Accident Probes

At about 1705 Eastern time, the airplane touched down short of the intended runway. The commercial pilot sustained a minor injury; the pilot-rated passenger was not injured. The airplane was substantially damaged. Visual conditions prevailed.Abeam the runway threshold on downwind, the pilot lowered wing flaps to the first notch and moved the mixture control to full rich but did not turn on carburetor heat. While on final at 500 feet agl and 80 mph, the next thing he knew they were on the ground. He indicated the airplane descended due to a microburst, but there was no rain shower nearby. He also stated the passenger attempted to add full power, but was too late. He stated he did not stall the airplane.

Just as there are different airplanes optimized for different purposes, pilots fly for different reasons. For some, its just a job, akin to driving a bus. For others, its a means of personal and business transportation. Still more fly for recreation, like sightseeing or aerobatics. Droning along in the stormy clag and hand-flying an ILS to minimums is the epitome of flying skill for some pilots. Others perhaps couldnt fly an ILS if they had to but can fly, say, a loop or an Immelman to perfection, or safely get in and out of a back-country runway. Different strokes for different folks. Fortunate pilots may combine all of these activities, and others, into their flying career.

At about 1730 Central time, the airplane was substantially damaged during a forced landing to a field following total loss of engine power during cruise flight. The airline transport pilot and passenger were not injured. Visual conditions prevailed.About 15 minutes after adding 30 gallons of fuel at an en-route fuel stop and while cruising at 3500 feet msl, the engine lost all power. Emergency procedures werent successful and the pilot selected a field for an emergency landing due to utility wires surrounding the adjacent roads. The touchdown was normal, but the field included rough terrain, which resulted in the nosegear collapsing before the airplane came to rest upright.

Circling an airport after an instrument approach procedure (IAP) to land on a runway other than the one aligned with the IAP is something all instrument-rated pilots have practiced. Its a maneuver that places an airplane relatively close to the ground-sometimes at half the traffic-pattern altitude-and can require steeply banked turns.

At about 1225 Central time, the gyrocopter was destroyed when it collided with power lines while maneuvering. The solo private pilot sustained serious injuries. Visual conditions prevailed.The gyrocopter had impacted 30-foot-high power lines, breaking two of them. The pilot’s headgear showed thermal damage to the faceshield and soot was evident inside of the shield and around the face relief of the helmet, consistent with electrical arcing. The engine appeared to be mostly intact and fuel was present.

All pilots and controllers know about wake turbulence, the vortices streaming out and downward from an airplanes wingtips anytime its generating lift. We know theyre strongest when the generating airplane is heavy, clean and slow. We know not to fly in-trail of a larger airplane at the same altitude unless there are at least three minutes separation, preferably more.

The FAAs Advisory Circular (AC) 90-23G, Aircraft Wake Turbulence, is the latest edition of the agencys guidance on this topic, having been revised in February 2014. The new AC, at paragraph 9, VORTEX ENCOUNTER GUIDANCE, states in part:

Recent general aviation and air carrier accidents

Everyone remembers the first airplane they flew. But what about the second one? Chances are it was a lot like the first one, but still was different. While the make and model may have been the same, the serial and registration numbers were different, of course. Even trivial differences between the two likely was a topic of discussion with your instructor. The conversation may have included how different avionics equipment was installed, or one of them never had a working landing light, or had a prop offering better performance. In an extreme, you could have been mixing makes, models, wing position and avionics. There likely was a moment where you couldnt find that blemish on the windshield you used as a reference point, or found the throttle too stiff.

Spatial orientation is the bodys natural ability to maintain orientation and/or posture in relation to the surrounding physical environment, both at rest and in motion. Its a highly evolved ability, which uses visual and vestibular (inner ear) sensory inputs, as well as our sometimes unconscious ability to understand positioning of our body and its various parts. Together, these senses tell our brain what our body is doing and what is happening to it.