Warehouse crash Fullerton Airport,CA 1-2-2025

[flyingcheesehead]

Does it cost you anything to try it for yourself?

It does, actually. There's a cover that must be broken off to reveal the emergency release, presumably so that baggage doesn't either trip or foul up the mechanism.

I have no problem second guessing a fellow pilot when there is a lesson to be learned that might save me or someone else. Trying to continue to 24 was a bad decision and got him killed.

If I ever die in a crash, I *expect* all of you to second guess everything I did, and I hope it helps you not do whatever I did. Just realize that I'm not an idiot (most of the time), so look beyond the easy "that was dumb" answer and ask how someone who was in that situation could have made that mistake.

one thing that i want to point out, is your statement that fullerton is short. thats a problem i see in GA today. the published landing distance for a 260hp RV-10 is 525ft. the runway is 3121ft/. not short at all.

Sorry, my bad. To clarify, I meant short relative to most other airports, not short relative to the landing distance an RV is capable of.

That's another thing we don't think about nearly enough. We tend to focus on runways far too much. My Mooney takes closer to 2000 feet for takeoff and landing, but I'd MUCH rather roll off the end of the runway at 30 knots than spin in short of the runway because I "needed" enough runway to stop.

its one of the problems with the flight review process and CFI's. to many reviews are just paperwork exercise and an hour of what the pilot normally does.

Yes, and it bugs me that there are so many CFIs who pencil-whip flight reviews and so many pilots who give those CFIs business. If I hire you as a CFI, I want you to kick my ass! You're on board to make me a better pilot. So make me do the hard things, overload me, teach me new techniques that I might not have heard of. The worst outcome is a flight review is to be told "You're all good, here's a signature."

 

[Jim K]

If I ever die in a crash, I *expect* all of you to second guess everything I did, and I hope it helps you not do whatever I did. Just realize that I'm not an idiot (most of the time), so look beyond the easy "that was dumb" answer and ask how someone who was in that situation could have made that mistake.

QFT

My Mooney takes closer to 2000 feet

Or 2,399.5' of Michigan UP grass

 

[Ed Haywood]

Just realize that I'm not an idiot (most of the time), so look beyond the easy "that was dumb" answer and ask how someone who was in that situation could have made that mistake.

Absolutely. The exemplar for this principle is the Snort Snodgrass crash. An incredibly accomplished pilot undone by a moment of carelessness.

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Or 2,399.5' of Michigan UP grass

Hah! It's not the ground roll there, it's the obstructions.

Also, I'm pretty sure I suffer from "While we're in there cancer." I need to replace the second battery on the Mooney. I looked around at Oshkosh, expecting I'd just end up replacing it (a Gill) with another Concorde which is what my #1 battery is.

Then I came across EarthX. Their batteries are significantly lighter, and every pound is worth something when you fly a Mooney with a family of four. I could gain 35 pounds of useful load by replacing both batteries with EarthX. However, given that my batteries are in the tail, that's enough of a change that I would need ballast in the baggage compartment if I had two people up front... Unless I got a lighter prop. But if I get a different prop, I should get the one that's part of the Ovation 3 STC just for future flexibility when it comes to engines, as that would let me use an IO-550-N (the Cirrus engine) in addition to my current IO-550-G. And if I got the 310hp STC to go with the new prop, I could add Micro VGs and probably fly into 6Y9 again!

Yeah. Or I could just buy the 310 that I probably should be flying instead.

 

[Iflydogs]

I suspect this was kind of “Sully” incident. Yes, he could have made Teeterboro/made runway 6, IF he had reacted instantaneously to the incident. But by the time he figured out what was going on and had his head about him, the opportunity passed.

 

[danhagan]

i agree with your thoughts, there are a lot of lessons to be learned from this one. one thing that i want to point out, is your statement that fullerton is short. thats a problem i see in GA today. the published landing distance for a 260hp RV-10 is 525ft. the runway is 3121ft/. not short at all. the problem i see in GA is pilots get sloppy and complacent and never practice a short field landing after they get their ticket because they get use to landing on long paved runways. its one of the problems with the flight review process and CFI's. to many reviews are just paperwork exercise and an hour of what the pilot normally does.

I've landed KFUL several times ... those warehouse roofs throw some massive heat ... I had a landing there that was complete power off, nose down and VSI showing a climb. Throw that stupid palm tree on the approach to 24 also makes things interesting. That 524 foot landing I'd love to see - they would have to drag it in low and lock up the brakes into a headwind with any of the RVs.

If I ever die in a crash, I *expect* all of you to second guess everything I did, and I hope it helps you not do whatever I did. Just realize that I'm not an idiot (most of the time), so look beyond the easy "that was dumb" answer and ask how someone who was in that situation could have made that mistake.

I had a huge smoke in the cockpit, full electrical failure at night, landed ok but always thought if I had augered that landing, no one would have ever known what I was dealing with ... also was dealing with two govt choppers practicing auto-rotations at the field ...