Spin / BRS video making the rounds

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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I was surprised how much it kept spinning post deployment.
Looks like he hits pretty hard but you can see the altimeter slow way down after.

Scary stuff.

 
wouldn't think a chute would stop a spin. and that def looked like a flat spin.
 
Looked like a flat spin. I think he knew he was in trouble pretty quickly, but it also seemed like he was hesitant to pull the chute.
 
If I understand (and I only have comments to go on) he was a test pilot testing an new airframe.
 
you know, if he had beer in a cooler in the back, it'd still be drinkable so that really makes me want a chute.
 
I met @Dave Theisen @ OSH and he gave me his business card.
Probably a good time to point out that for whatever reason It is on my desk. If I ever need a pilot stat, I am ringing up dave.
dave.jpg
 
I know 0.0 about the Cirrus.
That said, it did seem like he deployed the chute until the last second. Did I see that incorrectly??
Also, what’s with the big stick movement???
 
Dave Theisen said:
He doesn't seem to be working his feet at all trying to recover.
Click to expand...
Yeah. That's what I was noticing. The right knee wasn't looking like it was stepping on the right rudder which looked like what was called for. But I don't know the plane so I dunno.
 
wow is that >1rps? very disorienting if not incapacitating for the average pilot.
 
Still confused by the stick inputs...
Not sure if type but no apparant effort to get out of spin. Pulled a chute very late I believe.

Almost fake.
 
I saw the big hand on the altimeter go round 3 times in 20 seconds. That's 9000 fpm. A little over 100 mph. Seems a little fast for free fall in an airplane, a lot fast for free fall with a parachute, and insanely fast to hit the ground and climb out without at least a broken spine or legs.

Unless the altimeter wasn't in feet.
 
I was looking at the time stamp wrong. It took about a minute to drop the 3000 feet. That seems more likely.

The vertical speed indicator seemed to show the same.

Which brings up another thing I noticed. You get a real good show on how far behind the vertical indicator lags. He hits and it's quite awhile before the indicator swings back to zero.
 
Interesting.

Potential back story?

https://www.pprune.org/accidents-close-calls/602813-video-lsa-flat-spin-test-flight-brs-save.html

"I thought I recognized the pilot and it was confirmed at the end of the video. It's Phill Hooker, a well-known Kiwi instructor"

"I was exploring any flat spin tendencies that this type of aircraft was rumored to get itself into. and yes it did, it would not recover. Deployment at 1000' (could not do any higher, too long to explain) If you watch the video again, you will notice the front right riser tightened 4 secs before impact"​

The pilot?


​

http://iflyairplanes.com/newest-slsa/

At the Midwest LSA Expo — perhaps my favorite place to do Video Pilot Report flying — I got to fly Skytrek. We mounted several cameras as you see in the nearby photos and will offer the video review when editing can be completed. Until that work is ready, I present the company video below that shows several maneuvers by New Zealand test pilot (and my check-out pilot), Phil Hooker. You also get some views of the Zhuhai factory.​


The plane?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/tritons-skytrek-newest-slsa-first-developed-china-dan-johnson

AAEAAQAAAAAAAAilAAAAJDk3ODQ5MjNhLWI2Y2MtNDA1OC1iNzUyLWNjNDhlMGQ4Y2VlZA.jpg

Triton is a U.S.-based company (Washington State) but it uses a factory in Zhuhai, China to do the fabrication and it is where New Zealand aerobatic and test pilot Phil Hooker did all the development flying. His NZ pilot license was accepted by Chinese CAAC authorities to do the flying needed to prove the design and to obtain Type Design Approval in China.
​
 
The Chinese will rule the world one day. They make the best stuff :p
 
I think in the beginning he was trying to get into a flat spin, after he succeeds I think the right rudder is jammed to the floor for most of the time. He was pretty calm, but as he is getting out he has the oh **** I just cheated death look on his face.
 
Ryanb said:
Looked like a flat spin. I think he knew he was in trouble pretty quickly, but it also seemed like he was hesitant to pull the chute.
Click to expand...

Actually, the guy was pretty damned smart under pressure. If the parachute rigging has no paraswivel, the spinning aircraft would "wind up" the 'chute rigging, potentially causing the 'chute to collapse. So, he was playing the game of "how close to the ground can I deploy and live." He played well.

We carry 'chutes on our hang gliding harness[1], and they have a paraswivel in the harness so if we're spinning we will continue to spin without winding up the 'chute (hopefully).

[1] I had to do parachute training as part of achieving the H2 rating. I was suspended off the floor on a tether in the flying position, and someone spins you up as fast as they can, and then you have to locate the strap, pull the reserve out, and then throw the proper direction.

Edit: Nice vid of an HG reserve save

 
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I'm wracking my brain trying to figure out why he had to wait until being down to 1000 feet before pulling the chute.

LOL. answered as I was asking ^^^^^^
 
Timbeck2 said:
:)

They also reverse engineer stuff pretty well using cheap inferior materials.
Click to expand...

So I see a lot of GIDEPs (government industry data exchange program) at work and see a lot of tooling/tools that are reverse engineered by some Chinese manufacturer (literally look identical to the actual MIL-spec tool) and they sell it on eBay/amazon/etc and actually state that it is a MIL-spec tool. Some of the letters back from these manufacturers are pretty comical. They typically say something along the lines of, "oh we no say we actually gotten the MIL-spec certification we just say we design "according to" MIL-Spec standard."

There was one I saw where this Chinese manufacturer had a falling out with one its employees. The disgruntled employee actually left the company and started up his own company and tried to black mail the other one. It was pretty funny as they actually shared the emails between the two Chinese manufacturers. The disgruntled employee basically said if they didn't give him the market position he would approach the company who made the real MIL-spec certified tool, tell them about their fake product, and close them down.

Lol something tells me the Chinese aren't too concerned about business ethics.
 
They do a great job building my RC airplanes though so I trust their full scale stuff no problem :D

Bartlett_8-28-16_1.jpg Bartlett_8-28-16_11.jpg
 
Kritchlow said:
Also, what’s with the big stick movement???
Click to expand...

Assuming he knew what he was doing, large fore and aft stick movements could be used to look for changes in the character of the spin. Under normal circumstances, stick position affects the attitude and rotation rate of a spin. It appears the stick inputs had no impact here, and that the aircraft locked into a rotation that was unaffected by control inputs, i.e. unrecoverable. This is an assumption. But it's unclear how much spin expertise he had considering the only aileron input he tried was the worst possible kind in this situation - aileron opposite the spin direction. This airplane could have been locked in with no chance of recovery, but if it was at all possible, aileron in the direction of the spin rotation would have been the right thing to do in an effort to reduce the nose high flatness of the rotation which would then allow the rudder to become more effective in stopping the yaw. But I'd bet he was screwed anyway.
 
Bill Jennings said:
Actually, the guy was pretty damned smart under pressure. If the parachute rigging has no paraswivel, the spinning aircraft would "wind up" the 'chute rigging, potentially causing the 'chute to collapse. So, he was playing the game of "how close to the ground can I deploy and live." He played well.

We carry 'chutes on our hang gliding harness[1], and they have a paraswivel in the harness so if we're spinning we will continue to spin without winding up the 'chute (hopefully).

[1] I had to do parachute training as part of achieving the H2 rating. I was suspended off the floor on a tether in the flying position, and someone spins you up as fast as they can, and then you have to locate the strap, pull the reserve out, and then throw the proper direction.

Edit: Nice vid of an HG reserve save

Click to expand...
Ah, that makes sense. Same principle for CAPS? I know Cirrus says the spin recovery procedure is to pull the handle, from I recall hearing.
 
Per the pilots alleged comment, now I'm curious if his pre-determined chute deployment at 1000' was due to his prediction of winding up the lines, or if there was some other issue regarding operations in Chinese airspace. He had zero options left if that didn't work.

"I was exploring any flat spin tendencies that this type of aircraft was rumored to get itself into. and yes it did, it would not recover. Deployment at 1000' (could not do any higher, too long to explain) If you watch the video again, you will notice the front right riser tightened 4 secs before impact"​

Also, his confirmation of a "rumor" (and video) regarding negative flight characteristics for this airframe, distributed on the internet, might create an issue for his future employment with Skytrek... but that might have been part of his plan.
 
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