PLANE CRASH at ST PETE Grand PRIX!!!!

[ShakinJoe]

A bunch of us attended the St Pete Grand Prix this weekend primarily to watch the World Challenge series as Patrick Long is driving for Tru-Speed and Jim Sofronas (GMG) is no slouch either. Anyways...... while the Indy drivers were parading around the track in the Honda ugly-trucks, the pre-race show with the vintage airplanes were finishing up and landing...into a good head wind I might add. The last plane flat out shorted the runway as we all watched from the balcony (Monaco Style) of a building. His landing gear hit the water and SPLASH he flipped over.......wild. Then the plane sank.

Attached is a pic take right after the crash and before the plane sank. You can see the pilot floating beyond the plane with the wave-runner dude looking on probably saying something very stupid to the pilot/owner of the plane.
>
>
>
>

[URY914]

Was Danica the pilot?

See the OT forum for another members story.

[ShakinJoe]

No...Marco Andretti. Upside down twice in one weekend.

[Jeff Alton]

Jack Roush must have taught him to fly...

[vracer]

The Navy used to train their pilots in a "Dempsey Dunker". It came and hit the water like a plane crashing, went a$$ over tea kettle, and sank. There you were, upside down, under water, strapped in the cockpit of a 'plane'. You got to do this over and over until you got it right or you didn't get those fancy gold wings.

[URY914]

Originally Posted by ShakinJoe

No...Marco Andretti. Upside down twice in one weekend.

You mean "Parko"

[romad]

I would think landing short is a under statement. a better description would be " a controlled flight into terrian"

[acapella8]

I have some additional pics of this which I will upload, I was down here too during qualifying on Fri/Sat and a brief time on Sunday before race.

[ted]

was checking the wx and the plane crash vid was posted on the site.
warning bogus 30 sec ad before the start of the short vid of the water landing.
AccuWeather.com - Weather Video - Video: Plane Crashes into the Water

[Deschodt]

I also did not care for the "crapwagons" parade, but next time let me know, I'll join you for the world challenge portion !!!

[Joeaksa]

Hey there!

All you guys who seem to have a snide comment above and know everything, please enlighten us and tell us how you would take an airplane in for a safe landing when the engine loses power???

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by Joeaksa

Hey there!

All you guys who seem to have a snide comment above and know everything, please enlighten us and tell us how you would take an airplane in for a safe landing when the engine loses power???

Simple... just heave back on the stick some more and stall it right into the break wall into a million pieces.

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by Tim Hancock

Simple... just heave back on the stick some more and stall it right into the break wall into a million pieces.

So for us who don't know how to fly, but know some basics, how would you do a water landing?

Would you want to do a controlled descent close to the water and then stall it into the water from a short height and maybe bleed off a couple extra knots or be in full control and not stall it? Just wondering.

[id10t]

Originally Posted by Neilk

So for us who don't know how to fly, but know some basics, how would you do a water landing?

Would you want to do a controlled descent close to the water and then stall it into the water from a short height and maybe bleed off a couple extra knots or be in full control and not stall it? Just wondering.

Not a pilot (or even a flight sim player and I've never stayed at a holiday inn express) but I'd think that you'd want the tail to hit the water first and start dragging... if the nose hits first its too much like a car crash for me, if the gear hits first they could provide a rotation point to send the nose in. Logic says the tail hitting first (and at a low angle) will increase drag, slow speed, and not give a rotation point to send you azz over teakettle.

[Tim Hancock]

Looks like the pilot did a fine job for having the gear down. While I do not fly retracts, I believe they say to keep the gear up when ditching. This particular ditching was hairy due to being so close to shore. I am sure he initially thought he had enough altitude to make it back to the runway (he almost did). In hindsight, the chances for a safe ditching would be greater if he had gotten the gear up and ditched in open water. If he had ended up touching down right at the edge, this could have easily been deadly.

Basically one wants to touch down at minimum airspeed.... IOW stall it on rather than fly it on.

[cgarr]

Water landings can be a bit tricky because its hard to tell just where the water is for a smooth flare. You more or less have to fly it down to the water but that's hard to do without an engine.

[romad]

First off no mechanical failure was mentioned, just stated he landed short. Second he didn't do a fine job if he loss an engine and was tried to make the runway he could not make. He was trying to save that aircraft and is lucky he didn't roll it up about 200 foot later.

[Tim Hancock]

Originally Posted by romad

First off no mechanical failure was mentioned, just stated he landed short. Second he didn't do a fine job if he loss an engine and was tried to make the runway he could not make. He was trying to save that aircraft and is lucky he didn't roll it up about 200 foot later.

Well yeah as I stated earlier, in hind sight he should have ditched in open water, he obviously made a difficult split second decision on whether he had enough altitude to make the runway... he nearly did. The reason I said he did a good job setting it down is because when he was short final and knew he was not going to make it, he did not panic and try to extend the glide which possibly could have resulted in dropping a wing tip and cartwheeling onto shore.

[romad]

I disargee the nose is up, planes wobbling all over...the wing drips because he is in partial stall. He trying to make the runway, very lucky he was over water. Over land this does not go well. In any plane I flew, if I lost an engine on final I could tell you with in 20 feet where the thing is going to touch down. Trying to save face and/or the airplane kills many pilots.

[ted]

Originally Posted by Neilk

So for us who don't know how to fly, but know some basics, how would you do a water landing?

I think gear up is prefered for ditching in water.
Close all outside doors so plane can float longer.
The vid link mentioned mech failure, maybe he lost power?