Sean Tucker Bails Out

gibbons

gibbons

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iRide
I received this from a friend. I don't have any additional information yet.
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Stunt plane crashes after control stick breaks By JENNIFER GRAY

A nationally known aerobatics pilot had to ditch his plane in Red River Parish this morning after the aircraft's control stick broke.

Sean Tucker parachuted safely -- despite getting tangled briefly on part of the plane after getting out of the cockpit.

The single-engine stunt plane crashed in a field near the Red River-Natchitoches Parish line.

Red River Sheriff Johnny Ray Norman said Tucker was in town to visit friends while on his way to a weekend air show in Florida.

The plane's control stick broke shortly after takeoff from Red River Regional Airport, Norman said, but Tucker managed to get the plane away from any houses before bailing out. Tucker initially got hung on a back part of the plane but managed to extricate himself and parachute to the ground, Norman said.

The single-passenger propeller plane crashed about a mile from the airport and was destroyed.
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Chip
 
Wow. Bet that was interesting. Glad he got out safely.
 
We caught his routine at Oshkosh last summer. What a cool guy. Glad he's OK.
 
Whats that called again, the Caterpillar club or something?
No thanks. Jumping by choice is one thing.
 
gibbons said:
The single-passenger propeller plane crashed about a mile from the airport and was destroyed.
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Oh sheesh, here we go agai....um, nevermind.
I guess it really is a single passenger plane after the stick breaks off in the pilots hand.
 
More (and different) information:
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Friends

Just to set the record straight. Sean Tucker did bail out of the Oracle Challenger today. Some media has reported that the stick broke, and that he got hung up on the aircraft while bailing out. Not true. I talked with his crew chief, a good friend of mine. The horizontal stab and elevator were modified this year and made larger. Brian thinks that after pulling out of a maneuver, a rod end bearing failed from the high loads. Sean had no elevator control. He used power and trim to climb. He had plenty of time. He talked to people on the ground who routed him over a freshly plowed field. Police, and fire rescue were in place before he bailed. After approx. 15min. of preparation he climbed to 8000' and exited the aircraft safely. It was an uneventful ride down into a nice soft field. Unfortunately not so for the aircraft. I was told it hit at approx. warp factor 3. After landing Sean called Brian and asked him to bring him his backpack and a cold Dr. Pepper.
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(Thanks Bruce).

Chip
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
hmm he had 15 mins to think about jumping out, and he had to jump. I wonder how that felt.
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Ii'll bet he felt great with that chute on his back. I still talk with some pilots who think chutes are of no help to aerobatic pilots....idiots.
 
Hum, technically if he had trim control he could have tried to land the plane. I've seen it done, on an archer. My instructor demonstrated it once during training (saying, now I don't want to see you practicing this... but it can be done) using only rudder, trim and power he flew a pattern and landed. I wondered how he would flair. As we approached the ground he gave it a shot of power which raised the nose and we ended up with a three point landing. Which is why he didn't want it practiced, hard on the nose gear, but if you don't have yoke control the planes already broken and all you’re trying to do is save your skin. Of course in an Archer, you have no choice but to ride it in. If I had a shoot like he did, I wouldn't try to ride it in either.

Missa
 
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Missa said:
Ofcourse in an archer, you have no choise but to ride it in. If I had a shoot like he did, I wouldn't try to ride it in either.

Missa
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Exactly. As you point out, Tucker's Pitts (at least it started life as a Pitts clone) isn't an Archer by any stretch of the imagination. It would be very difficult to land that airplane using trim only. Odds are it would end up on its back, or worse. He did what I'm sure he was trained to do. Use the parachute and live to fly another day.

Chip
 
gibbons said:
Exactly. As you point out, Tucker's Pitts (at least it started life as a Pitts clone) isn't an Archer by any stretch of the imagination. It would be very difficult to land that airplane using trim only. Odds are it would end up on its back, or worse. He did what I'm sure he was trained to do. Use the parachute and live to fly another day.

Chip
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Yep, I know nothing about Pitts! Would like to but don't. Watching my instructor land without touching the yoke was just what poped to mind when I read the report.

It's just something to think about for us pilots that don't fly with a shoot... if this happens to you all is not lost and remeber whaterver you do, fly the plane to the gound as best you can with all the controls you have aviable.

Missa
 
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Missa said:
Yep, I know nothing about Pitts! Would like to but don't. Watching my instructor land without touching the yoke was just what poped to mind when I read the report.

It's just something to think about for us pilots that don't fly with a shoot... if this happens to you all is not lost and remeber whaterver you do, fly the plane to the gound as best you can with all the controls you have aviable.

Missa
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A Pitts, like many aircraft designed for aerobatics, has very light control forces and limited or even non-existant stability. Together that means that controlling pitch with trim could be less effective than shifting your body weight with the belts on. I think we can all assume that it Sean T. concluded that the plane wasn't controllable enough for a safe landing, it wasn't controllable enough for a safe landing. And he obviously was wise enough to buy into the concept that the insurance company owned the airplane once control integrity was lost (assuming it was insured, if it wasn't that would just show how good he was at prioritization).
 
gibbons said:
I just can't imagine trying to fly an airplane without a rudder stick. This kind of reporting makes me question everything I read about everything.
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You said it Chip. Just think of all the disinformation we're getting on things we know nothing about! Makes the KGB look like amateurs.

Glad Sean was OK.
 
Anthony said:
Just think of all the disinformation we're getting on things we know nothing about!
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My wife will tell you there's nothing I think I know nothing about :)

Chip
 
Reminds me of the story I was told where my great-great uncle did an inverted spin in a stearman to find that his seatbelt was not secured (airshow pilot) and was able to fly another day thanks to the parachute.
 
What type of training do people who wear chutes take prior to wearing the chute in the plane? Is there a class or do peope just put them on with the idea they can read the instruction during the freefall??
 
As this makes Sean's number of takeoffs now 3 more than his number of landings I'd say he's got a pretty good handle on when to leave one up there.

I've landed a 182 with trim only, but I'm not sure the IAR would manage to do the same.

FWIW, he was wearing a Softie chute (as related to me by a Strong representative at SnF).
 
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