Strange Float Plane (Beaver) Crash

[jeffgrant]

Reminds me of that punch line from that old joke... "Oh, about 100 yards further than we did last year."

Holy crap.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

[crustychief]

Kinda like he didn't set the prop for takeoff or something. Sounded like the power changed near the rotation point.

[RWebb]

nuthin' makes a splash like a beaver crash

[island911]

never got 'on step' ....dragging the tail

[fingpilot]

Also noticed the flaps didn't get set until mid-run. Also, look at the wind sock just before the cam gets dropped. Direct crosswind.

Still, shoulda been able to do that.

Might have been a heavier than usual lizard in back too......

[MT930]

Looks like the flaps were not extended until it was to late. Beavers have hydraulic flaps, bet he has pumping fast but not fast enough. Got to have flaps down on step.
Looked pretty survivable.

Bummer they are great planes. I watched a guy land a Beaver on amphibious floats on the runway with the wheels up. Very short roll out. very expensive landing.

[charleskieffner]

Originally Posted by island911

never got 'on step' ....dragging the tail

EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED! our A&P was there when it happened, he just got back and we were talking about it.

isnt there a lil petal ya push with yer lil feetzee's that make 'em go left and right????

like down the center of the active seaplane runway!

our wrench figures in the ballpark of about $350K repairs for that bonehead move!

[fingpilot]

And the floats were worth more money than the plane. Doubly so if they were amphib floats.

[Jeff Higgins]

Originally Posted by fingpilot

And the floats were worth more money than the plane. Doubly so if they were amphib floats.

Yup. And old Beavers ain't exactly cheap these days, either. Doesn't look like anyone got hurt. Hope they can fix that old bird...

Looks like the fat kid in the back seat wasn't strapped in, was reaching over the seat for a Snickers in his backpack, fell over the seat, and rolled to the back of the luggage compartment.

[exc911ence]

You can re-build a Beaver from the data plate up, no worries restoring that one.

Major pilot error IMHO.

[t6dpilot]

Having my seaplane rating, those exact things jumped out at me too. Never got up on the step and missed a whole shyteload of runway to the right of his t/o path. Seriously, I would like to know what this guy was thinking. Glad to hear everyone walked away, but they might not have been so lucky. Sad that he thumped that beautiful bird. I love those airplanes. One needs to ask, why the hell didn't he just pull the power - even just before he rotated. That big bird with all that drag would have slowed down pretty darn quick.

[cgarr]

Did he pump the water out of the floats as part of the pre-flight?

Looks like he was trying to do a camera buzz shot too!

[charleskieffner]

classic "hold my beer and WATCH THIS" aerobatic maneuver! wifey, 2 kids, 2 dawgs in it. bet they cant wait to go flying agin!

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Looks like his primary direction of takeoff was with a direct, 90-degree crosswind too (windsock is pretty erect too).

This just has "pilot fail" written all over it.

[cashflyer]

Originally Posted by cgarr

Looks like he was trying to do a camera buzz shot too!

This was the first thing that caught my eye. Plane isn't following the waterway; it's headed for the camera guy. With so many viral videos on the net, I suspected this was one.

Since somebody chimed in and says their A&P saw this in person, then I guess it was a matter of being a pilot with other stuff on his mind... IE: looking good for the camera.

[cgarr]

I zoomed on on the vid and got the "N" number, here is the report:

http://www.liveatc.net/forums/atcaviation-audio-clips/de-havilland-beaver-plane-crash-at-lake-hood-june-7-2009-video-atc/?action=printpage

[widgeon13]

I had the same thought as cgarr, wonder if he had water in the floats?

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by t6dpilot

Never got up on the step and missed a whole shyteload of runway to the right of his t/o path.

Summed up perfectly, and it would seem the former was a partial function of the latter. It's hard to tell from that video, but Lake Hood (Anchorage, AK) has a "channel" that is used as the active runway. This guy appeared to be way left of the channel to begin with, even prior to the "gust of wind" he gave as the crash cause. Due to the obviously fixed orientation of the channel, cross-wind T/O's and landings are an every-day occurrence there.

IMO, he was either preoccupied with something or hot-dogging for the camera and didn't realize (or correct for) the wind drifting him off center before reaching the channel. It also looked like he wasn't confident on what to do when he finally recognized the problem (or his point-of-no-return).

Here is a video that shows the lake's channel a bit better (and how a normal T/O in a Beaver looks there):

[Porsche-O-Phile]

That makes much more sense. I'm only land rated (although I'd love to pick up my ASES and AMES ratings someday) but I wondered about the guy's choice of takeoff direction. looked like he had a nice amount of clear water to use for takeoff facing directly into the wind, which given a choice would be the preferred direction and might have easily made the difference between getting airborne and bending metal. As a general rule, always take off & land into the wind. A crosswind never helps and as little as a 5 knot tailwind can make a huge difference on takeoff or landing distance. I'm sure these principles are the same for float planes.

Obviously if you're on a river or something your options for wind directions are more limited (kind of like a conventional runway) but the first video sure looked like the pilot had enough water in all directions to effectively give him choice of whatever takeoff direction he wanted, and if that's true he chose about the worst direction he could have, probably to ham it up for the camera.

I did a search on the N number and date in the NTSB database but there's no record found. Probably too recent to have the Preliminary Findings of Fact up. In my own experience it takes a few weeks (no, I've never had an incident/accident myself but I've been a witness).

[Zef]

Originally Posted by Eric Coffey

Summed up perfectly, and it would seem the former was a partial function of the latter. It's hard to tell from that video, but Lake Hood (Anchorage, AK) has a "channel" that is used as the active runway. This guy appeared to be way left of the channel to begin with, even prior to the "gust of wind" he gave as the crash cause. Due to the obviously fixed orientation of the channel, cross-wind T/O's and landings are an every-day occurrence there.

IMO, he was either preoccupied with something or hot-dogging for the camera and didn't realize (or correct for) the wind drifting him off center before reaching the channel. It also looked like he wasn't confident on what to do when he finally recognized the problem (or his point-of-no-return).

Here is a video that shows the lake's channel a bit better (and how a normal T/O in a Beaver looks there):

Nice but not perfect...the tail of floats still drag in the water on step....!