Plane down in Indiana (only minor injuries)

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injb

Pre-takeoff checklist
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jb
Just came across this. I wonder if the fuel problem they mention was of the "we don't have any" variety. More importantly, why would you land gear up in that situation? It looks like they were properly aligned with the furrows and everything.
 
To keep the nose wheel from possibly digging in and then landing on its top. That is my SWAG.
 
Slides in them furrows easier...
 
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injb said:
Just came across this. I wonder if the fuel problem they mention was of the "we don't have any" variety. More importantly, why would you land gear up in that situation? It looks like they were properly aligned with the furrows and everything.
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Not uncommon in retractable planes to do a emergency rough surface or water landing gear up. Leads to less flippage.

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So in a situation like this... how on earth do u take the plane out of that field?


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mscard88 said:
Well then, in your example just firewall that mofo and go!
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All jokes aside, this is one of the reasons I think it's quite smart for pilots to seek some real backcountry training.
 
Looks like the pilot did a good job on the landing,with no injuries. Now wondering what the fuel problem was?
 
frfly172 said:
Looks like the pilot did a good job on the landing,with no injuries. Now wondering what the fuel problem was?
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He didn’t have any... I hope not


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My old stomping grounds here. Sad to lose another PA24 probably, but at least everyone walked away ok. Didn't really say, but had they just departed HFY or were they already enroute from somewhere (to somewhere)?
 
WannFly said:
So in a situation like this... how on earth do u take the plane out of that field?


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Pick it up with a crane, I suppose. Remove the wings and load it on a truck. Pretty spendy.
 
drotto said:
Not uncommon in retractable planes to do a emergency rough surface or water landing gear up. Leads to less flippage.

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I wouldn't be surprised if that plowed field would remove the landing gear if it were down. I think gear up was the correct decision.
 
I wish I could find it, but I read an old Navy training manual once that said in a nutshell an emergency landing "hard surface gear down, soft surface gear up. " Now all sorts of arguments can be made about the gear absorbing energy etc, but if it's good enough for the USN, it's good enough for me. I know a guy who set his Comanche down in a field gear down, thought he had the save of the century until a main dropped in a gopher hole and the tail section ended up slapping the wing. Gear up would have saved the airplane. Y'just never know.
 
WannFly said:
So in a situation like this... how on earth do u take the plane out of that field?


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Click to expand...

My one and only experience in moving a plane that landed with the gear up. A wrecker was called, one that usually deals with medium sized trucks. Canvas straps were ran under each wing, near the root, front to back, then hooked up to the wrecker stinger and the plane was lifted. Someone crawled under the plane, it was about 4 feet in the air, hand lowered each main as someone else lowered the nose gear. Then the plane was set down on the ground, hooked to a tug and towed to maintenance.

This was a gear up landing on a paved runway. The plane slid off the runway and onto the grass. I am guessing this plane was done pretty much the same way except probably the wings were removed and then the plane was trucked out.

542-Airplane-towing-by-Euess-Wrecker.jpg
 
Glad they're ok.

I have to wonder if I would be deciphering the option to tap the starter in order to get the prop horizontal.
Depends on the situation for sure. (time, water, visibility, etc)
If it looked like I had time, it then would totally depend on how many hours since OH lol.
 
BGF_Yankee said:
My old stomping grounds here. Sad to lose another PA24 probably, but at least everyone walked away ok. Didn't really say, but had they just departed HFY or were they already enroute from somewhere (to somewhere)?
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Any off field landing that everyone walked away from is a good one. There are other PA-24's to be had.
 
Skyrys62 said:
Glad they're ok.

I have to wonder if I would be deciphering the option to tap the starter in order to get the prop horizontal.
Depends on the situation for sure. (time, water, visibility, etc)
If it looked like I had time, it then would totally depend on how many hours since OH lol.
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Well in this case, it was a 3-blade Scimitar prop, so no way to save it on a belly-landing. I suppose if I knew there was no chance of restarting the engine and I had plenty of time/altitude, I'd worry about getting a 2-blade horizontal.
 
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