Mooney successfully belly's in

A Mooney pilot had to belly in his airplane Saturday at Lebanon
airport here in NH. All I know is from the newspaper's story. He had
flown up from Massachusetts and apparently was attempting to land at
Waitsfield airport, which is squeezed in between ridges in Vermont's
Green Mountains. I've flown by Waitsfield, it's a single runway
airfield where glider operations are popular during the summer months.
The two ridges form a deep valley and the airfield sits right between
them.

Saturday was an extremely windy day after the passage of a cold front
on Friday night, with winds generally from the northwest. Since the
mountainline in this area (if I'm remembering correctly) generally
runs from from southwest to northeast, this means that the winds would
be blowing over the peaks and then down the windward slope into the
valley.

The pilot reported that while he was flaring to touchdown, a gust
slammed him onto the runway damaging his landing gear. I gather that
he knew right away that the landing gear was damaged. He did not
attempt to continue the landing at Waitsfield.

He flew from Waitsfield to Lebanon and did several fly-by's while
attempting to lower the gear. Only one main lowered, which was
confirmed by the tower. Unable to lower both mains, the pilot elected
to retract the gear and land on his belly.

The landing was uneventful, although the three bladed prop was bent
back on all tips and there must have been damage to the belly.

The pilot, who was alone, was not hurt in the landing.

Corky Scott

wrote in message
...
A Mooney pilot had to belly in his airplane Saturday at Lebanon
airport here in NH.

SNIP


The pilot, who was alone, was not hurt in the landing.

Corky Scott



Good on him/her for thinking it through and making a safe, emergency
landing.

Glad no one was hurt.

Jay B in AZ

I saw that in the Valley News yesterday. I hate to see a broken plane,
but was glad he walked away. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind:

1) Why didn't he go to BTV? Closer to Sugarbush, much longer runway
(with the wind blowing down it if it was from the Northeast). Military
crash units on the field (I presume).

2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?

I'm not trying to be critical. I do recognize that I'm making these
observations from the comfort of my desk, not from a cockpit where I was
just slammed into the ground hard enough to break my landing gear.

wrote:
A Mooney pilot had to belly in his airplane Saturday at Lebanon
airport here in NH. All I know is from the newspaper's story. He had
flown up from Massachusetts and apparently was attempting to land at
Waitsfield airport, which is squeezed in between ridges in Vermont's
Green Mountains. I've flown by Waitsfield, it's a single runway
airfield where glider operations are popular during the summer months.
The two ridges form a deep valley and the airfield sits right between
them.

Saturday was an extremely windy day after the passage of a cold front
on Friday night, with winds generally from the northwest. Since the
mountainline in this area (if I'm remembering correctly) generally
runs from from southwest to northeast, this means that the winds would
be blowing over the peaks and then down the windward slope into the
valley.

The pilot reported that while he was flaring to touchdown, a gust
slammed him onto the runway damaging his landing gear. I gather that
he knew right away that the landing gear was damaged. He did not
attempt to continue the landing at Waitsfield.

He flew from Waitsfield to Lebanon and did several fly-by's while
attempting to lower the gear. Only one main lowered, which was
confirmed by the tower. Unable to lower both mains, the pilot elected
to retract the gear and land on his belly.

The landing was uneventful, although the three bladed prop was bent
back on all tips and there must have been damage to the belly.

The pilot, who was alone, was not hurt in the landing.

Corky Scott




--
Remove "2PLANES" to reply.

2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?

If the gear fails to extend, I'd say it's the insurance company's plane at
that point. It's been brought up before, and the main argument is that you
want to leave the engine running in case you need to go-around.

--
Ben
C-172 - N13258 @ 87Y

Fair enough.

Ben Smith wrote:
2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?


If the gear fails to extend, I'd say it's the insurance company's plane at
that point. It's been brought up before, and the main argument is that you
want to leave the engine running in case you need to go-around.



--
Remove "2PLANES" to reply.

"Ben Smith" wrote in message
...
2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?

If the gear fails to extend, I'd say it's the insurance company's plane at
that point. It's been brought up before, and the main argument is that
you
want to leave the engine running in case you need to go-around.

Also, since it was a 3-bladed prop, at least one blade will
get bent and the engine will need rebuilding no matter where
it stops.

shutting down the engine will not necessarily stop the prop from spinning..
need to almost stall the aircraft to do that in some aircraft.. not a good
thing when your trying to belly it in on a windy day... and if the prop
don't stop.. it's an engine tear down anyway..

BT

"Dan Truesdell" wrote in message
...
I saw that in the Valley News yesterday. I hate to see a broken plane,
but was glad he walked away. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind:

1) Why didn't he go to BTV? Closer to Sugarbush, much longer runway
(with the wind blowing down it if it was from the Northeast). Military
crash units on the field (I presume).

2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?

I'm not trying to be critical. I do recognize that I'm making these
observations from the comfort of my desk, not from a cockpit where I was
just slammed into the ground hard enough to break my landing gear.

wrote:
A Mooney pilot had to belly in his airplane Saturday at Lebanon
airport here in NH. All I know is from the newspaper's story. He had
flown up from Massachusetts and apparently was attempting to land at
Waitsfield airport, which is squeezed in between ridges in Vermont's
Green Mountains. I've flown by Waitsfield, it's a single runway
airfield where glider operations are popular during the summer months.
The two ridges form a deep valley and the airfield sits right between
them.

Saturday was an extremely windy day after the passage of a cold front
on Friday night, with winds generally from the northwest. Since the
mountainline in this area (if I'm remembering correctly) generally
runs from from southwest to northeast, this means that the winds would
be blowing over the peaks and then down the windward slope into the
valley.

The pilot reported that while he was flaring to touchdown, a gust
slammed him onto the runway damaging his landing gear. I gather that
he knew right away that the landing gear was damaged. He did not
attempt to continue the landing at Waitsfield.

He flew from Waitsfield to Lebanon and did several fly-by's while
attempting to lower the gear. Only one main lowered, which was
confirmed by the tower. Unable to lower both mains, the pilot elected
to retract the gear and land on his belly.

The landing was uneventful, although the three bladed prop was bent
back on all tips and there must have been damage to the belly.

The pilot, who was alone, was not hurt in the landing.

Corky Scott




--
Remove "2PLANES" to reply.

Dan Truesdell wrote in news:40BCCA76.8090409
@ceaPLsofAtwNarEe.cSom:

I saw that in the Valley News yesterday. I hate to see a broken plane,
but was glad he walked away. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind:

1) Why didn't he go to BTV? Closer to Sugarbush, much longer runway
(with the wind blowing down it if it was from the Northeast). Military
crash units on the field (I presume).

2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?

I'm not trying to be critical. I do recognize that I'm making these
observations from the comfort of my desk, not from a cockpit where I
was
just slammed into the ground hard enough to break my landing gear.



I was in a situation similar to this several years ago. Many people have
asked me why I didn't stop the prop prior to landing to save the engine.
Simply shutting down the engine will not stop the prop. You have to slow
the airplane down to practically a stall before the prop will stop
turning. I was an inexperienced private pilot at that time, and I was not
going to attempt something like that. Besides, if I screw up end up
landing short (or long), the accident will become a pilot error. If the
airplane was my own, and I did not have any hull insurance, I might have
attempted that, but I was not going to take such a risk to save the
insurance company money. I landed with the engine running, but cut the
mixture on short final. The prop was damaged and the engine had to be
torn down, but I was told that they did not find any damage to the crank
shaft.

Andrew Sarangan wrote:

Dan Truesdell wrote in news:40BCCA76.8090409
@ceaPLsofAtwNarEe.cSom:

I saw that in the Valley News yesterday. I hate to see a broken plane,
but was glad he walked away. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind:

1) Why didn't he go to BTV? Closer to Sugarbush, much longer runway
(with the wind blowing down it if it was from the Northeast). Military
crash units on the field (I presume).

2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?

I'm not trying to be critical. I do recognize that I'm making these
observations from the comfort of my desk, not from a cockpit where I
was
just slammed into the ground hard enough to break my landing gear.



I was in a situation similar to this several years ago. Many people have
asked me why I didn't stop the prop prior to landing to save the engine.
Simply shutting down the engine will not stop the prop. You have to slow
the airplane down to practically a stall before the prop will stop
turning.

That's true, but the engine won't be developing power, which is still better.

I was an inexperienced private pilot at that time, and I was not
going to attempt something like that. Besides, if I screw up end up
landing short (or long), the accident will become a pilot error. If the
airplane was my own, and I did not have any hull insurance, I might have
attempted that, but I was not going to take such a risk to save the
insurance company money. I landed with the engine running, but cut the
mixture on short final. The prop was damaged and the engine had to be
torn down, but I was told that they did not find any damage to the crank
shaft.

All correct. One thing you could have done was just switch off the magnetos
rather than the mixture control. This will shut down the engine faster, and
might cause the prop to stop too when the mags are grounded. Since you won't
be restarting the engine anytime soon, there is no reason to not stop the
engine with the magnetos.

As I under stand it.. a "sudden stoppage" requires tear down.. whether the
engine was developing power or not.. the only hopeful out come is that the
crankshaft is not damaged with no power..

I've also been told, that even if the propeller is stopped, a bent blade
requires tear down because of loads places on the propeller hub transferred
to the crankshaft.

BT

"Jack" wrote in message
...


Andrew Sarangan wrote:

Dan Truesdell wrote in
news:40BCCA76.8090409
@ceaPLsofAtwNarEe.cSom:

I saw that in the Valley News yesterday. I hate to see a broken
plane,
but was glad he walked away. A couple of thoughts crossed my mind:

1) Why didn't he go to BTV? Closer to Sugarbush, much longer runway
(with the wind blowing down it if it was from the Northeast).
Military
crash units on the field (I presume).

2) Why didn't he shut down the engine prior to landing?

I'm not trying to be critical. I do recognize that I'm making these
observations from the comfort of my desk, not from a cockpit where I
was
just slammed into the ground hard enough to break my landing gear.



I was in a situation similar to this several years ago. Many people have
asked me why I didn't stop the prop prior to landing to save the engine.
Simply shutting down the engine will not stop the prop. You have to slow
the airplane down to practically a stall before the prop will stop
turning.

That's true, but the engine won't be developing power, which is still
better.

I was an inexperienced private pilot at that time, and I was not
going to attempt something like that. Besides, if I screw up end up
landing short (or long), the accident will become a pilot error. If the
airplane was my own, and I did not have any hull insurance, I might have
attempted that, but I was not going to take such a risk to save the
insurance company money. I landed with the engine running, but cut the
mixture on short final. The prop was damaged and the engine had to be
torn down, but I was told that they did not find any damage to the crank
shaft.

All correct. One thing you could have done was just switch off the
magnetos
rather than the mixture control. This will shut down the engine faster,
and
might cause the prop to stop too when the mags are grounded. Since you
won't
be restarting the engine anytime soon, there is no reason to not stop the
engine with the magnetos.