Video of midair with tow rope

Dramatic cockpit video of a midair collision with a tow rope getting
caught in the prop of another plane. The pilot was able to deploy his
ballistic parachute and safely descend. No mention of what happened to
the towplane. Video is from CNN on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTemKnL8X30

James D'Andrea wrote:
Dramatic cockpit video of a midair collision with a tow rope getting
caught in the prop of another plane. The pilot was able to deploy his
ballistic parachute and safely descend. No mention of what happened to
the towplane. Video is from CNN on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTemKnL8X30

The prat should have been keeping a bloody lookout.

OK I dont know the exact circumstances but it LOOKs like he blundered
right into the Tug without even knowing it was there. Being in a
homebuilt he was more than just possibly completely unaware of anything
else in the air!

Ian

Has anyone asked him who was holding the video camera of his incident?
He was!

Damned fool.

CNN calls it a "near mid-air". It WAS a mid-air collision.
Unfortunately the commentator does not discuss the fate of the tow and
glider pilots. Can any of our French pilots out there tell us their
fate ? The accident took place near Gap, in the French Alps.

Cheers anyhow, Charles

James D'Andrea wrote:
Dramatic cockpit video of a midair collision with a tow rope getting
caught in the prop of another plane. The pilot was able to deploy his
ballistic parachute and safely descend. No mention of what happened to
the towplane. Video is from CNN on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTemKnL8X30


What was it about the collision that made the aircraft unflyable and
required use of the parachute? Apparently the pilot used the parachute
simply because he had it available.

More importantly, what was the outcome for the glider? Was the glider
still being towed, or had it already released prior to impact?

Had a collision not happened this would have been the most boring
possible video. I wonder if the position of the camera obscured the
pilot's view of traffic.


Jack

CNN got really interested in the Cirrus parachute thing after the Cory
Lidle crash, in which a parachute wouldnt have helped.

Ive heard a story of a 172 that actually flew into a kite string in
Florida and had to make an emergency landing. I guess that having the
string, or rope in this case, really screws up the engine. I have no
idea why. Maybe it causes enough drag on the prop to stop the engine,
im not sure

I find it funny that a poster on a glider forum declares that just
because someone was flying a homebuilt airplane, they must have been
oblivious to everything going on around them. Why? because that is
what Ive heard for so long from power pilots talking about glider
pilots. and many of us are flying homebuilt gliders! I am, and Im also
listening and talking on my radio.

Jack wrote:
James D'Andrea wrote:
Dramatic cockpit video of a midair collision with a tow rope getting
caught in the prop of another plane. The pilot was able to deploy his
ballistic parachute and safely descend. No mention of what happened to
the towplane. Video is from CNN on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTemKnL8X30


What was it about the collision that made the aircraft unflyable and
required use of the parachute? Apparently the pilot used the parachute
simply because he had it available.

More importantly, what was the outcome for the glider? Was the glider
still being towed, or had it already released prior to impact?

Had a collision not happened this would have been the most boring
possible video. I wonder if the position of the camera obscured the
pilot's view of traffic.


Jack

Gap! What a shock. Gotta keep your eyes wide open around there.

wrote:

Ive heard a story of a 172 that actually flew into a kite string in
Florida and had to make an emergency landing. I guess that having the
string, or rope in this case, really screws up the engine. I have no
idea why. Maybe it causes enough drag on the prop to stop the engine,
im not sure

The engine/prop could be so unbalanced that it would be necessary to
shut the engine down to keep it from vibrating heavily enough to damage
the structure of the aircraft. This is what happens when a prop blade is
lost, for example.

However, as we are well aware, an operating engine is not necessary to
continue controlled flight. So the question remains: why was it
necessary to use the parachute? Was the terrain unlandable, or was the
pilot more conscious of the parachute's capabilities than the aircraft's?


Jack

wrote:
CNN got really interested in the Cirrus parachute thing after the Cory
Lidle crash, in which a parachute wouldnt have helped.

Ive heard a story of a 172 that actually flew into a kite string in
Florida and had to make an emergency landing. I guess that having the
string, or rope in this case, really screws up the engine. I have no
idea why. Maybe it causes enough drag on the prop to stop the engine,
im not sure

I find it funny that a poster on a glider forum declares that just
because someone was flying a homebuilt airplane, they must have been
oblivious to everything going on around them. Why? because that is
what Ive heard for so long from power pilots talking about glider
pilots. and many of us are flying homebuilt gliders! I am, and Im also
listening and talking on my radio.

Jack wrote:

James D'Andrea wrote:

Dramatic cockpit video of a midair collision with a tow rope getting
caught in the prop of another plane. The pilot was able to deploy his
ballistic parachute and safely descend. No mention of what happened to
the towplane. Video is from CNN on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTemKnL8X30


What was it about the collision that made the aircraft unflyable and
required use of the parachute? Apparently the pilot used the parachute
simply because he had it available.

More importantly, what was the outcome for the glider? Was the glider
still being towed, or had it already released prior to impact?

Had a collision not happened this would have been the most boring
possible video. I wonder if the position of the camera obscured the
pilot's view of traffic.


Jack



If you've ever caught a vine in a weedeater and let it get wrapped
around the shaft, it'll make a mess in a hurry that will pretty well
seize things up. Not sure if that's what happened here, but it's a
possibility.

Jack wrote:
However, as we are well aware, an operating engine is not necessary to
continue controlled flight. So the question remains: why was it
necessary to use the parachute? Was the terrain unlandable, or was the
pilot more conscious of the parachute's capabilities than the aircraft's?

He was also trailing an unknown quantity of rope that was doing unknown
and possibly unpleasant things to his airframe, plus unknown damage from
the collision itself.

And of course, while we do unpowered landings routinely, it's truly an
unexpected and unwelcome emergency for a power pilot. After experiencing
the shock of a mid-air he was faced with a choice of going ahead with an
unfamiliar procedure or hitting the parachute, and I can't blame him for
going with the devil he knew.

--
Michael Ash
Rogue Amoeba Software