Touch and go?

I've heard from someone who did see the video that it purports to be an Aerostar or similar departing after a gear-up landing, leaving prop marks in the runway.

Anyone hear of an Aerostar going down recently?
 
Ya it is a crazy video and it does look to be am aerostar. It's floating around of Facebook but I can't seem to get it to post here. It is on the Ohio pilots Facebook page if you want to watch it there.
 
This guy is lucky. I had two friends die trying to pull off the same maneuver. If you ever hear that awful noise, close the throttles and ride it to a stop.


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Dave Theisen said:
This guy is lucky. I had two friends die trying to pull off the same maneuver. If you ever hear that awful noise, close the throttles and ride it to a stop.


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This guy is very, VERY lucky.

I was flying for a company where a pilot tried to do this in a Piper Chieftain. According to witnesses, the props started to hit the gravel, and he fire walled the throttles. The plane started a slow climb, turning to the left, kept turning until it landed inverted.

5 dead, 4 survived. The 5 that died all died from thermal injuries.

As Dave stated, close those throttles and ride it out. Once the noise starts there is no need to save it.
 
Watched a Rockwell Comander do this at my home airport. He didn't hit the belly but the prop did take a hit. He climbed out and came back to land safely. I talked to the guy a few days later and asked him why. He said no insurance and didn't want to destroy the plane. So many things I wanted to say but with his answer I knew I couldn't reason with him.
 
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Luvrv8 said:
Watched a Rocwell Comander do this at my home airport. He didn't hit the belly but the prop did take a hit. He climbed out and came back to land safely. I talked to the guy a few days later and asked him why. He said no insurance and didn't want to destroy the plane. So many things I wanted to say but with his answer I knew I couldn't reason with him.
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You can't reason with a guy that is living proof of what he just got away with. :dunno:
 
Insurance is gonna be about the same as if he planted it right there...might as well shoot the missed....do it right with the gear down....and forget about making the dreaded phone call.:goofy:
 
He already screwed up the props and slid on the belly, why bother going around at that point other than to get to a more "convenient" repair location?
 
Well technically since the engines did not stop, there is no teardown required. Pretty sure a set of channel locks will straighten up the prop tips
 
yetti said:
Well technically since the engines did not stop, there is no teardown required. Pretty sure a set of channel locks will straighten up the prop tips
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I hope you are being sarcastic. :rolleyes2:

If not, the blades do not have to stop to require a tear down. Hitting the ground like this video shows will require a tear down of both engines. Basically, the prop contacting anything that causes an RPM slow down any thing , Leaving a tow bar inplace and starting the engine will require a tear down if the prop hits the tow bar.

Lycoming's Mandatory Service Bulletin 533A defines a prop strike as "Any incident, whether or not the engine is operating, that requires repair to the propeller other than minor dressing of the blades ... [or] in which the propeller impacts a solid object which causes a drop in RPM and also requires structural repair of the propeller (incidents requiring only paint touch up are not included) ... [or] A sudden RPM drop while impacting water, tall grass, or similar non-solid medium, where propeller structural damage is not normally incurred ..." It goes on to say that in any of these cases "the safest procedure is to remove and disassemble the engine and completely inspect the reciprocating and rotating parts, including crankshaft gear and dowel parts. Any decision to operate an engine which was involved in a [prop strike] without such inspection must be the responsibility of the agency returning the aircraft to service."
 
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Not to mention the FAA will be on him worse for the go-around than for the gear-up.
 
Dave Theisen said:
This guy is lucky. I had two friends die trying to pull off the same maneuver. If you ever hear that awful noise, close the throttles and ride it to a stop.


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3 dead at TTF in a Malibu a few years ago. Spun into in a park with soccer games going on.

Stupid pilot tricks.
 
He didn't want to be the guy that geared up at the fly-in in front of everyone. I'm surprised he pulled it off. For a second there i thought he would lose it on the go around.

Ego and embarrassment kill people all the time. This guy made it. Im happy for him. It is just metal, why risk skin?

The video and internet flogging is probably ample punishment.
 
"For a second there i thought he would lose it on the go around."

Yes, he pulled up rather sharply when he first lifted off; had to be close to a stall.
 
Mid mount wing "saved" his props just enough..... Probably more of a reflexive action than deliberate but not a good decision.
 
Wow. Aerostars don't have stall warners, so he must have been in the buffet pretty much the whole time on that departure. They give ample warning when they don't want to fly, but if you go beyond it there's no recovery at this altitude.
 
He's thinking "Maybe no one noticed."

Speaking of Aerostars, at OSH in 2009 I saw one stall about 10 ft up while in a slight turn for landing. Looked like an F-18 landing on a carrier. Everyone in the audience around just gasped. No one could believe that his gear didn't collapse. Strong plane.
 
Velocity173 said:
He's thinking "Maybe no one noticed."

Speaking of Aerostars, at OSH in 2009 I saw one stall about 10 ft up while in a slight turn for landing. Looked like an F-18 landing on a carrier. Everyone in the audience around just gasped. No one could believe that his gear didn't collapse. Strong plane.
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Let me guess, he was trying to land on the orange dot? :rofl:
 
Geico266 said:
Let me guess, he was trying to land on the orange dot? :rofl:
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He did. Can't believe he didn't leave his landing gear on the dot. No way I'd buy that aircraft or even fly it after that landing. Never seen an aircraft land that hard and the LG stay intact.
 
dans2992 said:
He already screwed up the props and slid on the belly, why bother going around at that point other than to get to a more "convenient" repair location?
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I watched a Mooney do that a few years ago. The FAA Inspector sitting at the next table in the airport restaurant wrote up the pilot for 91.13 careless/reckless and 91.7 (failing to discontinue the flight). The Inspector's argument was that once the plane was damaged that way, it was not safe to fly, and the pilot should have just let it skid to a stop. You might have an argument that if it just barely touched, it was safer to go around and then land on the wheels, but definitely don't fly anywhere else.
 
Ron Levy said:
I watched a Mooney do that a few years ago. The FAA Inspector sitting at the next table in the airport restaurant wrote up the pilot for 91.13 careless/reckless and 91.7 (failing to discontinue the flight). The Inspector's argument was that once the plane was damaged that way, it was not safe to fly, and the pilot should have just let it skid to a stop. You might have an argument that if it just barely touched, it was safer to go around and then land on the wheels, but definitely don't fly anywhere else.
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Just curious, how did you know what regulations the Inspector used in the EIR against the Mooney pilot? Were you a party to the EIR?
 
Dave Theisen said:
This guy is lucky. I had two friends die trying to pull off the same maneuver. If you ever hear that awful noise, close the throttles and ride it to a stop.


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There was a topic on this on another board, long and short it's a judgement call with benefits and risks ether way.

In the case of the video, for how low he was on energy by the time he decided to put the coals to it, shoulda just pulled the red levers back, and cut off his fuel and electrical.
 
It seems like you have a better chance of doing more damage to the crank/engine with the props slapping the ground under full power than if you just let it all stop at idle power?
 
I saw a D-18 sitting on the ramp at Waynesville, MO about 40 years ago with all 6 props curled back about 6". He obviously made it around.
 
A few years ago someone geared up at a Navion fly in. There were pictures of everybody using straw bales and some strong backs to get the thing back up on its gear. The caption in the newsletter said something to the effect that we were reseting the contestant for the next attempt at the "Belly landing contest."
 
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