Viking off airport landing Florida

[Ed Haywood]

Plane makes emergency crash landing on north Cape Coral street. FAA investigating

Small plane made an emergency crash landing in Cape Coral neighborhood near Andalusia Boulevard Saturday. FAA probing incident on Vogiantzis Parkway.

www.news-press.com

Pilot did a heck of a job. Looks like he elected to land gear up. Or maybe the gear collapsed?

I made a comment on the Bombardier crash that it might have been more survivable had they landed gear up. Obviously this aircraft has far less energy, but IMO worth discussing whether gear up is a better approach.

 

[Salty]

I chose gear down and I believe it was the right choice. It was pretty well ripped off, but I think it took away energy that could have done damage to us otherwise.

Also, there were branches that ripped through the skins that may have intruded more if we were sliding on the ground.

 

[Ed Haywood]

I chose gear up and I believe it was the right choice. It was pretty well ripped off, but I think it took away energy that could have done damage to us otherwise.

Also, there were branches that ripped through the skins that may have intruded more if we were sliding on the ground.

The Bombardier landed gear down, and veered sharply off the road when the left wingtip clipped a vehicle. The other wingtip snagged the noise barrier wall, causing the nose of the aircraft to hit the wall head on, killing the crew.

Easy to MMQB, but I think a belly landing would have been less likely to veer off the road. Physics would have kept it going pretty much the same general direction it was headed when it touched down.

Anyhow, good on the Viking pilot, and good on you. The old saying about the insurance company owning the plane is hard earned wisdom.

 

[Salty]

I said that wrong. I meant gear down. Edited.

 

[3393RP]

Easy to MMQB, but I think a belly landing would have been less likely to veer off the road. Physics would have kept it going pretty much the same general direction it was headed when it touched down.

Physics did keep it in the direction it was headed. The dashcam video shows there was significant lateral motion to the flight path as it approached the highway. It was going to hit the barrier wall regardless of the gear position.

 

[nauga]

...but I think a belly landing would have been less likely to veer off the road. Physics would have kept it going pretty much the same general direction it was headed when it touched down.

And then when it hit a car or something else it might have avoided if it had some semblance of directional control we'd pick apart why they didn't leave the gear down.

Nauga,
20/20

 

[Bacho]

From my seat that looks like a pretty good street to have the gear down for a very non-climatic landing. Maybe he wanted to make sure the insurance company owned it.

 

[RyanShort1]

From my seat that looks like a pretty good street to have the gear down for a very non-climatic landing. Maybe he wanted to make sure the insurance company owned it.

Meh, if you need to keep the gear up to have the energy to make the spot, who cares? Better to be judged by POA (and be alive to explain how and why) than buried by 6.

 

[mandm]

I’ve been looking at roads when flying thinking if I need to land where would I land but the roads look so small from above that I’m hesitant to choose the road but I guess that’s what we have in those cases. But gear up on a road? Haven’t thought about that but like you said you never know what you’re going to hit down below until you get there.

 

[RyanShort1]

I’ve been looking at roads when flying thinking if I need to land where would I land but the roads look so small from above that I’m hesitant to choose the road but I guess that’s what we have in those cases. But gear up on a road? Haven’t thought about that but like you said you never know what you’re going to hit down below until you get there.

The potential advantage of gear up is friction… when we had the gear up in the Cardinal back in 2016 I think the plane came to a stop in 500ish feet, and that slide was probably survivable in less than 200’. I think you can decelerate in a smaller space gear up in light aircraft - something big and heavy is a different story, so YMMV.

 

[Ed Haywood]

I’ve been looking at roads when flying thinking if I need to land where would I land but the roads look so small from above that I’m hesitant to choose the road but I guess that’s what we have in those cases. But gear up on a road? Haven’t thought about that but like you said you never know what you’re going to hit down below until you get there.

The problem with roads is wires. And cars, as the Bombardier found out. But if the terrain is rough, you may have to take your chances.

Still unsure whether the Viking landed gear up deliberately, or if they were sheared off.

 

[RyanShort1]

Still unsure whether the Viking landed gear up deliberately, or if they were sheared off.

That reminds me of something I’d forgotten.

A long time ago at a EAA Fly-In in Hondo, Texas, I saw one of the Viking’s Bellanca Cruisemaster predecessors lose it’s engine on takeoff. They had already started gear retraction and then started it back down -as they descended and it was about 3/4 out when they hit the runway and it simple folded back up when they hit. They also came to a stop in a short slide.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Looks like he elected to land gear up. Or maybe the gear collapsed?

Can say from experience that sometimes the Helmet Fire can cause one to forget the gear entirely while looking for, aviating to the scene of the impending crash site. (Or, almost, in my case)
Edit; and from the video, the flaps.
As another possibility.

 

[Tarheelpilot]

It’s very likely the pilot did put gear and flaps down but since they forgot to deploy the RAT there was no hydraulic power to operate the gear and flaps.

Those older airplanes don’t have automatic RAT deployment. Pilot has to pull the handle.