Pull Up A Chair & Watch ...

Daleandee

Daleandee

Final Approach
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Dale Andee
In other threads there are discussions of three point or two point (wheelie) landings for tail draggers & also of those who are so unskilled as to actually have to do a go-around every once in a while. o_O

Here is a video that seems to combine many of these topics together -

 
Nothing definitive, but from some of the YouTube comments it appears it may have been a medical issue.

It sure was painful to watch, though.
 
Ahhh...the aviation equivalent of getting smoked in a 100 yard dash and coming up limp JUST as the leader pulls away with no hope of catching him...

That was painful to watch...

Dana said:
Nothing definitive, but from some of the YouTube comments it appears it may have been a medical issue.

It sure was painful to watch, though.
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Something that isn't obvious, or at least wasn't to me, is that the video is shot at 150 fps, in other words, slow motion. It says that in the Youtube comments, for which you need to open the video in Youtube, not in the POA thread. Watching it at 2x speed gives a more realistic view of what was happening - at least to me, since I was thinking "he's so slow, how can he possibly be bouncing?"
 
Dan Thomas said:
Look at the attitude. Way too much speed.
Click to expand...

Yup, the airplane still wanted to fly when he hit the white tire. Just like trying to land the Mooney fast, it ain't gonna work.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Even confusing knots with mph won't get you that kind of float. Maybe he never pulled the throttle all the way back, either.
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Experimental aircraft, experimental engine. Throttle may have jammed. Pilot may have frozen in the face of the problem.

Or since this was at an air show, pilot may have been carrying a bit of power to help grease the airplane down in front of the crowd.

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Experimental aircraft, experimental engine. Throttle may have jammed. Pilot may have frozen in the face of the problem.

Or since this was at an air show, pilot may have been carrying a bit of power to help grease the airplane down in front of the crowd.
Click to expand...
The other factor could have been aircraft rig. The Celebrity was designed for a ~65-85 HP Continental, and that radial engine is considerably heavier. He may not have had enough control authority to flare at low speeds.

Other Celebrities are successfully flying with this engine, but there may be a necessary change in the horizontal stabilizer incidence that this builder didn't implement.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Dan Thomas said:
Look at the attitude. Way too much speed.
Click to expand...

I've looked at that video a lot and seriously wondered if there is a problem that can't be seen. I do see him line up on the runway, pitch up when approaching the runway and even checks his balloon up right at the threshold. I can see him moving the ailerons and rudder while flying down the runway so it seems to me that he was flying the airplane. Assuming he was not asleep at the stick or impaired in any form I just can't fathom how a pilot sits there and don't see the inevitable unfolding right before their eyes.

His second bounce held him in the air for a few seconds in which I would think that reality would appear. But in all fairness I have made some stupid mistakes over the years and by definition it was a good landing ... just not a great one.
 
If you watch the strobing of the propeller caused by frame rate of the camera, it seems as though he did not change RPM from the first view to the point where he passed the camera. If the throttle was stuck, he should have cut the mixture or mags.

Weird to watch, just enough power to keep flying in ground effect, which is a lot more than idle, but a lot less than climb power, Tough to watch.
 
Daleandee said:
I can see him moving the ailerons and rudder while flying down the runway so it seems to me that he was flying the airplane.
Click to expand...
You can also see a little bit of down elevator on a couple of the touchdowns, like he’s trying to do a wheel landing, but it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t know where the ground is. He finally pulled the stick back when he went off the side.
 
geezer said:
If the throttle was stuck, he should have cut the mixture or mags.
Click to expand...

I was watching the same thing but because of my small screen, I wasn't sure if the engine RPM was changing or not.

Years ago in a C-172 the throttle would stick and I could not get the engine less than 1200-1300 RPM.

On the first landing try the plane just stayed in ground effect and floated. The second try I pulled all the throttle I could get out abeam the numbers, but still ended up floating in ground effect.

The third try when the plane started floating, I just pulled the mixture and landed normally.
 
Daleandee said:
I've looked at that video a lot and seriously wondered if there is a problem that can't be seen. I do see him line up on the runway, pitch up when approaching the runway and even checks his balloon up right at the threshold. I can see him moving the ailerons and rudder while flying down the runway so it seems to me that he was flying the airplane. Assuming he was not asleep at the stick or impaired in any form I just can't fathom how a pilot sits there and don't see the inevitable unfolding right before their eyes.

His second bounce held him in the air for a few seconds in which I would think that reality would appear. But in all fairness I have made some stupid mistakes over the years and by definition it was a good landing ... just not a great one.
Click to expand...
I say he was too fast because his pitch angle was so low. Remember, at low speed the angle of attack has to be high and at high speed it has to be lower, to generate the same amount of lift. Fast approaches result in porpoising in both taildraggers and trikes. They result in long floats. They can result in ballooning. A taildragger needs a little more speed for a wheel landing, but not nearly what this fellow had. A three-point landing requires a lot less speed than he had.

Yup, he should have gone around and got the speed right next time. All of us have made mistakes like this. When it becomes a habit it's not good.
 
I agree that it might have been a medical issue. There is ZERO control inputs the whole way down the runway.
 
Dave Theisen said:
I agree that it might have been a medical issue. There is ZERO control inputs the whole way down the runway.
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I'd be more inclined to bet on carrying power to try and find the ground, not paying attention to how much runway was going by.
 
He woulda been OK if he had done that landing on 04R/22L at Edwards. It's 15,024' long. :cool:
 
I believe this video made the rounds of the internet before, and the pilot was having a medical issue and didn't get the power off causing him to float and float.
 
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