337 Makes gear up landing in the water

frfly172 said:
Over on Facebook ,they have a statement from the pilot ,that he would rather drown than fry to death. Looked like power was on during the approach,may have picked the grass next to the runway.
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Really?!! That's what he said?? This guy probably has never looked at an accident report, talked to a mechanic, or watched a gear up YouTube video in his life if he comes to those conclusions.
 
flyingron said:
As for taxiways and grass, I'm going for the runway. You're less likely to ball it up on a nice smooth surface, hard as it is, than scraping along something soft.
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Me too. I just mentioned those as an alternative if one was to be super worried about stopping up the airport. In an emergency, I could't rat's ass about the traffic flow at an international airport. I'm going for the runway. In this particular case with a fully flyable plane and plenty of gas, I would likely pick a smaller airport, but one that still had potential rescue equipment. A radio call and a little bit of time would make rescue folks available at pretty much any airport.
 
Another thought, wonder if there was anything in the airplane he didn't want found right away?

Personally I'd take a grass strip, as in grass runway or known good field.

Personally I always liked the 337s, however it seems they are ether really nicely kept and well equipped or ragged out. Ive always liked them, especially the higher power ones, with folks trashing them and sinking them like this I'll likely never get a chance to fly one.
 
alfadog said:
Post water landing checklist.
  • Fuel off.
  • Master off.
  • Gear lever down.
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NO!

Gear up, landing gear down you're going to be underwater AND upside down, rather violently too, rather quickly.
 
James331 said:
Another thought, wonder if there was anything in the airplane he didn't want found right away?

Personally I'd take a grass strip, as in grass runway or known good field.

Personally I always liked the 337s, however it seems they are ether really nicely kept and well equipped or ragged out. Ive always liked them, especially the higher power ones, with folks trashing them and sinking them like this I'll likely never get a chance to fly one.
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They're a lot of fun. I'd jump at the chance to fly another one again.
 
James331 said:
Another thought, wonder if there was anything in the airplane he didn't want found right away?

Personally I'd take a grass strip, as in grass runway or known good field.

Personally I always liked the 337s, however it seems they are ether really nicely kept and well equipped or ragged out. Ive always liked them, especially the higher power ones, with folks trashing them and sinking them like this I'll likely never get a chance to fly one.
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I think 337s have a tremendous amount of OWTs connected with them and there is a lot of internet "knowledge" out there. From what I've read, people that own them love them and they are used a lot in commercial applications.

They are a compromise for sure, but what airplane isn't? They mostly suffer from the same thing as so many GA planes. Underpowered. Once modified with O-520 engines, they are fantastic. It is a plane I keep in mind for someday when I retire to the Florida Keys. It seems ideal for island hopping with an amateur pilot like myself.
 
The lagoon is a waterway used for sea planes :eek: Could have flown to PHJR which is right next to HNL.
 
This has insurance fraud written all over it. Fear of fire my ---.
 
Dav8or said:
It doesn't matter. Fresh water or salt water, it is still a write off and likely never fly again.
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Plenty of seaplanes have been flipped or had other bad h2o experiences and made a full recovery.

I'd wager depending on what it was insured for and what level of 337 it is/was 20% it's fixed back up, 80% write off.
 
Well it's nice that he burnt off most of the 100LL so he'd only mildly pollute the lagoon with it. /me rolls my eyes.
 
James331 said:
Plenty of seaplanes have been flipped or had other bad h2o experiences and made a full recovery.

I'd wager depending on what it was insured for and what level of 337 it is/was 20% it's fixed back up, 80% write off.
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It's a bit different when the salvage aircraft is a Beaver that normally sells for $300-500k. This is a run of the mill 337.....the market will dictate that this airplane is done for.
 
The Honolulu News link above has some interesting comments as well, all in favor of sliding in on a runway and slamming the pilot for his decision. Plenty of runways there w/ crash equipment and rescue personnel trained and ready.
 
68 year old pilot, not the CFI owner at the controls. All jokes aside, I think it comes down to just bad ADM that might earn him the attention of the local FSDO.
 
alfadog said:
68 year old pilot, not the CFI owner at the controls. All jokes aside, I think it comes down to just bad ADM that might earn him the attention of the local FSDO.
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As someone else has mentioned, I would find it very strange if the pilot wasn't in contact with the owner during the two hour nearby holding pattern.
 
RotorDude said:
As someone else has mentioned, I would find it very strange if the pilot wasn't in contact with the owner during the two hour nearby holding pattern.
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Yeah, but we don't know what was discussed. The CFI might have been unsuccessfully trying to talk the guy into landing it on a runway. In the end the PIC is the PIC and if he was dead on putting it in the water, that's where he was going to put it. I'm just presenting another possible scenario and underscoring the fact that we really don't know what went on there.
 
There was a Navion that ditched just offshore in Florida. Actually the prospects for recovery/restoration weren't too bad except that the morons from the coast guard rather than allowing it to just be winched up the beach were you could quickly remove the wings and tail feathers (this is not all that hard in the Navion) they decided to TOW it a few miles to a coast guard facility. Well, Navions do survive being ditched but they ain't boats. A perfectly good aircraft was ruined by this procedure.
 
James331 said:
Plenty of seaplanes have been flipped or had other bad h2o experiences and made a full recovery.

I'd wager depending on what it was insured for and what level of 337 it is/was 20% it's fixed back up, 80% write off.
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Sure. If the plane is worth a load of money, like a PBY Catalina or something, they will do what it takes, but this is a Skymaster. It's pre crash value was likely $65k to $85k. Tear down and overhaul two engines and you're a good way there to that value and you haven't even touched the airframe and completely ruined avionics.

It will be written off, go to salvage auction and either parted out, or somebody will take it upon themselves to rebuild it and fly again. My guess is the former. If it was salt water, you would have to be an idiot to get it back in the air again.
 
hindsight2020 said:
This has insurance fraud written all over it. Fear of fire my ---.
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I have to say it does sound like that, but I guess a panicked knucklehead pilot could come to the conclusion that water is best... I guess.:rolleyes2: He had better have remembered to leave the gear lever down!;)

I suspect there really was a gear failure, why the emergency extension system didn't work and his choice of landing area is what is really in question.
 
RotorDude said:
As someone else has mentioned, I would find it very strange if the pilot wasn't in contact with the owner during the two hour nearby holding pattern.
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I guess cellphone records would tell that story if they bother to investigate.
 
flyingron said:
There was a Navion that ditched just offshore in Florida. Actually the prospects for recovery/restoration weren't too bad except that the morons from the coast guard rather than allowing it to just be winched up the beach were you could quickly remove the wings and tail feathers (this is not all that hard in the Navion) they decided to TOW it a few miles to a coast guard facility. Well, Navions do survive being ditched but they ain't boats. A perfectly good aircraft was ruined by this procedure.
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I don't no if I would call it a "perfectly good airplane". It was in the ocean for some reason and hitting water does do damage to the airframe and prop if it turning. Salt water wrecks everything it touches, fast! Unless this Navion was somebodies pride and joy with a strong emotional attachment, it was headed to the salvage yard for sure. If it was somebodies pride and joy, the Coast Guard did them a favor and helped save them from themselves. Insurance check, then go buy another Navion is the way to go.
 
Dav8or said:
I have to say it does sound like that, but I guess a panicked knucklehead pilot could come to the conclusion that water is best... I guess.:rolleyes2: He had better have remembered to leave the gear lever down!;)
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He flew in circles for 2 hours before ditching, I'd think that would be plenty of time to relieve himself of panic.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
He flew in circles for 2 hours before ditching, I'd think that would be plenty of time to relieve himself of panic.
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Very true. He had lots of time to think this through. It does make it very suspicious too me, but I guess it's up to the insurance company and the Feds to decide how suspicious it is.
 
alfadog said:
That alone speaks to his fear of a fire.
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I would think if he were that afraid of dying in a fire, he would never set foot in an aluminum tube with two fire breathing, oil leaking, gas burning engines on either end and two tanks full of fuel on either side. I wonder if he flies with an extinguisher on his lap? Good question for the investigators though. Was there an extinguisher onboard and if not, why would he agree to fly the plane with his particular phobia?
 
I had a gear up in a Cutlass last August due to a landing gear actuator malfunction. The left main was just hanging there.
After trying everything we could think of to get it down and locked. I told my student we're heading back to the airport for a gear up landing.
Long story short, it was probably one of the best landings I've ever made.
as we touched down that left main just folded back up into the wheel well.
I did however end up about 6 feet to the right center line by the time we stopped. Maybe it was because I had the brakes locked up as we were sliding down the runway on the belly. Please don't ask me why I was standing one the brakes.
One thing that was interesting we had the Chief pilot of the one flight school come on the tower freq telling us to put it in the grass! I wasn't very polite when I told him to shut up and get off the radio. The tower then told him that same thing.
Landing any where but that runway wasn't even a thought.
About the only thing I thought of was maybe going to the class B airport close by. But that thought was only a second long.
The tower told me later that if I had they would have told them to keep me. LOL

All we did was lift the plane up lower the other two gear and the mechanic pulled the left main forward until it locked and away we went to the hangar.
 
dautio said:
I had a gear up in a Cutlass last August due to a landing gear actuator malfunction. The left main was just hanging there.
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That is one thing I find interesting about this one - every Cessna gear problem I have heard of/seen involved the gear being partially out. In the video, this one has the gear doors completely closed.

I am curious what the cause of failure was or if he even tried the emergency gear extension?
 
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