More precise reporting from our AOPA

[gismo]

From today's eBrief:

"A single-engine Cessna performed an emergency landing on St. Joe Beach in Florida on Thursday. The plane was cruising at 1,500 feet when the propellers stopped working properly."

At first I thought this badly worded statement must be a quote from the newspaper article linked in the email from AOPA but while that article does also use the plural version of propeller there was no mentino of the prop not "working properly" so I have to assume that some genius at AOPA provided the interpretation.

 

[ScottM]

Plural issue to be sure. But how does a fixed pitch propeller stop working properly? I can understand that the engine may have stopped and by consequence the propeller is not turning properly. But in that case the propeller is still working in that it is moving through the air as designed, jsut not as fast. The only way I know of a fixed pitch prop to stop working is if it gets bent or self destructs.

 

[nosehair]

how does a fixed pitch propeller stop working properly?

When it stops grabbing air and pushing it back behind you, and starts being pushed by the oncoming air resulting from your depleting forward momentum.

 

[Ghery]

When it stops grabbing air and pushing it back behind you, and starts being pushed by the oncoming air resulting from your depleting forward momentum.

But isn't that more due to the engine not working properly? Nothing about the propeller has changed except where the energy to keep it rotating is coming from.

 

[nosehair]

Well, yes, of course. I was just throwing in a little sarcasm at the way they wrote it.

Kinda like the dumb blond who says her car isn't working when it is "out of gas".

 

[gismo]

But how does a fixed pitch propeller stop working properly? I can understand that the engine may have stopped and by consequence the propeller is not turning properly. But in that case the propeller is still working in that it is moving through the air as designed, jsut not as fast. The only way I know of a fixed pitch prop to stop working is if it gets bent or self destructs.

That's the part AOPA messed up badly. In the article they referenced the pilot stated that the engine seized and the prop stopped turning. Somehow AOPA turned that into the nonsense about the prop not working properly.

Here's the newspaper report:

http://www.waltonsun.com/news/beach-87176-newsherald-plane-bay.html

And here's AOPA's gaffe:

A single-engine Cessna performed an emergency landing on St. Joe Beach in Florida on Thursday. The plane was cruising at 1,500 feet when the propellers stopped working properly. "We saw people out on the beach, but it wasn't crowded so we just went through procedure, kept the nose up and slowed the plane down," said co-pilot Randy Crapsey

I've come to expect this kind of sloppy writing from newspapers but you'd think the writers at AOPA would do better. In this case the local paper did a much better job than the "experts".