Sun N Fun Emergancy landing

ScottM

ScottM

Taxi to Parking
Joined
Jul 19, 2005
Messages
42,529
Location
Variable, but somewhere on earth
Display Name
Display name:
iBazinga!
http://www.baynews9.com/VideoPlayer/?Emergency_Landing_421

In cockpit video of an aircraft that suffered engine failure on the way to Sun n Fun Sunday. Luckily the pilots landed safely on a local road. The video and sound are all from inside the cockpit, gives you a unique perspective!

Here is the article
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/...DEO:+Plane+makes+emergency+landing+on+street+

Anyone know what type of aircraft that is and why the engines sounds like it is a .049 Cox?

Any thoughts as to why it was starting and then stopping?
 
Last edited:
wow, didnt take long for them to get the video out. i was starting to wonder if the airplane had brakes there for a minute...
 
Kudos, good execution, good multi-tasking.
 
Interesting video. It almost looks fake. Why did the engine keep turning off/on ? The prop had stopped windmilling, so they would have had to hit the starter to get it going.

Plus the rollout was odd. The pilot did not seem in a rush to get the plane stopped.
 
nyoung said:
Interesting video. It almost looks fake. Why did the engine keep turning off/on ? The prop had stopped windmilling, so they would have had to hit the starter to get it going.

Plus the rollout was odd. The pilot did not seem in a rush to get the plane stopped.
Click to expand...

i think they did hit the starter for a short run of the engine, twice. that, plus the rollout, almost had me thinking that it was staged too. just weird.
 
What are the odds of having a dual video camera setup, and an engine failure, and a landing site with fairly heavy traffic in the opposite direction, but not the landing direction?

Just seems a little funny to me...
 
I am wondering if the fact that it started again and seemed to run normally for a short while is indicative of fuel starvation or exhaustion. I mean if the engine threw a rod or broke something would it run as normally as it appeared to?
 
AdamZ said:
I am wondering if the fact that it started again and seemed to run normally for a short while is indicative of fuel starvation or exhaustion. I mean if the engine threw a rod or broke something would it run as normally as it appeared to?
Click to expand...
The pilot claims they had plenty of fuel. Given that the aircraft survived intact is would be an easy claim to check. Assuming he did have fuel in the tanks one has to wonder then if it was something that was preventing fuel from getting to the engine.
 
I saw this on another forum yesterday. The story they had was...

The guy in the right seat is a pro-photographer, and had set up the two cameras to film the arrival into SnF. Engine quit for unknown reasons. The restarts were all using the starter (watch the left seater's right hand), but it wouldn't stay running.


My only comment (other than nice job to the pilot) is why did the passenger start clapping so soon!?! Apparently he's never heard the expression "fly it until every piece stops moving."
 
To me he made that "I'm going for the road" decision way too quick. My BS meter is reading very high.
 
If it's legit, it was a good job flying the plane first, then trying to diagnose later.

Is it just me or did the descent angle look a little steeper than normal? It is a bit odd that the traffic was much heavier on one side of the road than the other - although if it was near lunch time, most traffic could be going to-or-from work at the time. He also rolled for quite a while, like he was looking for a particular parking lot to turn in to.

Definitely weird.
 
To me he made that "I'm going for the road" decision way too quick. My BS meter is reading very high.
Click to expand...
The "I'm going for the road" comes in about 45 seconds after the first time the prop stops spinning. It seems like there was no "plan" during that time.

If this is believed to be fake, I'd be curious to hear theories on what, exactly, it is.

Somebody planned this as a stunt? That's a bit hard to believe.

CGI, smoke, and mirrors? Sure looks real.
-harry
 
I just sent it off to someone who I've been unable to convince that airplanes don't drop out of the sky when the engine quits. We'll see what he has to say!
 
I gonna say the reason he didn't seem to be slowing down after he landed was that he was rolling along looking for a gas station.
 
PittsDriver said:
I gonna say the reason he didn't seem to be slowing down after he landed was that he was rolling along looking for a gas station.
Click to expand...

LOL

Yea - I'll buy that. It acted just like he ran out of gas. Bounce it around and you can get it started again for a moment...
 
Last edited:
Good job..I guess..It'd be a lot less stressful if they wouldn't have been flying so damn low over a populated area with almost no options. Personally, I would have taken the water before I would have turned towards an even more populated area after the first re-start.
 
If the article got things anywhere close to right (there's a first time for everything), then it sounds like this accident occurred about 1 mile into a 15 mile flight.

If they ran out of fuel, then they really didn't bring very much.
-harry
 
looks like when they went for the road he slipped it in for the quick decent. I would have smacked that photographer for trying to start the plane again,... looks like he was reaching for the ingition key towards the end before they touched down.

Kudos to the pilot, handled it quite well. I'd like to hear the report of what happened.
 
smigaldi said:
http://www.baynews9.com/VideoPlayer/?Emergency_Landing_421

In cockpit video of an aircraft that suffered engine failure on the way to Sun n Fun Sunday. Luckily the pilots landed safely on a local road. The video and sound are all from inside the cockpit, gives you a unique perspective!

Here is the article
http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/...DEO:+Plane+makes+emergency+landing+on+street+

Anyone know what type of aircraft that is and why the engines sounds like it is a .049 Cox?

Any thoughts as to why it was starting and then stopping?
Click to expand...

The engine may be a 2 stroke, high RPM with some noise from a redrive as well. Even a throaty, turboed 4 stroke with a redrive on digital sound recordings sounds obscenely like a model airplane for some reason that perhaps the more technically minded can explain. Probably only recording each fraction of a second or something.

Regarding the emergency, I don't know if it was real but, I do know a good pilot will make anything look very easy.
 
Last edited:
smigaldi said:
Anyone know what type of aircraft that is and why the engines sounds like it is a .049 Cox?

Any thoughts as to why it was starting and then stopping?
Click to expand...
It sounded to me like a Rotax 912. That engine sounds like a .049 Cox. It also stops immediately, no windmilling. As with others, it looked to me like fuel starvation.
 
The way he cussed so quickly after the engine quit, made it seem fake. I would think that normally it would take a second or two to fully absorb the fact that your engine just quit. My old CFI called this the "OH S**T" moment.
 
pookies said:
The way he cussed so quickly after the engine quit, made it seem fake. I would think that normally it would take a second or two to fully absorb the fact that your engine just quit. My old CFI called this the "OH S**T" moment.
Click to expand...

A lot of the experimental aircraft are fly behind or in front of Rotax two strokes (503's and 582's are most common) There is a common statement heard around the experimental group of "Not if its going to quit you, but when" So that is probably why he was'nt so surprised.
 
smigaldi said:
The pilot claims they had plenty of fuel. Given that the aircraft survived intact is would be an easy claim to check. Assuming he did have fuel in the tanks one has to wonder then if it was something that was preventing fuel from getting to the engine.
Click to expand...

Perhaps he did not check for condensation/water in the tanks.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 365 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant.
Perhaps it would be better to start a new thread instead.
Back
Top