---------------------------------------------------------- TeamGrumman-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Tue 10/13/09: 3 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 12:43 PM - Crash of N5840L (teamgrumman@AOL.COM) 2. 01:26 PM - Re: Crash of N5840L (923te) 3. 02:41 PM - Re: Crash of N5840L (Linn Walters) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 12:43:05 PM PST US Subject: TeamGrumman-List: Crash of N5840L From: teamgrumman@AOL.COM I have been asked if I know about this crash since it's in my neighborhood and apparently?there is a lot of uninformed speculation about the events. The owner/pilot was giving young eagle rides that day. ?This was his 6th flight. ?Onboard at the time of the incident were two 14 yr old girls and a 14 or 15 yr old boy. ? I talked to the owner/pilot about the incident and was told none of the kids were ever afraid or screaming during the ensuing crash. ? The crash, if you call it that, followed what was a normal run up and take-off roll. ?At about mid-field, a helicopter took off on the adjacent taxiway. ?At that time, N5840L was at about 20 to 30 feet in the air and began losing altitude. ?It is speculated that the downwash from the helicopter blades effected the lift on the plane. ?N5840L was also blown away from the centerline (and helicopter) and toward a hill on the east end of the airport. ?The pilot kept the plane in ground effect as long as he could. ?He then decided to get the plane down as it wasn't gaining enough altitude to clear the hill. ?The plane hit tail first and he dragged the tail in a nose high attitude in an effort to get rid of any energy. ?The plane finally came to a stop at the base of the hill. ?The plane stopped when the nose gear folded under the plane. ?The pilot and the kids got out OK. ? The boy wants the propeller to mount on his wall in his bedroom. ? The girls went on the next young eagles flight. ?It was no big deal. The pilot performed a normal emergency shutdown, turning the fuel and master off prior to exiting the plane, contrary to the information promulgated ?on the 'other' site. ? The plane was totaled. ?Looking at it, it looks like it had had a new front end grafted on it sometime in the past. ?The wings are still in good shape if you're looking for standard range tanks. ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 01:26:00 PM PST US From: "923te" <923te@att.net> Subject: Re: TeamGrumman-List: Crash of N5840L Gary, Thanks for sharing your post on this. I had an experience with changing winds in 2002 on my way to the Cody AYA Convention. I landed short of Cody because of approaching thunderstorms. During my approach, downwind and base, winds were as broadcast by ATIS. However, upon flairing an abrupt change in wind direction and velocity was encountered. Ground speed increased while airspeed decayed and the runway was rapidly moving to the left. I found the ground rapidly approaching and chose to force the Tiger onto the runway before leaving it to the right. A porpoise ensued which led to a minor propstrike that night. I did not think it could be powered out of at the time. Normally, I would have gone around however, the wind was so strong and turbulent that I was glad I got safely on the ground. All this to say that I can empathise with what the pilot encountered and can confirm that this "wind shear" or whatever one would call it does occur and when encountered gives a feeling of hopelessness as to beating it. Things happen very fast. I think the pilot made good decisions and did a very good job defeating the wind and surviving what could have been a catastrophy. Regards, ned ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 02:41:24 PM PST US From: Linn Walters Subject: Re: TeamGrumman-List: Crash of N5840L teamgrumman@aol.com wrote: > I have been asked if I know about this crash since it's in my > neighborhood and apparently there is a lot of uninformed speculation > about the events. > > The owner/pilot was giving young eagle rides that day. This was his 6th > flight. Onboard at the time of the incident were two 14 yr old girls > and a 14 or 15 yr old boy. > > I talked to the owner/pilot about the incident and was told none of the > kids were ever afraid or screaming during the ensuing crash. > > The crash, if you call it that, followed what was a normal run up and > take-off roll. At about mid-field, a helicopter took off on the > adjacent taxiway. Here's a neat video of 'copter downwash!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7iul2vENIA Linn At that time, N5840L was at about 20 to 30 feet in > the air and began losing altitude. It is speculated that the downwash > from the helicopter blades effected the lift on the plane. N5840L was > also blown away from the centerline (and helicopter) and toward a hill > on the east end of the airport. The pilot kept the plane in ground > effect as long as he could. He then decided to get the plane down as it > wasn't gaining enough altitude to clear the hill. The plane hit tail > first and he dragged the tail in a nose high attitude in an effort to > get rid of any energy. The plane finally came to a stop at the base of > the hill. The plane stopped when the nose gear folded under the plane. > The pilot and the kids got out OK. > > The boy wants the propeller to mount on his wall in his bedroom. The > girls went on the next young eagles flight. It was no big deal. > > The pilot performed a normal emergency shutdown, turning the fuel and > master off prior to exiting the plane, contrary to the information > promulgated on the 'other' site. > > The plane was totaled. Looking at it, it looks like it had had a new > front end grafted on it sometime in the past. The wings are still in > good shape if you're looking for standard range tanks. > > * > > > * ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message teamgrumman-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/TeamGrumman-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/teamgrumman-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/teamgrumman-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.