What the heck? 172 folds in half on takeoff

Oh yeah maybe. Or perhaps it got caught in some tall grass and went over, snapping the aft portion clean off.
 
Fell off a truck on its way to the recycler?

But seriously, one with serious injuries, I can see the FD opening the spamcan with a canopener.
 
2113’ turf in fair condition? With two onboard I think we can look into performance issues, kinda the Occam's razor type of explanation. It is reported to of happened ‘right after takeoff’.

I’ll go with that for now.
 
Yeah, there are ragged edges where it separated and with the fireman standing there, I expect that cut around and folded it over, but who know.
 
Maybe it was one of those EZ stow airplanes.....

I would think it would be easier and quicker to rip the doors off by hand, unless the FD just needed a little practice cutting a plane in half.
 
looks like some serious extrication happened.
 
It’s like looking at one of those contortion ppl doing yoga. You got to look hard to figure what what’s where.
 
If there were only two people in the plane, cutting it behind the rear seat wouldn't seem to facilitate getting two people out of the front seats. Besides, if the FD cut it open why would they leave the tailcone in that position instead of just pulling that lightweight part of the plane away to give a clear access? Looks as though the lower longerons are bent but perhaps the two sections are still attached there. The vertical stabilizer and rudder look in remarkably good condition, so may not have fully participated in the inverted portion of the trajectory?

Pretty interesting set of forces must have acted on the airframe to get this result.

A picture from a different view shows the separation behind the side windows and the RH door open.

C172.jpg
 
Last edited:
That is strange because besides being cut in half the plane does not look battered up all that badly...
 
flyingron said:
The wing struts are bent. This thing rolled on impact.
Click to expand...

Anything is possible. But the wings and control surfaces outboard of the strut attach points appear far too intact to have rolled. I would have guessed perhaps an end-for-end overturn instead?

Have a friend who years ago messed up a take-off from his own grass strip in an unfamiliar Piper, with the owner in the RH front seat. Ended tipped up vertical on the gravel county road across the ditch from the end of his runway. Vertical, tail up, prop buried in the gravel, engine running and aircraft pirouetting. No injuries, other than to his pride, and the airplane was eventually rebuilt, but he still has to endure the ribbing to this day.
 
Last edited:
My guess...On take off the pilot was in ground effect just off the ground then pulled up abruptly (possibly a seat sliding back) and caused the tail to strike the ground and break the fuselage before the plane then nose dived and flipped. The weakened tail section was ripped apart by the centrifugal force.
 
Something had to push down hard on the wing outboard. It ether rolled or dropped on the wing.
 
GRG55 said:
Anything is possible. But the wings and control surfaces outboard of the strut attach points appear far too intact to have rolled. I would have guessed perhaps an end-for-end overturn instead?

Have a friend who years ago messed up a take-off from his own grass strip in an unfamiliar Piper, with the owner in the RH front seat. Ended tipped up vertical on the gravel county road across the ditch from the end of his runway. Vertical, tail up, prop buried in the gravel, engine running and aircraft pirouetting. No injuries, other than to his pride, and the airplane was eventually rebuilt, but he still has to endure the ribbing to this day.
Click to expand...
I guess there was no teardown needed for sudden stoppage :D
 
All I know is there better be a full investigation. Figure out the factored hours of that 172 and AD the whole damn fleet because of it :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top