Shay wrote:
:shock: Whoa crap. That's just up the road from me. I should try and find the bridge and see if the marks are still there.
No marks. Mile marker 79 south bound.
A few remarks about the job performed here. NTSB report states PIC 26 years with 146 hrs type. The Argosy is in the median. That's not where he landed. This bridge has a pillar in center median with an additional pillar outside each opposing lane, making it a 5 support structure: east approach berm, outboard pillar Northbound, center pillar, outboard pillar South bound, and the west approach berm. Take a look at the roadway to the left of pic...it's typical about 20 feet plus 2' berm each side. That's 24'. Compare the tread width of the Argosy to the roadwidth. Oh my! He landed smack centerline on the tarmac Southbound (toward camera). The starboard wing struck the outborad bridge pillar just outside the boom, which seperated the #4 engine. The port wing struck the center pillar in median which is farther distance from road center line thus sparing #1. Bravo!
He did this on an unlit stretch of highway at 2AM with only his lights and a few sparse cars. With all the bells and whistles going off in the 'pit....26 years old.....146 hrs in type....to get some respect of that, that's less than 4 weeks on the job at a 40 hour week. I can't get employees today to learn how to wipe their butt in that time!
What would the outcome have been if he had not chosen the interstate? It would have been an accident, not a forced landing. I, personally, see a difference.
BTW: Oh yeah, you Air Force people....look at the tire track in the soft median in foregorund. Those are military NDT's. See the tail plane of Argosy? There's the aft end of a vehicle recognize it? It is a typcal 5 ton Air Force aircraft recovery truck. 5th wheel, offset crane cab, and Air Force painted them yellow. This one's likely called in from Wright Pat. My brother has a smattering of military vehicles (including a White half track and some light tank I can't recall type) and has a 5 ton aircraft recovery truck...it was painted yellow.....now you don't suppose it was......
One comment about Bill Leff's T6 incident, this is not a criticism, just a curiousity. I know a lot of things are going thru a fellow's mind in a power out dead stick approach(did a couple myself) , but has anyone noticed the prop position? Straight up and down. In a landing config you have visibility over the nose and here's this big H-S blade smack in your face! Wouldn't you have a second to bump the starter to clear your vis? Bill left it there and worked around it, successfully. Could have been worse with blades horizontal once the tail's down on the ground tho'....now you have even less vis for ground handling. I probably would have thought to bump it, getting it out of my way for approach and then regretted it on the ground, once the tail comes down and that prop would have been like the middle wing on Fokker DrI!!...my mind doesn't look as far ahead as his must! Either way, I won't criticise. Well done.
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...I had the Bristol Wayfarer freighter on my mind. Sorry there ol' boy.
Whoa crap. That's just up the road from me. I should try and find the bridge and see if the marks are still there.
