"Aluminum Overcast" damaged by gear collapse

Thanks for the links -- sickening though they were.

Boy, both gear just COLLAPSE -- apparently without any provocation. It sure
makes you wonder what could cause such a thing.

It going to require tearing down all four engines, four 3-blade props, and
untold hours rebuilding/replacing the ball and nose turrets to get that
beautiful old bird flying again. What a shame.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"
"James Robinson" wrote in message
...
I found some photos of the resulting damage. There are also some
comments at the bottom of the page that suggest the screw jacks failed,
as they are both broken in half:

http://www.beechcraft.org/b17-accident/

Also a link to the local TV station video:

http://tinyurl.com/2njqf

In article d4dnc.7165$536.1423430@attbi_s03,
Jay Honeck wrote:

It going to require tearing down all four engines,

Are you really worried about a catastrophic failure when you've got
3 other engines?

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

Are you really worried about a catastrophic failure when you've got
3 other engines?

Are you saying that they won't have to tear down those engines?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article PFqnc.57728$kh4.3413686@attbi_s52,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:


Are you saying that they won't have to tear down those engines?

I don't know about the Aluminum Overcast engines but the Nine O Nine hit
a runway sign (one of those big lighted ones made of heavy aluminum) at
Long Beach a couple of years ago with the #2 prop putting a little ding
in the prop. They dressed the prop and checked the crankshaft runout
and the FAA blessed 'em to keep flying...no teardown. Granted, the gear
collapse did more damage to the prop, but when the 909 hit she was still
at a pretty good power setting.

--
Dale L. Falk

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing
as simply messing around with airplanes.

http://home.gci.net/~sncdfalk/flying.html

I don't know about the Aluminum Overcast engines but the Nine O Nine hit
a runway sign (one of those big lighted ones made of heavy aluminum) at
Long Beach a couple of years ago with the #2 prop putting a little ding
in the prop. They dressed the prop and checked the crankshaft runout
and the FAA blessed 'em to keep flying...no teardown. Granted, the gear
collapse did more damage to the prop, but when the 909 hit she was still
at a pretty good power setting.

I'm no mechanic, but looking at the video I would think that the weight of
the plane coming down on those prop blades, imparting such a bending force
on the prop hubs, would require a tear down.

Not to mention the cowlings being crushed into the bottom row of cylinders,
and the exhaust system being broken off.

Did 909's engine actually stop when it hit the sign, or did it keep running?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

I'm no mechanic, but looking at the video I would think that the weight of
the plane coming down on those prop blades, imparting such a bending force
on the prop hubs, would require a tear down.

Being radial engines, the situation is different. They may indeed not require
an overhaul, but rather only an inspection. Because the engines 'hit' at low
r.p.m., there may not be any damage. This has happened before on similar
nose-overs stoppage of T-6/SNJ aircraft engines. The engine shops call the
shots on the requirements usually.
VL

Being radial engines, the situation is different. They may indeed not
require
an overhaul, but rather only an inspection. Because the engines 'hit' at
low
r.p.m., there may not be any damage.

That is indeed great news!

Thanks for sharing the wisdom, Vlado.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

mlenoch

Should have read all the posts before I posted but you are 100%
correct.

Big John


On 09 May 2004 16:04:15 GMT, (MLenoch) wrote:

I'm no mechanic, but looking at the video I would think that the weight of
the plane coming down on those prop blades, imparting such a bending force
on the prop hubs, would require a tear down.

Being radial engines, the situation is different. They may indeed not require
an overhaul, but rather only an inspection. Because the engines 'hit' at low
r.p.m., there may not be any damage. This has happened before on similar
nose-overs stoppage of T-6/SNJ aircraft engines. The engine shops call the
shots on the requirements usually.
VL

Jay Honeck wrote:

Not to mention the cowlings being crushed into the bottom row of cylinders,
and the exhaust system being broken off.

Because the gear doesn't completely retract, the cowlings can't ever hit the ground
on a B-17. This is also the case with the DC-3. Looking at the damage photos, the
cowlings appear to be intact.

George Patterson
If you don't tell lies, you never have to remember what you said.

Jay

In military if you hit a prop at idle you coudl put a new prop on and
check tracking, etc and then do an oil change and fly (over field) for
several hours (5 maybe) and land and chck the screens. If nothing in
screens they would release the engine back in service.

Forget the rpm that if you exceeded then it was an engine change
(maybe 1200????).

You of course ran the engine some on ground before flying it to
determine it's condition for test flight..

So on the '17 if the engines were in idle they might get away with
just prop repairs???? and sheet metal.

Long time ago in a land far away.

Big John

On Sun, 09 May 2004 13:49:35 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

Are you really worried about a catastrophic failure when you've got
3 other engines?

Are you saying that they won't have to tear down those engines?