Biplane Sea Ditch

[RM]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-65894963

Very finely judged I would say, either by design or accident. The water there is pretty shallow over the rocks.

[shedweller]

I would be interested to know why he was going that quickly and so low... Surely if he was anticipating ditching it then he'd of lost some speed?...
Did he run out of talent? Or was he running out of space?


This chap did a much better job on Sidmouth beach

https://youtu.be/5_XROMboW9s

• Edit because I read the description in the linked vid regarding an investigation.

Edited by shedweller on Tuesday 13th June 21:10

[Scolmore]

shedweller said:

I would be interested to know why he was going that quickly and so low... Surely if he was anticipating ditching it then he'd of lost some speed?...
Did he run out of talent? Or was he running out of space?
.

Edited by shedweller on Tuesday 13th June 21:10

Rather than talent or space, I'd expect he ran out of engine & the water provided the best landing option. Speed didn't look abnormal. AAIB will produce a report in due time, although sadly they've got at least one double fatal in their queue at the moment.

I don't think I've seen a video yet of a fixed gear plane managing to avoid nosing over on a water landing.

[eharding]

Scolmore said:

shedweller said:

I would be interested to know why he was going that quickly and so low... Surely if he was anticipating ditching it then he'd of lost some speed?...
Did he run out of talent? Or was he running out of space?
.

Edited by shedweller on Tuesday 13th June 21:10

Rather than talent or space, I'd expect he ran out of engine & the water provided the best landing option. Speed didn't look abnormal. AAIB will produce a report in due time, although sadly they've got at least one double fatal in their queue at the moment.

I don't think I've seen a video yet of a fixed gear plane managing to avoid nosing over on a water landing.

In most tail-draggers, it's pretty much a certainty - this is why I never took the Pitts over open water - if you had to ditch you were guaranteed to end up inverted, and in deep water the thing would sink like a stone. Very pleased to see this chap got out of this one unscathed.

[Scolmore]

There was a beautiful Pitts in the visitor parking at 'my' airfield tonight. Took an admiring slow taxi past.
Plane in video looked small - Renegade maybe?

[eldar]

My son was surfing, or rather playing around on the beach when this happened. Apparently the engine stopped, and down it went. No one hurt beyond a few bruises.

Plane appears not too badly damaged.

[RM]

A Murphy Renegade Spirit apparently. It landed in only 2 or 3 feet of water over a bank of rocks so there’s no surprise it nosed over, just glad the pilot was able to walk away.

[gazzarose]

I went to the nearby marina this morning to do a job on a customers boat, and asked him if the plane was still there. Apparently at low tide last night a few guys turned up with spanners, righted it, took the wings off an took it away!

[Pete54]

shedweller said:

I would be interested to know why he was going that quickly and so low... Surely if he was anticipating ditching it then he'd of lost some speed?...
Did he run out of talent? Or was he running out of space?


This chap did a much better job on Sidmouth beach

https://youtu.be/5_XROMboW9s

• Edit because I read the description in the linked vid regarding an investigation.

Edited by shedweller on Tuesday 13th June 21:10

From the video there does not appear to be any available beach - so that precludes a landing like Sidmouth. Strangely enough aircraft have to fly at a speed above to stall, to avoid crashing to earth without any real control. What speed was he flying at - which was 'obviously' excessive? Of course as a flying God you obviously would have made one of those 'CGI' glides like the movie Dunkirk, to return to base?

Preserve me from armchair critics. Let's see how you cope with an engine failure!

[tr7v8]

Its actually technically a DRSS or Deregulated Single seater with a BMW 1200 engine. So effectively a microlight, but unregulated. Not sure of its flight path but could have been a lucky escape.

[SAB888]

The rocks there are really nasty, pilot was very lucky. There is an adjacent common area but not much flat grass area, with lots of gorse and other stuff. I parked opposite where the plane ended up and over the following hour or so it disappeared under the incoming water. I saw footage of the pilot scrambling over the rocks to safety.

The plane was rescued by removing the wings (as mentioned). The wings were put on a trailer and the fuselage was being pushed away on the pavement presumably to another trailer. To be honest the fuselage didn't look too badly damaged.

Apparently the engine was heard to cut out just before hitting the water.

[GliderRider]

tr7v8 said:

Its actually technically a DRSS or Deregulated Single seater with a BMW 1200 engine. So effectively a microlight, but unregulated. Not sure of its flight path but could have been a lucky escape.

A friend has a Skyranger microlight fitted with a BMW flat twin engine. To protect the gearbox from torque reversal at low RPMs it has a centrifugal clutch between the gearbox and engine. It takes some getting used to that when the engine starts, the propeller doesn't go round until the revs increase!

By the way, the class of microlights to which the wet Renegade Spirit belongs are known as Single Seat DeRegulated (SSDR).

[geeks]

Coincidentally I saw something on Farcebook earlier about someone doing this and going nose over because they hadn't dropped the flaps to 40degrees as per the recommendations for a water ditch (on a particular light aircraft, possibly a Cesna), is that likely to have been similar here or is it just a case of water+wheels=lots of drag and over she goes?

[eharding]

geeks said:

Coincidentally I saw something on Farcebook earlier about someone doing this and going nose over because they hadn't dropped the flaps to 40degrees as per the recommendations for a water ditch (on a particular light aircraft, possibly a Cesna), is that likely to have been similar here or is it just a case of water+wheels=lots of drag and over she goes?

What flaps?

[tr7v8]

GliderRider said:

tr7v8 said:

Its actually technically a DRSS or Deregulated Single seater with a BMW 1200 engine. So effectively a microlight, but unregulated. Not sure of its flight path but could have been a lucky escape.

A friend has a Skyranger microlight fitted with a BMW flat twin engine. To protect the gearbox from torque reversal at low RPMs it has a centrifugal clutch between the gearbox and engine. It takes some getting used to that when the engine starts, the propeller doesn't go round until the revs increase!

By the way, the class of microlights to which the wet Renegade Spirit belongs are known as Single Seat DeRegulated (SSDR).

D'oh I knew it was the right letters wrong order when I typed it.....

[jamieduff1981]

Pete54 said:

From the video there does not appear to be any available beach - so that precludes a landing like Sidmouth. Strangely enough aircraft have to fly at a speed above to stall, to avoid crashing to earth without any real control. What speed was he flying at - which was 'obviously' excessive? Of course as a flying God you obviously would have made one of those 'CGI' glides like the movie Dunkirk, to return to base?

Preserve me from armchair critics. Let's see how you cope with an engine failure!

I wish to "Like" this post.

[shedweller]

jamieduff1981 said:

Pete54 said:

From the video there does not appear to be any available beach - so that precludes a landing like Sidmouth. Strangely enough aircraft have to fly at a speed above to stall, to avoid crashing to earth without any real control. What speed was he flying at - which was 'obviously' excessive? Of course as a flying God you obviously would have made one of those 'CGI' glides like the movie Dunkirk, to return to base?

Preserve me from armchair critics. Let's see how you cope with an engine failure!

I wish to "Like" this post.

Why?... Can you not read either?

I didn't post because I thought I knew better than anybody or anything on the matter...
Hence the question marks in the post and the helpful educational replies from people that could comprehend and had the answers to my queries.

I certainly didn't post because I'm looking to impart any knowledge or opinion...

And even then in his attack he's implying that I consider myself to be a "flying god" which I'm not - I can't fly.

And that I considered the speed "obviously excessive" which if you can read formed no part of my queries.....

This is a friendly knowledgeable corner of PH that I enjoy reading and absorbing and is usually devoid of the spite and perceived intellectual oneupmanship that quite frankly ruins so many threads these days.

I would like to thank the contributors that helped me understand and provided a useful insight into the incident.

[LimaDelta]

They did very well there I thought. The nose over is inevitable. I'm often conscious of the fact that my 'land clear' option is water when doing coastal flights, especially this time of year when beaches and links are very crowded places.

[Scolmore]

shedweller said:

I can't fly.

Could tell that from your post

Engine failures are practiced a lot, but until a real one happens it's impossible to truly know how we'll react.

The pilot did nothing wrong (other than choosing a BMW engine ) and did a lot of things right. Your post seemed like a bit of an attack on him, probably unintentionally. The man 'fell' out of the sky and lived to fly another day, kudos to him.