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Aerobatic plane ends up in lake

Did we discuss this already?


Pilot is unharmed what I’ve read.

always learning
LO__, Austria

Ha! My conclusions would be
1) don’t be stupid
2) control the plane as long as you can
and also a note to self about how long such type floats.

LPFR, Poland

On another forum I read that the engine ingested water and stopped after the first contact so the pilot flew the aircraft to the inevitable conclusion.

Forever learning
EGTB

Glassy water is a bitch. If flying over water, let alone doing aeros, it’s hard to judge height even with texture. If you have glassy water, there is no possible way to judge your altitude. Especially not when flying comparatively high sink rates.

Have a look about how careful you usually approach glassy waters:


Neglect can really ruin your day, as the first FlyWhale instructor experienced first hand in Welzow last year or the year before.

Here is another fine example:


Last Edited by mh at 11 Feb 14:03
mh
Aufwind GmbH
EKPB, Germany
Glassy water is a bitch.

Reminds me of

Lots of accident discussion lately on EuroGA.

Last Edited by loco at 11 Feb 14:15
LPFR, Poland

Excellent flying after the first touch down.

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

I believe @pilot_dar knows about this stuff.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Glassy water is a bitch. If flying over water, let alone doing aeros, it’s hard to judge height even with texture. If you have glassy water, there is no possible way to judge your altitude. Especially not when flying comparatively high sink rates.

Actually, those of us who enjoy landing on glassy water find many ways to judge height. The shoreline, fish rising, waterfowl, some driftwood, some small rocks sticking up, the known height of a dam, or the good old ways like Google Earth homework, altimeter and WAAS GPS. In late winter we sometimes have little patches of ice, and if we’re patient, in Scotland, we can sometimes cheat and find a wee patch of ripple to touch down.

I also disagree mildly about not turning/manoeuvring below 500 ft AGL. Turning at any height after take-off is fine with positive rate of climb:


Last Edited by Jacko at 14 Feb 22:28
Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom

Jacko wrote:

Actually, those of us who enjoy landing on glassy water find many ways to judge height. The shoreline, fish rising, waterfowl, some driftwood, some small rocks sticking up, the known height of a dam, or the good old ways like Google Earth homework, altimeter and WAAS GPS. In late winter we sometimes have little patches of ice, and if we’re patient, in Scotland, we can sometimes cheat and find a wee patch of ripple to touch down.

That’s what he thought, too.

But approaching a glassy water surface with a gentle descent rate in order to land on the water (be it with a seaplane or with tires), is entirely different from performing low level aerobatics over such a surface. And no, you are not able to fly a flare by GPS or baro altitude. The intended aerobatics were apparently aimed at an overflight altitude, where you could not read your altimeter in the first place (eyes have to be out so low!).

You don’t have a chance to reliably judge your height by eyesight on glassy water surfaces, and if you think you might be able to fly a flare based on view over glassy water, you’re waiting for an accident to happen (as it has happened a LOT in these conditions already). That usually is not a big issue, sine there are existing procedures for these conditions. But neglect in aviation is never a good idea.

Jacko wrote:

I also disagree mildly about not turning/manoeuvring below 500 ft AGL. Turning at any height after take-off is fine with positive rate of climb:

The video explicitly talked about landing manoeuvring over glass waters while inspecting the waters. We’re discussing approaches here, not takeoffs or departures.

Last Edited by mh at 15 Feb 12:51
mh
Aufwind GmbH
EKPB, Germany

@mh, I don’t disagree about the flare (the last few feet or so), or the risk/reward of doing low level aeros over a lake.

However, a sweeping statement that “Glassy water is a bitch… If you have glassy water, there is no possible way to judge your altitude” is demonstrably untrue and risks engendering unfounded fear of what I consider to be the jewel in the crown of float and bush flying.

I wonder if we could agree to rephrase along the following lines: “glassy water is a thing of unworldly beauty… It demands respect, alternative strategies for touching down, and it requires us to look for different clues to control our height AGL…”

The fewer those alternative clues, the more inventive we can be – for instance, we may enlist the help of birds to disturb the surface for us, whereas deer and pheasants on our home runway are more nuisance than help.

Glenswinton, SW Scotland, United Kingdom
11 Posts
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