Patty Wagstaff involved in incident at St Augustine

Because they were on the runway at Oshkosh in the middle of the night and drinking.

Please forgive me as I have never been to Osh. Hope to go soon.

Do people land in the middle of the night there with no controllers on duty?

Were they in any way endangering other people?
 
Please forgive me as I have never been to Osh. Hope to go soon.

Do people land in the middle of the night there with no controllers on duty?

Were they in any way endangering other people?

It was during the Airventure show at Oshkosh. The airport is closed all night, so no traffic. It is legend that many of the airshow pilots may or may not travel out to the runway to have a drink in the middle of the night.
 
The kind of mechanical failure than can result in a flipped airplane is the kind that can cause the airplane to depart the runway and veer into a marsh. From there, imagination is probably good enough to fill in the rest.
Yep. The rear wheels
they are saying...."steering rod"...not a nose wheel collapse. I'm not believing that though.
Well, a steering rod ball joint popping off could cause a severe swerve, which could cause nose gear collapse, wing tip drag (both disastrous if you hit soft ground), and instant runway excursions.
 
Yep. The rear wheels

Well, a steering rod ball joint popping off could cause a severe swerve, which could cause nose gear collapse, wing tip drag (both disastrous if you hit soft ground), and instant runway excursions.
is there another case that's like that?......Meh. o_O in the Bonanza group the "other" rod joint is more common failure mode....which causes a nose gear collapse. Expensive but less disastrous.
 
Have to take what the local news says with a pound of salt. When they first reported it they said that the plane landed in the marsh short of the runway and had 4 people onboard. Now it flipped during taxi with 2 onboard.

There is a photo though. The airplane is indeed upside down.

She tweeted it was a ‘mechanical’ issue. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how you flip a Bo on the ground with or without a mechanical issue....
 
A broken nose gear rod end could do it.

How?

Not trying to make trouble, but it seems you would need a combination of significant breakage combined with significant speed.

Unless this happened right at touchdown (which would be contrary to initial reports), I’m still having a hard time seeing it. Unless they were taking a turn/trying to exit the runway at excessive speed.
 
Please forgive me as I have never been to Osh. Hope to go soon.

Do people land in the middle of the night there with no controllers on duty?

Were they in any way endangering other people?

The only thing they were endangering was EAA Security's illusion of their own power and authority.

Kathryn's Report identifies Wagstaff's passenger as a former USAF Thunderbird:

So you have two of the very best pilots in the country on board, but a bunch of hotshots on a message board think that they screwed up. :rolleyes: :rofl:
 
How?

Not trying to make trouble, but it seems you would need a combination of significant breakage combined with significant speed.

Unless this happened right at touchdown (which would be contrary to initial reports), I’m still having a hard time seeing it. Unless they were taking a turn/trying to exit the runway at excessive speed.
The photo looks like it flipped in the grass. If the nose gear rod end broke on the roll out, followed by an excursion into the weeds, the nose could've dug in and caused it to flip.
 
Someone asked what mechanical failure could cause a Bonanza to flip. I answered that a broken rod end could do it. I'm not alleging that it happened here or that it has ever happened in history.

Honestly.
 
Someone asked what mechanical failure could cause a Bonanza to flip. I answered that a broken rod end could do it. I'm not alleging that it happened here or that it has ever happened in history.

Honestly.
I have a V35....am an A&P/IA....and follow the boards and have never heard that.
 
you could be right.....just never heard that.

I'll be at the Beech Mechanic's clinic in a few weeks. I'll ask ....
 
is there another case that's like that?......Meh. o_O in the Bonanza group the "other" rod joint is more common failure mode....which causes a nose gear collapse. Expensive but less disastrous.
That was an aborted post that was never finished, but showed up when I hit the button. Odd. I don't even remember what I was gonna actually say ...
 
Stuck brake. Flat tire. Mechanical issue with one main gear. Basically anything that drags one side of the airplane. There are probably more, but anything mechanical that results in a runway departure is suspect.
 
My concern when reading of the arrest was not so much being polite, as drunks being belligerent when arrested is fairly commonplace, but rather the original offense.

Did I understand correctly that she was driving fast while intoxicated down the runway at night in an area which would be crowded with people?
That was acceptable behavior for a long time for show performers from what I heard at the time. No idea how true that is but... can’t be disregarded either.
 
If the ruddervators are crunched that things a goner. Another one bites the dust.
 
Back
Top