So This Is What Happens When You Run Into a Tree

HPNPilot1200

HPNPilot1200

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Jason
As the title implies, this poor little warrior had a fighting match with a pine tree on final last night. It looks like the tree took the lead for the first match and spit it back out.

My friend's uncle was flying the family plane back to WWD last night when he was all of a sudden in a 90 degree bank after hearing a big "boom" noise. He says he wasn't sleeping or drinking, but can't recall what happened after he descended below 1,000 feet MSL around 10:30pm last night. Luckily no one was injured or killed, and everyone is okay. We're all still baffled how it happened.
 

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Wow. Back to the spar. No bird feathers. No tank breach. It he was that unaware on a VFR final he needs to review the IMSafe algorithm. Sounds like fatigue.

Your Friend's uncle is a very lucky man. Improper IFR is 90% Fatal. Improper approach is only 25% fatal. He may have had a visual illusion....which is why many of us more senior types will choose a slightly downwing landing at night if the approach end has a VASI and there's ample length (4000 feet).
 
bbchien said:
Wow. Back to the spar. No bird feathers. No tank breach. It he was that unaware on a VFR final he needs to review the IMSafe algorithm. Sounds like fatigue.
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That's what I told my friend. At 10:30pm after a long day, it's my best hunch.

bbchien said:
Your Friend's uncle is a very lucky man. Improper IFR is 90% Fatal. Improper approach is only 25% fatal. He may have had a visual illusion....which is why many of us more senior types will choose a slightly downwing landing at night if the approach end has a VASI and there's ample length (4000 feet).
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It was VMC and he was landing VFR on a runway equipped with a 4-bar PAPI. I really don't know what happened. Sounds like he dipped too low (didn't reset the altimeter?) and lost it. Somehow he managed to go around, climb, make the airplane fly with practically no left wing, and land on the same runway on the second attempt. Lucky guy.
 
Wow... going around and landing again with that kind of damage is pretty amazing. It certainly says good things about the design of the aircraft itself and how strong it is.

Can you imagine what must have been going through his mind on that go-around? If he was asleep before, he certainly wasn't then! I think we all have to give him some credit for bringing it around and landing safely.
 
I can't believe he got it down after the damage. The had to be a heck of a drag pulling the right side back. I'm glad he's safe but hope he gets some assistance in the first link in the chain before another one gets any further.
 
Now that's a liberal airplane (no right wing)!

Glad he's ok, but he used up at least 7 lives last night.
 
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Well Jason i'm also glad everyone is OK. And after seeing the pictures I sure am glad i fly a Warrior, make me fell better know he landed ok after a go around.
Dave G.
 
Wow! Lucky break, there.
If he was dozing off on final, you can be damn sure he was fully awake after the impact!!!! :hairraise:
 
Are you sure that it was a pine tree that he hit?? We had a Grumman hit a pine tree on final a few years ago. Also landed safely but there was pine wood, bark and needles everywhere in and near the damaged areas. May be prolonged wind exposure from the go around cleaned most of it out on the Warrior.
 
Graueradler said:
Are you sure that it was a pine tree that he hit?? We had a Grumman hit a pine tree on final a few years ago. Also landed safely but there was pine wood, bark and needles everywhere in and near the damaged areas. May be prolonged wind exposure from the go around cleaned most of it out on the Warrior.
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Yup, most of the pine cones and needles were pulled off the aircraft the next morning before these picturse were taken. There's still a pine cone stuck in the air induction that no one seems to be able to remove.
 
ApacheBob said:
You may want to have that looked at.
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No worries!

duct-tape.jpg
 
Shipoke said:
Well Jason i'm also glad everyone is OK. And after seeing the pictures I sure am glad i fly a Warrior, make me fell better know he landed ok after a go around.
Dave G.
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No, I disagree. With a high wing, he'd have cleared the tree!:rofl:

I'm really glad he was able to recover from that. It'll probably take a while to fix the wing, not to mention cleaning the seat in the cockpit!

Did the top of the tree snap off, or did it just give way?
 
gprellwitz said:
No, I disagree. With a high wing, he'd have cleared the tree!:rofl:

I'm really glad he was able to recover from that. It'll probably take a while to fix the wing, not to mention cleaning the seat in the cockpit!

Did the top of the tree snap off, or did it just give way?
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I'm not sure, do you think the aircraft is recoverable? That's quite some structural damage.

No clue about the tree, it was late and probably a 1/2 mile out. Needless to say, no one went hunting to see if the tree was feeling okay.
 
Lucky for him it was just barely flyable. We had a local gal that took a plane under some power lines at night on final. The rudder was 90% sheared at the fuselage line and folded back completely aft! She went around and noted that the rudder authority was sluggish or somesuch.
 
If this was at WWD the field is in the pine barrens of NJ there are pine trees surrounding the entire field but they are well cleared from the runways so he must have been super pretty far out.

Check out the overhead view on airnav

http://www.airnav.com/airport/KWWD
 
We had a Malibu that hit trees on a 2nd or 3rd missed approach after staying low too long. The outboard section of the wing looked a lot like the Warrior but stuck out much further on both sides of the wing. The pilot kept control and flew out about 20 minutes before he could find a place to land.

The pilot said the airplane flew like a twin with one engine out. It really is amazing how strong these planes are. The fwd and aft spars were totally broken loose at the fuselage, only the main spar held the wing on. All of the gear doors were gone and the cowling was packed with pine needles, even the alternator pulleys wore through the nose cowling.

We fixed the Malibu, I don't remember how many hundred K. The owner did have 3 pine trees painted on the side.

Kevin
 
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