SR-22 ditching 200nm from Hilo

comanchepilot

comanchepilot

En-Route
Joined
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Tucson
Display Name
Joe Farrell, yeah, him
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TUS
http://www.hawaii247.com/2015/01/25/...sunday-jan-25/

Hope they get there first -

Looking at the EastPac sat image you have a deep trough all the way down to 28 North or so - the streamlines show 30knots on the nose almost all the way . . . . I would have turned around since it had to be apparent he was not gonna make it . . . .

Seems like it would be hard to ferry an SR-22 to Hawaii. SR-22 is 17.6 gph LOP. If you flight plan 140kts ground speed its 14 hours. Thats 250 gallons of fuel. Then you need your reserve. Figure 5 hours brings you to 335 gallons. Your standard fuel on board is 80 - so you need 250 gallons - thats a LOT!

Then you figure thats 1500# extra, 2400# empty. 200# of pilot, 100# of emergency and bags etc. [not like you need much in the way of charts] 320# of fuel and you total take off weight is 4500-4600#, max gross is 3400# - so you need to be 33% overweight - the standard ferry permit is up to 30%.
 
Good thing he realized before he got to bingo fuel, way better to have coast guard on your position. How weird that he has to call that in. "I'm going to ditch" mentality for 3 hours more to boot, plus sitting with the fact that he's going to lose the shiny cirrus he's ferrying. Hope they get to him.
 
Pulled CAPS in the vicinity of a cruise ship, picked up and is safe.

Something wrong with a fuel transfer valve on a ferry flight from CA to HI enroute to Australia.

Someone already quipped he's probably already enjoying the buffet!
 
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Was just gonna make that comment Freddie - got this from a friend:

"All I can say right now is that pilot is safe; USCG C-130 joined on him, they went to a cruise ship several hundred miles out, he orbited, then pulled CAPS. He is now safe aboard the cruise ship. I know the pilot, met him last year on another ferry trip."
 
Well.....at least he will have 5 star accommodations on the way in.
 
Wow, good thing he was ready to go and got the raft out. That thing rolled over pretty quickly. I guess they ought to add flotation balloons like on the old Apollo capsules to keep it at "stabile one."
 
Great to have such clear video of it. Is one of the lines caught up in the empennage somewhere? The airplane starts off descending very nose low, then around 0:52 on the video it looks like something gets free and it drops into the normal flat attitude.
 
One thing that should be said: the pilot did an excellent job of coordinating all the resources he could and finding a safe plan of attack to safety.
 
I imagine there are more out there, but that's the highest quality video I've seen of a chute pull in a Cirrus. I was kind of surprised at how quickly it rolled over after splashdown.
 
FastEddieB said:
That is by far one of the most dramatic and nerve-racking videos I have ever seen of an aviation related event.
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Why? There was no fire, there was a CG helo in the air, there was a cruise ship right there, the splashdown was a lot less kinetic than I thought it would be, the guy calmly got out and climbed into the raft. The video, was actually quite a yawner.
 
Video won't play at work, looking forward to it when I get home. This seems to be a very well executed failure to plan :)
 
EdFred said:
Why? There was no fire, there was a CG helo in the air, there was a cruise ship right there, the splashdown was a lot less kinetic than I thought it would be, the guy calmly got out and climbed into the raft. The video, was actually quite a yawner.
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Wow! Do you just like being contrarian? :dunno:
 
tiger said:
The airplane starts off descending very nose low, then around 0:52 on the video it looks like something gets free and it drops into the normal flat attitude.
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Actually, scratch that - apparently normal for a CAPS deployment...
 
From the time stamp inthe corner, when he gets wet (when the plane flips) to when he gets into the lifeboat = 31 minutes. "It's a helluva day at sea, sir!"


--

From lookimg at how the chute dragged the plane over, stronger surface winds might have made a big difference in the outcome.
 
Fredbob711 said:
I imagine there are more out there, but that's the highest quality video I've seen of a chute pull in a Cirrus. I was kind of surprised at how quickly it rolled over after splashdown.
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I have a feeling the chute is at fault for that. For a while it helped keep the plane kinda on the surface of the water, but a strong enough cross and over it went.
 
FastEddieB said:
Wow! Do you just like being contrarian? :dunno:
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No, it was seriously boring to me. It was a gentle splash down and there was absolutely nothing frenetic about it. I have seen way more videos where I have thought, I do not want to be be that guy. I would take being the guy in this video two days a week and four times on Sunday compared to others I've seen.
 
EdFred said:
Why? There was no fire, there was a CG helo in the air, there was a cruise ship right there, the splashdown was a lot less kinetic than I thought it would be, the guy calmly got out and climbed into the raft. The video, was actually quite a yawner.
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2 dodgy things, if the pilots door ended up leeward he would have had a fight getting out. And when he went over with the wing he went right by the parachute risers. Otherwise a lovely swim in the ocean.
 
I would totally kill the buffet on the ship after this. With a Long Island in each hand.
 
Glad it ended well (except for the aircraft). He didn't even lose his sunglasses!
 
I also think the chute contributed to the rapid 'roll over' while in the water.
Maybe with a knife he could have cut the chute free, but that probably wouldn't changed much besides timing.
 
It definitely looked like the chute was pulling the plane sideways. Once a wing was deep enough, it just dragged itself up and over. Probably not much you can do about that. I would imagine evacuating the plane and getting the raft squared away is enough to handle without having to McGyver the chute lines.
 
Seems like a pretty small raft for an over-water ferry flight, no?

I also would have gotten as far away from the plane as I could right after touchdown for fear of getting tangled and pulled down. Seems like he tried to hang out on the wing for a bit.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Seems like a pretty small raft for an over-water ferry flight, no?

I also would have gotten as far away from the plane as I could right after touchdown for fear of getting tangled and pulled down. Seems like he tried to hang out on the wing for a bit.
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He's the only one in the plane, you gotta figure space was probably limited in there since it was a flying gas can.

Definitely would've gotten away from the plane sooner, the suction of that thing sinking could easily pull most swimmers under for longer than they are comfortable.
 
Some people have shopped around this nonsense that coming down under the chute on water will 'break your back' because it lacks the energy dissipation from the crumbling landing gear. So much for that OWT.
 
weilke said:
Some people have shopped around this nonsense that coming down under the chute on water will 'break your back' because it lacks the energy dissipation from the crumbling landing gear. So much for that OWT.
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Actually, on flat water that may be the case. In this situation, the rough seas make a sudden hard/flat contact unlikely. The trade off is the chute getting pulled under in the seas faster, which appears to have caused a pretty quick rollover.
 
I'm curious if he had a survival suit, but left it in the plane. I thought ferry pilots would usually wear the suit rolled down to their waist during the flight. North Pacific isn't that warm this time of year.
 
I liked the shots of him in the life raft. Looked like a floatie in a pool on vacation. Just add a drink in hand. Oh wait, that was an hour later, on the cruise ship.

Glad he found the ship, that is awesome. I wonder how much the cruise ship personnel minded this life-saving exercise. I bet the starboard side of the ship was packed with passengers taking pictures and videos. :)
 
EdFred said:
Why? There was no fire, there was a CG helo in the air, there was a cruise ship right there, the splashdown was a lot less kinetic than I thought it would be, the guy calmly got out and climbed into the raft. The video, was actually quite a yawner.
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Not a helo, a C-130. If it had been a helo, they probably would've just picked him up themselves rather than routing him to a cruise ship for the "ditching."
 
BigBadLou said:
I liked the shots of him in the life raft. Looked like a floatie in a pool on vacation. Just add a drink in hand. Oh wait, that was an hour later, on the cruise ship.

Glad he found the ship, that is awesome. I wonder how much the cruise ship personnel minded this life-saving exercise. I bet the starboard side of the ship was packed with passengers taking pictures and videos. :)
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I'm surprised (and perhaps we will get some) there aren't videos, etc... from the passengers.

By the way, it was the Holland America MS Veendam. You can see the ship name on one of the orbits.
 
BigBadLou said:
I wonder how much the cruise ship personnel minded this life-saving exercise. I bet the starboard side of the ship was packed with passengers taking pictures and videos. :)
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They probably loved it. And corporate wise, it is PR you can't buy.
 
What a crazy video. Watching him sitting in the raft with the impression of "well, guess I screwed up a bit" and "holy crap that plane turned over fast". In the first seconds of the deployment I was scared, the nose dropped way faster than I through it would. But the descent and splashdown seemed pretty tame
 
Guess he's lucky he didn't end up on a cruise ship with a raging case of Norovirus. That would be ironic.
 
Badger said:
I also think the chute contributed to the rapid 'roll over' while in the water.
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The chute was the only reason for the roll over. Without a chute, the plane would have stayed upright. There must have been significant surface winds. The white caps and chop suggest that too. Good thing for the CAPS system though, a traditional ditching in that sea would have been pretty tricky IMO.

Over and over again, we see that CAPS really works as advertized.
 
Question though, when you run out of gas and ditch a plane you are paid to ferry, do you get much work in the future? I know that if that were the plane I paid for and had been waiting months for, I'd be pizzed.

Can this be chalked up to poop happens, or is it pilot error?
 
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