Duxford WW2 plane crash landing due to 'lack of experience'

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Scudrunner
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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cam ... e-54931793

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A pilot's lack of recent experience led to the crash landing of a vintage World War Two plane, a report found.

The Hawker Hurricane crashed at Duxford airfield in Cambridgeshire on 1 June.

A crosswind caused the plane to make an "uncommanded right turn" which led the landing gear to collapse.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said the operator of the Battle of Britain aircraft would now use more experienced pilots to fly the plane in similar crosswinds.

The report said the Hurricane was returning from a 20-minute engine maintenance flight when it was due to land on the grass runway at the airfield.

The pilot attempted to angle the plane to deal with a crosswind from the right, but after touching down the plane bounced and turned to the right.

nvestigators said the pilot estimated the crosswind was 10-15 knots (11-17 mph).

The plane, designed in the 1930s, turned further to right and then the three-wheel landing gear collapsed at what the pilot estimated was 20mph.

Although there was no fire, Duxford's firefighting service applied a fire-suppressing agent as a precaution.

The 60-year-old pilot was not injured.

The AAIB said the pilot had "just over eight hours' flying experience in the Hurricane" and had not flown it for several weeks.

According to the report, the pilot "considered that his lack of relevant currency may have reduced his ability" to control the landing.

It said the "hard, dry runway surface" may have also been a contributory factor in the crash.

The plane's operator said that anyone with "less than five hours' experience on equivalent types will be limited to a maximum five knot crosswind component from the right".

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5 out of 2 Pilots are Dyslexic.
David MacRay
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Oops, I figured as you get older you would know better. Guess not.
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Scudrunner
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Looks like it can be rebuilt but dam.
5 out of 2 Pilots are Dyslexic.
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Colonel
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Rick Volker wrote an article a while back for the EAA Warbird magazine ....

He effortlessly flies and instructs on Pitts, and flies Harvard and Sukhoi and Bf109.

Rick's advice to the warbird guys was to get a (cheap) single seat Pitts, and
fly the shit out of it, and get good. Then it's easy to jump into a WWII warbird.

Single seat Pitts: $30k. WWII Warbird - millions. See the difference? Hourly
cost, anyone? Bueller?

Get really sharp flying something cheap. Then, you can fly anything, after you
spend a few minutes learning about it's systems.

Unfortunately, corporate politics - not merit - determines who flies warbirds.

No organizations mentioned, but you know who you are.
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Scudrunner
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25K ;)
5 out of 2 Pilots are Dyslexic.
Doin_Time
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Ahhh, currency versus proficiency! This story never gets old... I expect there are some guys who fly these on weekends when not flying 777’s at BA. They sure do land differently! Also, not a single “I fucked up” to be found... “maybe it was my lack of flying, or the hard dry runway, or the guy in the tower mooning me...”
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Colonel
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They sure do land differently!
Yes, I remember Mike Mangold telling me that F-16 pilots
couldn't land worth shit in a crosswind. He didn't think much
of their stick & rudder skill.

It's really very simple. Buy a single seat Pitts. For 10 years,
every year fly 200 acro flights of 0.5 on the tach (100 tach
hour per year).

At the end of those 10 years, you can fly anything. Simple
and cheap. Just takes a little effort.
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Scudrunner
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I bet the pilots beating himself up pretty bad over this. I sure would be, happy it can be repaired and hes ok.
5 out of 2 Pilots are Dyslexic.
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The Dread Pilot Roberts
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I would like to see the guys resume to even be allowed to fly that plane, even if not that current.
Jameselng
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You don't need much of a resume when you're the owner....
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