage. Unfortunately this same plane was landed gear up 2 or 3 years ago by the other partner. No injuries in that one either but it was a new engine & prop! I think they both might walk away and take up boating.
 
iflyvfr said:
I think they both might walk away and take up boating.
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Sounds to me like they both need to try stamp or coin collecting! Boating they could still hurt innocents.
 
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Curious .. why was the state patrol called? private strip, they didn't need to be.
iflyvfr said:
I know we were just talking about that here on the forum the other day and that was exactly my thought when I saw the damage. Unfortunately this same plane was landed gear up 2 or 3 years ago by the other partner. No injuries in that one either but it was a new engine & prop! I think they both might walk away and take up boating.
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That speaks volumes for the roll cage design of the old comanches. some insurance companies allow a buy back when the money is right. but the problem with the Comanche is the total value is not large enough to recover the investment to restore.
 
I don't know why they were called, but three cars showed up and they took lots of photos, made measurements, and interviewed the pilot for about 30 minutes. Thankfully the press didn't show up.

Someone there who had a long career with the FAA took the pilot under her wing and calmly walked him through securing his airplane and some things that needed to happen as next steps. NASA ASRS for example.
 
Was he trying to land and went really sideways or just clearing the field?

Sucks to write off such a nice airframe.
 
Makes me sad to see a beautiful PA24 suffer what is probably a fatal blow, there are fewer and fewer good ones out there. Fortunately everyone walked away.
 
He gets first prize in the belly landing contest.
 
ChemGuy said:
Was he trying to land and went really sideways or just clearing the field?

Sucks to write off such a nice airframe.
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Not sure what you're asking, he was landing coming over the beans and came up short. We actually found some bean plants on the runway where he'd dragged it. Turns out he sheared off the right main gear, (both hit the embankment). The nose gear was folded up under, only discovered when the lifted the airframe to put on a trailer. Up til then everyone assumed the wheel in the middle of the runway was the nose gear.
 
Hey if he was participating in the other thread about "putting 100k in the airplane you own"...
 
iflyvfr said:
Not sure what you're asking, he was landing coming over the beans and came up short. We actually found some bean plants on the runway where he'd dragged it. Turns out he sheared off the right main gear, (both hit the embankment). The nose gear was folded up under, only discovered when the lifted the airframe to put on a trailer. Up til then everyone assumed the wheel in the middle of the runway was the nose gear.
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ahhh. so just came up really short.
thought maybe he was "clearing the field" and got to low. clearing the field is low pass to check the runway, surface, etc. when people are around it's an opportunity for stupid pilot tricks, i.e. low pass at high speed. they can go bad sometimes.
 
@iflyvfr Do those power lines cross the runway or do they dive underground? If they don't dive underground he got lucky he didn't take the lines with him.
 
ARFlyer said:
@iflyvfr Do those power lines cross the runway or do they dive underground? If they don't dive underground he got lucky he didn't take the lines with him.
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If they're above ground and he was that low, he probably, or obviously, flew underneath. Fortunate indeed.
 
ARFlyer said:
@iflyvfr Do those power lines cross the runway or do they dive underground? If they don't dive underground he got lucky he didn't take the lines with him.
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They go underground. . .I think you can download the pic and blow it up on your PC if you care to get a pretty good view of the scene including the power lines.
 
Looks like another nice airplane bites the dust.
 
FAA accident listing said:
IDENTIFICATION
Date: 06-AUG-16
Time: 20:15:00Z
Regis#: N7292P
Aircraft Make: PIPER
Aircraft Model: PA24
Event Type: Incident
Highest Injury: None
Aircraft Missing:
Damage: Minor
LOCATION
City: HILLSBORO
State: Ohio
Country:
DESCRIPTION
Description: AIRCRAFT ON LANDING, STRUCK A DITCH, SHAW AIRFIELD, HILLSBORO, OH
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Interestingly enough, Cant find a Shaw airfield on the charts, or on airnav or even on google. I have no idea what this guys insurance was like, but the aero club I was with required us to land at actual airports except in an emergency. I know private fields can choose to not be charted, but this looks like it was never formally reported as an airport with the FAA.. which is fine if the owner of the field wants it that way. But I wonder if that will impact the claim for the pilot.
 
Why do people try to skim the earth 6" above the ground way behind the power curve for a mile to make their landing point on a short field. WHY?
 
That thing is toast. Comanches arent exactly easy to parts source, especially at the flying surfaces and major airframe level. Certainly one of my considerations in not moving up from pa28r ownership going forward. Pa24 is a great performer, owed in great part to the much more comprehensive manner of manufacturing versus the unwashed pa28, but inching ever so much into museum piece as far as serviceability is concerned. A real shame Piper didn't follow up on the category by making the Dakota RG. pa32 really never did cover the Comanche mission adequately.
 
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