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Crash of N5840L

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GrummanDude

Joined: 15 Jan 2006
Posts: 926
Location: Auburn, CA

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 11:43 am Post subject: Crash of N5840L

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.

  [quote][b]

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_________________
Gary
AuCountry Aviation
Home of Team Grumman

Discover

Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 429

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:25 pm Post subject: 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

   [quote][b]

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pitts_pilot(at)bellsouth.
Guest

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2009 1:41 pm Post subject: Crash of N5840L

teamgrumman(at)aol.com wrote:

 	  Quote: 	
		   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

 	  Quote: 	
		   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.

 

 *

 

 

 *

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Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

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