Buckle your seat belt

[discus]

A couple of E-Mails sent to me by a friend in the area. This is still third party, but more than likely a crap ton better than the shit they put on the news.

The E-Mail-

Fellow Aviators,

Attached you will find a letter that I wrote in regards to the accident last Friday at Collegedale. Please feel free to share what you now know as fact if someone asks you about it. You now have all of the facts as to what really happened. If any of you have been watching the news over the past week, you know how distorted the reporting of news can be when someone reports something without the facts. It is absolutely criminal what news people report on and how badly they distort things. If you can be a part of setting someone straight, by sharing the actual facts, then please do so. Its your responsibility as a fellow avaitor to let the non flying public know that this was a freak accident and how safe airplanes are, whether they are homebuilt aircraft or certified production made aircraft. Not to mention, that we as pilots ALWAYS ALWAYS put our seatbelts on before we take to the skies. If anyone has any further questions, please feel free to call me on my cell. 504-XXXX

Fly Safe and have a Great Weekend

Mark & Bill

And the document -

Putting Rumors to Rest

I am writing this letter to accomplish two things. One is to put any rumors to rest that you may have heard through the news media and also to let everyone know what really happened last Friday with the very tragic accident that occurred near Collegedale airport.

Let me first start by saying, I have known this instructor for many years and I consider him one of the most professional pilots and instructors I have ever met. I also consider him a very good friend. I would trust him with my life in any airplane.

Now, 95% of what I am about to explain to you are his words and the rest will be mine as to the events that transpired last Friday. You can rest assured that what you are about to read is an accurate account. The mishap instructor has approved this letter before I released it to you.

The instructor had flown the aircraft for several hours in the left seat making sure he was comfortable with its flight characteristics before allowing Mr. Richardson to get in the left seat. One thing to note about this aircraft is that it only had one stick in the middle of the cockpit and did not have brakes on the right side. The instructor met Mr. Richardson at the airport at about 2:00 pm on Friday and flew the airplane again for about an hour. After that flight, the instructor pulled up to the ramp and shut down and chatted for a few minutes with Mr. Richardson. At that point the instructor was ready to get in the right seat and let Mr. Richardson fly his airplane for the first time in the left seat. They took their time getting in the airplane and went over several things with him, such as handling characteristics and airspeeds. They took their time getting comfortable in their respective seats and fastening their seatbelts. They also took there time lowering and latching the canopy.

When they started to crank the engine it turned over very slowly and would not start. At that point they unlatched and raised the canopy and Mr. Richardson called Ed Moore to bring a charger over to plug in for a boost. Ed drove up to the ramp in a few minutes and came over to the airplane with a charger and started to plug it in. At that point Mr. Richardson UNBUCKLED his seat belt to get out so he could help Mr. Moore. Mr. Moore then said to Mr. Richardson “No, No just stay in the airplane.” The instructor also commented to just stay in the plane and that Ed Moore was just going to plug us in and then unplug us once we get going.

Mr. Richardson put his seatbelt back on and appeared to fasten it again. It seemed like it clicked to the instructor the second time and the instructor did not give it a second thought. After all, Mr. Richardson was an experienced, LICENSED pilot. However, the second time strapping into the airplane appeared to be a little more rushed than the first time when they originally prepared to start the airplane. There was absolutely no reason for the instructor to think anymore about there being a seat belt problem. The instructor did not have visual sight of his buckle because of a center console that hides the buckle from view by the other occupant. The instructor does remember the lap and shoulder portion of the seat belt actually being over Mr. Richardson. Mr. Moore plugged them in and they cranked the engine with no further problems. The canopy was then lowered and latched for the second time.

They taxied to runway 3 and took off. Everything was normal during the take off. They climbed out and proceeded to the east training area for a simple lesson of just straight and level flight and normal turns. It was intended to be just a 15 or 20 minute flight. Early into the flight maybe 3 or 4 minutes, the instructor noticed a wind noise coming from behind their heads that the instructor had not noticed before when he had flown the plane by himself. The instructor didn’t think much of it at the time, except that there must be a crack where the canopy mates with the fuselage. As the flight progressed, the canopy seemed like it was possibly pulling a little farther away from where it mates with the fuselage. By that time they were actually headed back to the airport. The instructor had no reason to be concerned or alarmed, after all, even if the latch did come loose, the canopy would only open an inch or two and they were heading back to land anyway. Upon further investigation, the instructor noticed that the canopy latches were barely hanging on and he could now see a little bit of daylight through the cracks. At that time, the instructor decided to see if he could maybe prevent the canopy from popping open by pushing down on the tabs from the inside but due to air forces pulling up on the canopy it wouldn’t budge downward.

At that point the canopy popped open. It needs to be noted that when they took off the canopy was down and flush with the fuselage and appeared to have latched properly. When the canopy popped open there was a loud rush of air and it was somewhat startling. Immediately the airplane pitched over into a nosedive. It is unknown if Mr. Richardson inadvertently pushed the stick forward as he twisted in the seat to see what was happening or if the disruption of airflow over the tail caused the nose to pitch over but the sudden nosedive created a significant negative G situation. A split second later, there seemed to be a secondary pushover into a more vertical dive. At that point the G forces pulled Mr. Richardson up and out of his seat and out of the cockpit. The instructor visually observed Mr. Richardson exiting the aircraft and did not lose sight of him until he had passed over the tail.

At that point the aircraft was in a straight down vertical dive. The G forces had the instructor suspended against his harness and was floating in midair up against the harness with the airplane literally out from under him. The instructor had to reach down to get a hold of the stick and finally got a hold of it. He gently started pulling out of the dive. During the pull out, the instructor was thinking about the possibility of structural failure and actually glanced at the airspeed indicator to see that it was at redline. Needless to say he pulled the throttle back to idle and gently pulled out until the airplane was straight and level.

He then proceeded straight back to FGU with the canopy flapping. It was open approximately 2 to 3 inches. The instructor did not have brakes on the right side so he just rolled out and turned the engine off and coasted to a stop in front of the ramp and FBO. He then got out of the airplane and pushed it off of the runway and on to the ramp. He then ran in told them to call 911 and informed the FBO employees that Mr. Richardson had been ejected from the aircraft. Not long after that, emergency vehicles began to arrive at the airport and a search crew was sent out to locate Mr. Richardson’s body.

If anyone has any further questions about this incident, Please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Mark Winton

[HuggyU2]

Wow. The media got it wrong. I'm very surprised.

Morons.

Good narrative. Some very good lessons can be learned from this.

[contraildash]

Not suprising I guess....always more to the story.

I find it hard to believe that the Zodiac 601 has a trim system, or autopilot for that matter, capable of generating enough of a nose down pitching moment to create enough force to punch a guy through the canopy.

Trim can bite ya...

I was flying around in the back of a Piper Aztec doing survey work back before I got in the AF. There was a new pilot getting checked out and he wasn't the brightest crayon in the box. We were operating out of Lynchburg, VA and our survey area was out west over the Blue Ridge mtns. On our way back this new guy was flying and the company pilot was really giving him a hard time about everything. While this was going on, the new guy had somehow run the trim nose down somewhat significantly, probably with the death grip he had on the yoke, and was complaining about the plane not flying 'right.' I was out of my seat taking a film cassette out of the camera and getting ready to take the film out of that. Just as I took the cassette out of the mount, the new dude let go of the yoke (why? we still have no idea) and we nosed over like a Kamakazi. The company pilot recovered immeadiately. Me? I flew up and hit the roof and landed back behind the camera. The 30-ish pound cassette landed on my right shin. The company pilot still claims I threw something up at the new guy, I don't remember but I'm sure I did.

Needless to say, that guy didn't fly with us anymore.

[DFRESH]

blah blah blah.... that guy didn't fly with us anymore.

Cool story bro, got time to share it again?

[Stitch]

Here’s another one from AOPA Accident Analysis. Complete text here…

http://www.aopa.org/...&WT.mc_sect=sap

Meat and potatoes:

…crash of a two-seat PiperSport … departed from Fort Myers, Fla., about 10:15 p.m. on the first leg of a positioning flight to Joliet, Ill. … pilot had already earned his instrument and multiengine instructor ratings… claimed 2,350 hours of total flight experience.

The weather was fine, if dark, with clear skies, calm winds, 7 miles visibility, and a crescent moon setting in the west. … the pilot had declined several different offers of lodging for the night, choosing instead to begin a 950-nautical-mile cross-country after 10 p.m.

…Radar track data shows that in the next four seconds the PiperSport lost 100 feet, then 400 feet in the five seconds after that, and then 2,500 feet in nine more seconds. Its calculated rate of descent went from 1,500 feet per minute to 4,800 fpm to almost 16,700 fpm in the space of 18 seconds. Transponder returns ended after that, though one or two primary echoes were observed in the vicinity of the eventual crash site.

The pilot’s body was found about a third of a mile away. A trail of debris consisting mostly of items carried inside the cockpit lay in between, with the heavier objects closer to the airplane’s flight path. No shards of the canopy were among them.

The NTSB’s best guess as to the accident sequence runs along those lines: ..the pilot tried to retrieve something from the shelf behind him. In the process he inadvertently shoved the stick and kicked in opposite rudder—just at the moment the canopy popped open. In the sudden noise and wind, in the dark, with the airplane rolling inverted, he was unable to regain control before he slipped from his restraints and fell. But as closely as this description matches all available evidence, the board had to acknowledge that uncertainty remains. The last paragraph before the official statement of probable cause is just four short sentences. It includes three occurrences of the word “likely” plus one use of “possibly.”…

EDIT for spelling.

Edited April 8, 2013 by Stitch

[cryoglobin]

Definitely not a good way to go.........

We had a pilot in my first unit that had such a gut on him that from time to time when he pulled on the yoke and rotated it to pull closed, it would hit his buckle and unlatch his straps. It was always a point of great amusement until the day the inertial reel slung one of the shoulder straps and the metal piece on the end broke the tooth of the flight engineer who was sitting behind him.