Inside Mark Levy P-51 Crash from Duxford, England

[phil65]

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all ... 0517epilot

Phil

[RyanShort1]

That's a must-watch. Plenty of material there.

[Mark Sampson]

A perfect example of The Right Stuff.

[marine air]

No it wasn't the "Right Stuff.": He made many mistakes and 'Emergency 101" omissions. I do admire that he admits to making mistakes and the main thing is that he was unhurt and the aircraft can be rebuilt.

[Badman]

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing - there were several decisions that could have been made better. Like, when I got my high performance rating one thing that was stressed was you NEVER lower the landing gear until you are SURE you have the runway made when experiencing an engine failure, or in this case a partial or intermittent failure. And then there is the decision to fly a standard traffic patter with a failing engine! It seems to me the better choice may have been to make a B-line straight to the downwind end of the runway and get on the ground ASAP. He may have been able to save himself AND the aircraft if he'd done that.

In 40+ years of watching the Reno air races there have been lots of engine failures and I don't recall many, if any, of those pilots entering the traffic pattern to land in this situation. They've landed upwind, downwind, on the ramp, on dirt access roads, and even multiple aircraft on the same runway sometimes in opposite directions!

It was definitely a very informative video and thankfully Mr. Levy was able to walk away from that landing.

[Taylor Stevenson]

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Last edited by Taylor Stevenson on Tue May 29, 2018 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Forgotten Field]

The first half of the video is very interesting. The second half is extremely educational. I'm making it mandatory watching for my crew. Many good lessons learned.

Captain Levy very eloquently describes the will of the animal brain (he calls it the chimpanzee in the back of our heads) to get something done, and how we are programmed to react instead of act proactively. This is extremely important to recognize and train yourself to take the extra 3 seconds to think before you act. It can be the difference between living and dying.

Taylor and Ryan- maybe it's an L-5 thing that nobody else understands... I sent this to Jim Gray because I thought so highly of it.

[menards]

No it wasn't the "Right Stuff.": He made many mistakes and 'Emergency 101" omissions. I do admire that he admits to making mistakes and the main thing is that he was unhurt and the aircraft can be rebuilt.

? Not sure what your implying here. If there is such thing as a "textbook" gear up, off airport landing...it would be 1) no injury to anyone on ground 2) no injury to pilot or any passengers 3) No/minimal property damage on the ground. Pretty sure he nailed this one perfectly.

Insurance will take care of the rest.

[Taylor Stevenson]

The video posted above only scratches the surface.

Here's the link to the full 35 min analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBpqvPujZgM

[Badman]

Badman, Marine Air, please enlighten us on what you did in your partial engine failures in a Mustang in a low altitude, low-energy state in an airshow environment...

I'm sorry, I didn't realize such experience was a prerequisite to expressing an opinion? How did you handle your partial engine failure in a Mustang at low altitude, low energy state... to qualify your opinion that he did a great job?

I don't know where the issue of a crosswind belly landing heading toward the crowd line popped up - I wasn't suggesting anything of the sort. I was merely suggesting he could've gotten the plane on the ground sooner than he did. Who in the world thinks flying a typical landing pattern in any single engine airplane experiencing a partial engine failure as he did is the best choice, let alone dropping the gear before he had the runway made? In fact, if he hadn't dropped the gear he may have had enough energy to get to the runway (either the paved one or the grass one) despite his choice to fly the pattern.

Aren't we supposed to try and learn things from such incidents? How does anyone learn if we just say "great job" and not have such discussions?

[Iclo]

Same debate occured when Rob Davies bailed out of "Big Beautifull Doll" in Duxford after a midair: some peoples makes assumptions "perhaps it remained just enough control to be able to land the plane." But in fact making decision to reduce risk to kill or wound someone is the good decision even if it conduct to lost the plane. Plane could be replaced or repaired, peoples don't.

[phil65]

Personally with my extensive 500 hr's of PIC time in bug smashers. I would have went for the runway and rolled the plane and myself into a little ball and with my luck, killed some bystander.

Phil

[Taylor Stevenson]

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Last edited by Taylor Stevenson on Tue May 29, 2018 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Forgotten Field]

Very interesting point, Taylor. He reacted (I say this in the most forgiving way) to the controller's "check gear," but it was also because he thought he had the runway made (assuming partial power). This very well could have led to a worse outcome. But his decision making in the last few seconds, bringing up the gear and dropping the flaps before his incredible landing, probably saved his life and some damage on the airplane.

My opinion- he made some decisions based on his initial size-up of the situation with some wishful thinking, then recovered splendidly. He wasn't just good, he was great. I'd fly with him.

[ErrolC]

Badman,
...
Also, do not discount a cross wind belly landing if you have the room. If you're low and in a low energy state, it may be your only/best option to just keep the gear up and find the flattest piece of Earth on which to slide it in. Nothing says you have to land on a runway at an airport in an emergency. Taxiways, ramps, and grass of every direction all work. We brief just that in an airshow routine for which I fly. Do what you have to do to protect yourself and others... plane is second.

Once again, my hat's off to the pilot...

As a spectator, I've seen 3 off runway on-field engine out landings at airshows, all in fixed-undercarriage pre-WW2 designs (Fokker D.VIII reproduction at Hood, Fokker Dr.I replica at Omaka, Tiger Moth at Ardmore). These are all aircraft and locations that displays can be planned to stay within glide distance of the field. Hood and Omaka were built as old-style round fields, although Omaka has significant wedges leased out for vineyards.