TBM AvengerWarbird Ditches Off The Beach During Cocoa Air Show - Video

That looks like a pretty ideal ditching. My guess is that plane will be repaired and back up in the air before too long.
 
That looks like a pretty ideal ditching. My guess is that plane will be repaired and back up in the air before too long.

It just finished an 18 year restoration less than 2 years ago.

Hopefully they can get it back, but I doubt it will be in the near future.
 
That looks like a pretty ideal ditching. My guess is that plane will be repaired and back up in the air before too long.

Immersion in salt water is bad for everything and a ditching is rough on the airplane. I'd be interested to see how beaten up it is if they get it out of the water. I'd guess cowling and wing leading edge damage at a minimum.
 
Immersion in salt water is bad for everything and a ditching is rough on the airplane. I'd be interested to see how beaten up it is if they get it out of the water. I'd guess cowling and wing leading edge damage at a minimum.
No doubt, but it takes a lot to "total" an old warbird, particularly if the data plate is intact.
 
The salt water dip will require an entire rebuild, probably as extensive if not more than the last one.
 
Immersion in salt water is bad for everything and a ditching is rough on the airplane. I'd be interested to see how beaten up it is if they get it out of the water. I'd guess cowling and wing leading edge damage at a minimum.

It can be done, but takes a lot of work, just go to Udvar Hazy and look at the Statoliner and remember that it flew there after ditching in Seattle.
 
Wonder if that was the idiot that kept standing there taking photos/video after it came to a stop.

In one of the videos a woman hollers at her daughter to get out of the surf and then she and her husband become more concerned with filming.
I can see taking pictures/video as it ditches, but once it stops I would high tail to the accident site to see if I could assist.
 
I can see taking pictures/video as it ditches, but once it stops I would high tail to the accident site to see if I could assist.

We are a spectator society these days. Many find it better to watch and take pictures than to actually do anything.
 
I can see taking pictures/video as it ditches, but once it stops I would high tail to the accident site to see if I could assist.
I think there are probably lots of people that I'd rather stay on the beach and record in portrait mode (sigh) than try to swim beyond their abilities or become an impediment to those who are actually able to help.
 
We are a spectator society these days. Many find it better to watch and take pictures than to actually do anything.
It's interesting, it seems the more people around to render help, the less people actually get involved, either assuming others will help or wondering why others aren't helping. People look to others for cues.
 
We are a spectator society these days. Many find it better to watch and take pictures than to actually do anything.

The fact practically everyone has a still/video camera in their pocket these days + a social media account or three might have something to do with this...
 
I think there are probably lots of people that I'd rather stay on the beach and record in portrait mode (sigh) than try to swim beyond their abilities or become an impediment to those who are actually able to help.
My point was to assist. That means do what you can to help.... Not doing something that puts you in danger or past your ability.
 
It's interesting, it seems the more people around to render help, the less people actually get involved, either assuming others will help or wondering why others aren't helping. People look to others for cues.

I think it comes down to the shift from a rural society where YOU had to take action because nobody was there to do things for you, to an urban society where "someone else will take care of it". It is a learned behavior.
 
I'm reminded of a P-51 at the airshow in England. In formation for a pass, he had a problem, pulled out of formation and couldn't make the runway. He landed in a field nearby and did a great job, but really crunched up the airplane. It was repaired and flying in the same show the next year.

I wouldn't count this airplane as done unless the owner gives up on it. I'm sure the first thought after finding out the pilot was OK was how to get a crane to lift it out of the water so they can get it washed down. Salt water isn't an instant curse, but they are going to have to get it out and cleaned. Every boater who has retrieved something dropped over the side knows the clock is ticking.
 
I suspect it was out of the water within hours.

During the war these planes were "throwaways", but they still had to operate while being subjected to weeks of salt water and spray while at sea on the carriers. There would not have been sufficient fresh water to wash them down after each mission or storm.

Friend of mine's father was a career coastal SAR pilot. Flew Grumman amphibians during part of his time. Used to describe the performance the crews went through each night in the hangar to wash the planes and re-grease everything after their salt water exercises.
 
If this had been in the Bermuda Triangle, like Flight 19, no one would have seen it go down.
 
I suspect it was out of the water within hours.

I don't know the geography there or exactly where it went down, but I saw a report on one of the warbird forums where they were floating it to a (hopefully) nearby marina to pull it out of the water.

Edit: Actually, I saw that in the VAC Instagram link posted earlier in this thread.
 
I don't know the geography there or exactly where it went down, but I saw a report on one of the warbird forums where they were floating it to a (hopefully) nearby marina to pull it out of the water.

Edit: Actually, I saw that in the VAC Instagram link posted earlier in this thread.

Good to hear!
The combination of the airshow community and the Warbird community means people were probably on it pretty quickly to save the plane.
 

Pardon the thread drift.

This reminded me of two incidents I became involved in about 20 years ago, with one occurring shortly after the other. My reactions, and that of others, were the results of adrenaline and surprise, and perhaps provide some insight into how we humans are wired.

In the first one, I was at a park, sitting at a table in a picnic area. Suddenly there was a commotion and screams at an adjacent table. A guy in his 50s had pitched face down on the table and stopped moving.

The scene was like a video that had been paused; no one made a move. I ran to the table, grabbed him under the arms, hauled him out onto the ground, checked for a pulse and clear airway, and began chest compressions...all just a bit slower than it took for you to read this sentence.

After a few long minutes of this, I looked up to see if anyone looked like they were ready to rotate in. All I saw were gaping expressions. The members of the gathering crowd weren't going to get involved.

To the man's good fortune, a fire station was a few blocks away, and within a couple more minutes the paramedics had successfully used an AED to restore a stable heartbeat. I found out later that after some badly needed heart surgery, he made a full recovery.

I witnessed a another situation at the lake just weeks later when a young man disappeared after diving off of a marina dock into water just 8' deep at our local lake. His friends and bystanders did nothing but scream and point.

I jumped in, along with one other person, and tried to perform an improvised grid search. After ten minutes, I was exhausted and knew further efforts just endangered me and had no hope of success. His body was located about 15 minutes later.

After reading the above linked Wiki page, which was quite interesting, it provided some insight into how people respond to these things.

I don't know why my first reaction in these incidents was to do what seemed obvious. I'm certainly not the muscular hero type. I just saw a situation where my immediate involvement was needed. It was gratifying that the first person survived his close brush with death.

The second victim's drowning was a real shock to me, and I think it
was because he was young, it was a beautiful sunny day, and it happened so quickly with a very real and sobering end. His friends had witnessed something that isn't supposed to happen to the young in the prime of life. It was truly incomprehensible to them...hell, to me too.

The confrontations with death I witnessed caused starkly different reactions between me and those bystanders. I don't have any memory of making a conscious decision to act the way I did. It was totally automatic. I decided upon action, the others stood and watched.

The vicissitudes of life place challenges before us, and I suppose how we respond is driven by a complex combination of upbringing, values, the particular situation, and perhaps the social setting.

I hope this is understandable. I just typed out how I felt and reacted at the time. It was visceral and real when it occurred, and it all happened quickly.
 
Well, when folks like CNN pay cash money for the videos, then guess what takes priority to those with cameras?

they never had to consider the ethics questions posed in journalism school.
 
I think it comes down to the shift from a rural society where YOU had to take action because nobody was there to do things for you, to an urban society where "someone else will take care of it". It is a learned behavior.
The other factor is, when many people are present, whether an individual considers that they're the best choice.

About ten years ago, I was sitting in the lobby for a table at a local restaurant. I saw a woman standing inside the dining area collapse to the floor.

Took me about two seconds to react. In that time, I was considering whether *I* would be the best person to respond. My first-aid training was about 40 year old (literally dating from my time as a CAP cadet). I hardly knew how I would start. I did lunge to my feet and start heading towards her, but other assistance arrived as I moved forward.

Would an average beachgoer know how to open the canopy of a TBM? Would they know how to unbuckle a military-style seat belt? Were they adept enough swimmers to be able to hold an injured man (wearing a flight suit and boots) on the surface?

Likely, a lot of the witnesses wouldn't know what to do, and *knew* they didn't know. It's easy enough to run a youtube video forward and back, and complain about such-and-such, but it's a lot different when it's happening to you in real time. I honor those who immediately leap to help in these situations, but failure to respond doesn't necessarily imply indifference.

Ron Wanttaja
 
After a few long minutes of this, I looked up to see if anyone looked like they were ready to rotate in. All I saw were gaping expressions. The members of the gathering crowd weren't going to get involved.
What percentage of the population actually has CPR training, current or otherwise? I was required to be certified at one job, but told my copilot that if he wanted to go back and help out, he could. I was going to squeeze my headset down tighter and go “lalalalalalalalalala” until we landed so that he wouldn’t have to work on me, too. I almost passed out when the first person in class did chest compressions on the dummy and I heard t he pop.:eek:

of course, I wouldn’t be in the crowd gaping, either.
 
I really hope Im wrong, but I would be shocked if it ever flies again.
 
I really hope Im wrong, but I would be shocked if it ever flies again.

Tend to agree. Everything electrical is toast, the airframe will have been beaten up by the ditching and recovery, and the salt water has introduced a corrosion problem that can <probably> only be resolved through either an extended dunking in fresh water or by serious disassembly. TBM's aren't a dime a dozen, but they are a relatively common and lower valued warbird, so there's probably a better airframe out there to restore at this point.

I hope I'm wrong and they are able to spray it with a garden hose, pull the plugs and drain the engine, add some oil and fly it again next week, but that ain't usually how it works.
 
Tend to agree. Everything electrical is toast, the airframe will have been beaten up by the ditching and recovery, and the salt water has introduced a corrosion problem that can <probably> only be resolved through either an extended dunking in fresh water or by serious disassembly. TBM's aren't a dime a dozen, but they are a relatively common and lower valued warbird, so there's probably a better airframe out there to restore at this point.

I hope I'm wrong and they are able to spray it with a garden hose, pull the plugs and drain the engine, add some oil and fly it again next week, but that ain't usually how it works.
Fly it again next week? Ahem accident investigation.
 
Fly it again next week? Ahem accident investigation.
If it’s flyable next week, probably none of the accident criteria apply...
Aircraft accident
Aircraft accident means an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight and all such persons have disembarked, and in which any person suffers death or serious injury, or in which the aircraft receives substantial damage. For purposes of this part, the definition of aircraft accident includes unmanned aircraft accident, as defined herein.
 
FAA are investigating.
[investigation]
FAA: What happened?
Pilot: Prop over speed, lost power, had to ditch.
FAA: Anybody hurt?
Pilot: I’m a little put out that my flight suit got wet...Some of these patches are gonna shrink.
FAA: OK...Let us know if anything unforeseen turns up.
Pilot: Wilco.
[/Investigation]
 
I really hope Im wrong, but I would be shocked if it ever flies again.

Why? Warbirds have been rebuilt from a lot less. And this one was apparently just 2 years since back to flying status after a major rebuild.
 
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