Grumman Forced Landing

Anthony

Anthony

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Anthony
A friend of mine here in Colorado had to put his 160 HP, award winning AA1C Lynx in a cotton field on the way home from AYA 2006. The plane won Best in Show at this annual Grumman convention. He also won best two place last year at AYA 2005. The good news is that he and his son are fine. The bad news is the plane is a total loss. I flew in this plane a few weeks ago as the owner was nice enough to ferry me back from the airport where I had my Tiger's annual done. It was truly beautiful.

I feel sick about the plane, but planes can be replaced. See the article below.

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=5153301&nav=3w6y
 
Wow! Anthony I am relieved that your friend and his son are unharmed. That photo is a good warning of how rough off field landings can be. Did he tell you what kind of " Fuel Problems" he had? Contamination? Exhaustion? ( hope not)

Second. Who the heck wrote that Article. It read like a 6yo wrote it?

Again glad all are safe!
 
So this is Best in Show, eh?.... :)

Glad the occupants survived unscathed.
 
AdamZ said:
Did he tell you what kind of " Fuel Problems" he had? Contamination? Exhaustion? ( hope not)

...snip...

Again glad all are safe!
Click to expand...

Fuel selector switch might be another possibility?

Glad everyone is ok.

Len
 
Anthony said:
A friend of mine here in Colorado had to put his 160 HP, award winning AA1C Lynx in a cotton field on the way home from AYA 2006. The plane won Best in Show at this annual Grumman convention. He also won best two place last year at AYA 2005. The good news is that he and his son are fine. The bad news is the plane is a total loss. I flew in this plane a few weeks ago as the owner was nice enough to ferry me back from the airport where I had my Tiger's annual done. It was truly beautiful.

I feel sick about the plane, but planes can be replaced. See the article below.

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=5153301&nav=3w6y
Click to expand...

At least he was able to win the award before the off airport landing. While the loss of the plane is bad enough, can you imagine putting in all the effort he must have to produce a Best in Show result, only to have the plane trashed on the way to the contest?
 
I'm glad they are OK. Sorry 'bout the plane though...

Lubbock is 240 nm from T82. About where you might expect to get in an o-320 powered bird w/ 22 gallons of fuel (assuming no extra tanks (+10 gal.)with 2 people on board).

Since they're safe I hope it was something else...

Chris
 
Grumman79L said:
Lubbock is 240 nm from T82. About where you might expect to get in an o-320 powered bird w/ 22 gallons of fuel (assuming no extra tanks (+10 gal.)with 2 people on board).
Click to expand...

Hmmm...is my math wrong?

22 gallons equate to about 2.7 hours to zero fuel using an rule of thumb fuel burn of 8 gph for an O320.

240/2.7 equates to a ground speed of only 89 knots.

89 knots sounds really really slow for an O320 powered Lynx...of course we don't know winds aloft or cruising altitude or how long full power was used or if the aircraft was short fueled.

Note that on the Grumman two seaters with just the factory tanks there is no way to look inside the filler neck and determine how much fuel is in there if it is not filled to the top. The filler neck makes almost a 90 degree turn about an inch or so from the top of the neck.

Len
 
The pilot reported a loss of fuel pressure. Further, no one knows. My compliments to the pilot on his landing without injury to himself or his passenger.
 
Len Lanetti said:
Hmmm...is my math wrong?

22 gallons equate to about 2.7 hours to zero fuel using an rule of thumb fuel burn of 8 gph for an O320.

240/2.7 equates to a ground speed of only 89 knots.

89 knots sounds really really slow for an O320 powered Lynx...of course we don't know winds aloft or cruising altitude or how long full power was used or if the aircraft was short fueled.

Note that on the Grumman two seaters with just the factory tanks there is no way to look inside the filler neck and determine how much fuel is in there if it is not filled to the top. The filler neck makes almost a 90 degree turn about an inch or so from the top of the neck.
Click to expand...

Len et al. This plane is equipped with two additional fuel tanks, one in each wing, but I forget how many more gallons they hold. I do know it extends the range quite a bit. This individual has flown the plane on much longer cross countries including, trips through the Rockies to Sacramento, CA and back.
 
NC19143 said:
They don't do off field worth a hoot, do they?

Now if he had 33" tires, and a bush tail wheel, he could have flown it outta there
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The design and intent of the Grumman line of light aircraft is not as bush planes. I'll add to Ron's comment on complimenting the pilot for his landing which enabled both the pilot and passenger to walk away unharmed.
 
Grumman79L said:
About where you might expect to get in an o-320 powered bird w/ 22 gallons of fuel (assuming no extra tanks (+10 gal.)with 2 people on board).
Click to expand...

Again, the plane was equipped with two auxilliary tanks, but I don't rememeber how much this adds. Its at least 10 gallons, but may be more. I'm not as familiar with the AA1 mods as I am with the AA5's.
 
If you've gotta land off field and walk away, you did good, IMHO. No matter how pretty the plane, from start up to shut down it belongs to the insurance company.

No, Grummans weren't built for off field landings. I was going to say the much slower speed at which you can land a Cessna in such an emergency is one of their advantages, but then I remembered seeing more than a few pics of Cessnas upside down after such a landing. Looks to me like the strong construction of the plane, along with piloting skill of course, helped the plane do it's job as it died.
 
The aux tanks in the AA-1x's are 5 gallons a side, for 10 gallons total. At least one of the STC's gets a max gross weight increase equal to the weight of the fuel so there's only a minimal payload penalty.
 
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