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What makes people do completely mad things?

I remember a good lesson a few years back in the Aerostar. I had asked for a low pass at KEMT. Speeding down the runway at what must have been close to 180-200kts (I wasn’t that low, maybe at 100ft) I pulled upp abruptly for the rush, only to feel the plane shake in my hands. I had encountered an accelerated stall/buffet. I was surprised that it could come at such a high speed, but it hammered home the notion that a stall can happen at any speed. There was no real danger, just startled me a little. Good learning lesson.

In any case, this and a few other occurrences have given me respect for speed/AoA management and coordinated flight.

Last Edited by AdamFrisch at 26 Apr 04:50

Curiously I don’t have an issue with someone doing a low pass per se. It isn’t a difficult thing to fly (except over calm water) and if you are going fast enough then you have all the options when you pull up afterwards. Doing one in the circumstances here (close to boats etc) is just hugely provocative and would make most people correctly conclude think you are a dickhead. It is the subsequent low speed turn which was messed up. Did the pilot have a PPL and got some flight training to get it?

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Yeah seems the u-turn was the one that ended up being badly managed, and not flown but forced through the turn.

I have had to kick the rudder hard on some trainee pilots coming in for a engine out glide approach, overshooting the runway and starting a skid!!!!!!!! Followed by a good debrief afterwards!

Always fly the turn!!! You might not end up where you like to end up, but going in flying is much better than this.

But really, this is a typical case of Threat and Error Management gone wrong. Not recognising the Threats, and not mitigating, leading to Errors and ultimately…. Undesired Aircraft State.

Youtube is packed with videos of stupid stuff occurring on Russian soil. Why would it be limited to flying only.

EFHF

Years ago, a former USSR team aerobatic champion moved to the US and while getting established was scratching out a living at a local airport. A then teenage friend of mine offered him a (65HP) Luscombe ride, not knowing who he was, and shortly thereafter they were ascending vertically at 500 feet altitude, followed by a hammerhead and recovery.

My reaction to that story, videos like this


and a little personal experience is to think that their aeronautical culture continues to reflect the value placed on individual lives, including those of pilots, in the 20th century. Some like the state employed aerobatic champions were skilled and crazy enough to thrive and survive despite those values, some like this guy are just crazy to this day, minus the ability to get away with it.

Last Edited by Silvaire at 26 Apr 15:13

He was supposed to be on the ground after that first pull-up from slow flight but that was not enough as warning
Doing a low pass should not be much of an issue, the problem is having “too much fun” and forgetting to keep flying…

On spinning after a skidding turn, that looks like what a famous spitfire pilot once said: low & slow & steep turn is like setting an anchor !

Last Edited by Ibra at 26 Apr 23:28
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

For those familiar with the “height/velocity”, or “danger” curve presented in every helicopter flight manual, it tells the pilot when the helicopter should not be flown relative to the ground at various airspeeds. The understanding to be taken away that too low, and/or too slow, and recovery to a survivable landing is not possible – the aircraft does not have enough altitude to sustain the required pull to flare for a safe landing (it’s a little different in a helicopter, but not as much as you’d think, just add rotor RPM as a variable). Whether the careless pilot had been pulling a couple of Gs to complete a too low/too slow turn, or simply trying to enter a glide following an engine failure, the aircraft was not high enough to allow a gliding acceleration to enough speed to be able to arrest the descent rate before contact with the ground. Yes, it was a power plane, so the pilot was probably using engine power too – it helped, but not enough! This is the underlying reason that I oppose needless steep climbouts following those showoff short takeoffs. If the engine quits at 100 feet, and 1.1Vs, a safe landing will not be possible. Fixed wing aircraft are every bit as subject to the limitations of power off performance depicted in a helicopter height/velocity curve. For some reason, there is no requirement to quantify nor publish this important information for pilot consideration for fixed wing aircraft – so unwary pilots die.

This kind of flying can only be done with lots of aware training and practice at altitude, before doing it anywhere near the ground.

Home runway, in central Ontario, Canada, Canada

Well planned and carefully done low pass is not an issue – as long as there are no turns involved.

LKKU, LKTB

Well, it’s no surprise that Jacko disagrees with the nanny-state whining ninnies who sneer at such stunts, especially that inverted flight under a bridge.

To the (seemingly few) of us who value freedom, and especially freedom of expression, it is art, no more or less than the art of urban funambulists, free climbers or IoM TT racers.

These people shine a ray of hope in an era of dull neo-totalitarian conformity, and we should honour them as we do the men, women and children who died for freedom in Europe in the last century.

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

Amongst other things I am a display pilot and the problem is that the people doing these things do not think it mad as they do it. It is essentially a bad judgement, and badly flown process. It is not ‘mad’. In low power ratio aeroplanes I do a routine which involves a series of 100 feet S turns, into wing overs at each end of the runway. The minimum gate height to complete a controlled wing over, in a lower power plane, was 400 feet. Now these guys in the video, after the botched pull up, never reached 200 feet, then they attempted a tight turn, with all energy effectively dissipated. It was never going to end well.

Low level is safe, if in practice and well thought out. The usual let’s do a low pass often ends in disaster for the uninitiated.

Last Edited by BeechBaby at 27 Apr 11:18
Fly safe. I want this thing to land l...
EGPF Glasgow
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