RyanShort1 wrote:
GRNDP51 wrote:
Great flying! Sucks it happened but it does look in pretty good shape. It seems like the soil did a good job minimizing some of the damage.
I'd bet good money that pavement would've done LESS damage, but if it wasn't an option, it still looks like a perfectly acceptable outcome.
True, but it looked like he was way too low to make the field.
Kudos to the pilot for a successful outcome. Observations:
1) Good judgement by the pilot to make the unobstructed plowed field where he had a high chance of survival. He was low and didn't have many options, so good decision not to try to make it back to the the runway. Sometimes you have to just take what you can get. Surviving the crash is WAY more important than aircraft damage.
2) Good judgement on landing gear up. This is always the correct thing to do when landing on an unprepared surface, (i.e.- other than a runway, hard dry lake bed, frozen lake, etc.)
3) Look at that top blade on the youtube video. I don't think I've ever seen a blade just shear off like that in a clean cut separation. I've only seen prop blades curl when landing off field.
Great job to the pilot! He lives to fly again!