Navaho crash lands, Beverly, Ma.

[gregg]

Twin engine plane crash landed in Beverly, Ma. Pilot safe.

I was returning from taking my sister for an hour's ride (she never flew in
a small plane). I was on downwind for a T&G and there was a Navaho on the
runway - cleared for takeoff. I turn base and am watching..the navaho
doesn't move.

Finally the tower tells the Navaho to expedite and it moves. So I turn final
- watching to be sure it's out of the way (no problem).

AS I round out, the tower tells the Navaho there's smoke from the starboard
engine, and that he better land it. He turns left. By this time I'm just
rolling. I knew he had a problem - I can see the smoke. For a split second
I consider chaning my T&G to a full stop but decide against that as the
Tower was probably very busy and doesn't need the complication, and my
plane might suddenly be in the way if I stopped. I see him pass off to my
left VERY low. He did close to a 180.

So up I go. The airport is closed by the time I turn crosswind. There are
two of us in the vicinity and the tower stacks me at 1500 and the other at
2000. We orbit. I'm asked my fuel state and if I want to divert. I say, no
I'm content to orbit for a while. I have a lot of gas. the other guy
diverts to Lawrence.

Once I get on "downwind" I see the twin..in the grass, gear up. Trucks
appear from nowhere in a very short period of time. Police have the plane
cordoned off.

Takes them only about 20 minutes to get the situtaion under control and the
airport re-opened. I land.

here's the Boston Globe Article on it:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/21/pilot_unscathed_after_making_emergency_landing_in_ danvers/

--
Saville

Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

[gregg]

p.s. The FBO told me that the Navaho JUSt had 2 new engines put in to the
tune of $54,000 per engine....


--
Saville

Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

[Stubby]

gregg wrote:

> Twin engine plane crash landed in Beverly, Ma. Pilot safe.
>
> I was returning from taking my sister for an hour's ride (she never flew in
> a small plane). I was on downwind for a T&G and there was a Navaho on the
> runway - cleared for takeoff. I turn base and am watching..the navaho
> doesn't move.
>
> Finally the tower tells the Navaho to expedite and it moves. So I turn final
> - watching to be sure it's out of the way (no problem).
>
> AS I round out, the tower tells the Navaho there's smoke from the starboard
> engine, and that he better land it. He turns left. By this time I'm just
> rolling. I knew he had a problem - I can see the smoke. For a split second
> I consider chaning my T&G to a full stop but decide against that as the
> Tower was probably very busy and doesn't need the complication, and my
> plane might suddenly be in the way if I stopped. I see him pass off to my
> left VERY low. He did close to a 180.
>
> So up I go. The airport is closed by the time I turn crosswind. There are
> two of us in the vicinity and the tower stacks me at 1500 and the other at
> 2000. We orbit. I'm asked my fuel state and if I want to divert. I say, no
> I'm content to orbit for a while. I have a lot of gas. the other guy
> diverts to Lawrence.
>
> Once I get on "downwind" I see the twin..in the grass, gear up. Trucks
> appear from nowhere in a very short period of time. Police have the plane
> cordoned off.
>
> Takes them only about 20 minutes to get the situtaion under control and the
> airport re-opened. I land.
>
> here's the Boston Globe Article on it:
>
> http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2005/06/21/pilot_unscathed_after_making_emergency_landing_in_ danvers/
>
Thanks for the report. It's great to have it from a pilot who actually
saw it. I haven't read the Globe article because journalists have a
reputation for creating their own reality.

[Capt.Doug]

>"gregg" wrote in message
> p.s. The FBO told me that the Navaho JUSt had 2 new engines put in to the
> tune of $54,000 per engine....

I just had a Navajo Chieftain engine overhauled for under $37k including
accessories and installation.

D.

[gregg]

Also, the Boston Globe article had a NUMBer of facts totally wrong about hte
case.


--
Saville

Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

[Peter Duniho]

"gregg" > wrote in message
...
>
> Also, the Boston Globe article had a NUMBer of facts totally wrong about
> hte
> case.

Like the spelling of the name of the airplane?

[gregg]

Peter Duniho wrote:

> "gregg" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> Also, the Boston Globe article had a NUMBer of facts totally wrong about
>> hte
>> case.
>
> Like the spelling of the name of the airplane?

I mispelled the name. So sorry.

But no, I was more thinking about the article statements like:

"State police said Lake may have been forced to land because of a mechanical
problem with the plane's left engine."

- the visible smoke was coming from the right engine. Doesn't preclude
the possibility of the left engine being bad as well, but both the tower
my sister and and I saw the smoke from the right.

"But around noon, as one of the plane's engines was "running rough," he
returned to the airport.."

- He had not really left the airport, though I suppose this is a nitpick.
He was on climbout when the tower called him and said he had smoke from
the right engine.


".....and landed in a grassy field about a quarter of a mile from a
runway,.."

This statement plus the "returned to the airport", can be misleading. It
might make one think he didn't make the airport. But he did..he landed in a
grassy area between a taxiway and a runway.

--
Saville

Replicas of 15th-19th century nautical navigational instruments:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/backstaffhome.html

Restoration of my 82 year old Herreshoff S-Boat sailboat:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/SBOATrestore.htm

Steambending FAQ with photos:

http://home.comcast.net/~saville/Steambend.htm

[RST Engineering]

I've got a REALLY stupid question ...

By the time you are flying something in the Navaho category you've got a few
dozen hours behind the windshield...

and the Navaho has at least marginal single engine climb...

and the ******* wasn't on fire, just smoking...

and, in general, an engine smoking will stop smoking when you pull the fuel
flow to the engine...

why didn't he go around, single engine, drop the gear, and put it on the
runway?


Jim

[[email protected]]

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:12:37 -0700, "RST Engineering"
> wrote:

BTDT, do a crapload of 50 & 100 hrs on PA31's (flying them around the
patch afterward to make sure everything works) and it's going to
happen every once in awhile.

Only ever had to shut one completely down, the rest were with the
problem child at idle (or just above). The one that got caged was
intercooler equipped, had to pull the turbo supply hose off to get the
oil filter off, and I had only started it back on the fitting.

By the time we saw the oil streaming the oil pressure indication was
jumping around so I feathered it.

Most common scenario was a chunk of crud in an injector nozzle after
r/r for cleaning-rather ironic when you think about it. Problem then
is depending on the state of the partially plugged nozzle you end up
down on TO power, with the potential of destroying the lean cylinder
by detonation.

Probably should mention never have had a twin rating/offeeshul twin
training, but always had somebody that did in the right seat.

TC

>I've got a REALLY stupid question ...
>
>By the time you are flying something in the Navaho category you've got a few
>dozen hours behind the windshield...
>
>and the Navaho has at least marginal single engine climb...
>
>and the ******* wasn't on fire, just smoking...
>
>and, in general, an engine smoking will stop smoking when you pull the fuel
>flow to the engine...
>
>why didn't he go around, single engine, drop the gear, and put it on the
>runway?
>
>
>Jim
>

[[email protected]]

Exactly what I was thinking, although ya never know what drama might
have been playing out in the cockpit while all this was going on.
Beverly Airport is only 107ft above MSL so DA shouldn't have been a
factor (the Navajo is turbocharged anyway) Even at max gross I'd expect
it to be able to climb 2-300fpm single-engine in those conditions.
Given that, you'd think the pilot would have declared and returned to
land with with the suspect engine caged.

Will

[Capt.Doug]

>"RST Engineering" wrote in message > I've got a REALLY stupid question
....
> By the time you are flying something in the Navaho category you've got a
few
> dozen hours behind the windshield...
> and the Navaho has at least marginal single engine climb...

Not neccessarily- I just changed 2 jugs on a Navajo during a phase
inspection (AAIP maintenance program for 135 aircraft, no 50 or 100 hour
inspections). One cylinder was 27/80 and the other was worse. The pilots
didn't notice anything wrong. Being at gross weight on 4 cylinders in a
Navajo doesn't gain you altitude.

> and the ******* wasn't on fire, just smoking...
> and, in general, an engine smoking will stop smoking when you pull the
fuel
> flow to the engine...

The fire may have been contained in the nacelle and therefore not visible to
others. I posted about this shortly after I crapped an engine in a Navajo
last Easter Sunday. Oil spray from the engine block was ignited by the hot
turbocharger. The flames stayed inside the cowling. The smoke did not.

> why didn't he go around, single engine, drop the gear, and put it on the
> runway?

You've been around airplanes long enough to know that just because someone
has a couple dozen hours behind the windshield doesn't mean that the pilot
knows anything about handling emergencies. Most of my charter pilots come to
me with 100 hours of twin-engine time or more. Many can't handle an engine
failure just after rotation. They were trained to pass a practical test, not
trained to save their butt.

D.

[dp]

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:12:37 -0700, "RST Engineering"
> wrote:

>I've got a REALLY stupid question ...
>
>By the time you are flying something in the Navaho category you've got a few
>dozen hours behind the windshield...
>
>and the Navaho has at least marginal single engine climb...
>
>and the ******* wasn't on fire, just smoking...
>
>and, in general, an engine smoking will stop smoking when you pull the fuel
>flow to the engine...
>
>why didn't he go around, single engine, drop the gear, and put it on the
>runway?
>
>
>Jim
>
Din't know.... it's his third "incident" since flying.... a couple
years ago he ditched his family and a neighbor's family into the
Atlantic Ocean returning to Beverly from Nantucket at night. Almost
wiped out both families.... How does a pilot lose both engines in a
twin... Bad Luck??? Bad Karma??? Out if Fuel ?????


hmmm.... let me guess... hard to prove after having to float the
plne......

dp