Re: Bent metal club
Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2016 7:20 pm
[quote]PDW did you have an accident ... ?[/quote]
Here ... fixed with a little more detail:
To answer/illustrate requires surface analysis for Thurs Nov18/1976. Was my 4th attempt at the threshold on a downhill ~36T approach onto a N/S strip 3-4nm SE-Vineland/SSE-Jordan Ont; performed touchdown 3:55pm in the first 1/4. Wx briefer not in, departed home base in right crosswind in an occluding front ( SN-CYAM-[i]ocln[/i] hist 3pm / intensified LO YGW) used rwy28 at 3:20pm CYSN. BINOVC at CYSN made it appear ideal to go 'grass strip' there 15nm to the SW after school with the 2 pax approx 90%MTOW in the '68 172.
Was 16 when preparing for the flight test in the summer of '76; eventually the PPL arrived after waiting four months due to Transport strike (M.O.T/D.O.T) ..now could take up friends. It snowed early that AM and out the High School's windows during class could see the dry football field absorb the quik-melt, so flying-wx began to look up by early aft. Touched down in a low spot top of-the field out of flair doing 56,55kts (GS70+) where mud fills wheelpants for a sec (observed by rear pax) while releasing flap without delay; exac same time IAS rushes up from increased performance shear to 60-65kt for a brief sec and GS going ~70,69, 68 (I guess from brief lee-effect under tall trees south of threshold after roundout). Crap, I re-power for TOGA, now unsure of remaining rwy beyond the rise ahead (no more than a few hundred ft is in view) but in next 3-5 sec IAS-increase under full rpm only gets me 56,57,58, and worse, there suddenly a decreased performance AS-decay 58, 57, 56 happens. Runway now obviously going fast / TODA totally blocked from view by the high spot, got to pull power again after 4-5 seconds on account of the lives now at risk. An uncertain amount of unfamiliar strip had passed by to judge whether sufficient is left to clear tall treetops ahead and end-posts I knew were at the bottom of the hill out of view.
After shutting-down/exiting the AC near the downhill-situated sock, it was indicating West, no longer WNW as was so clearly showing on first pass overhead. The "switch" to WSW-SSW became sock-noticeable down below at rwy's end very shortly though ... while pushing CF-RXM past the sock-post out-of-sight into the farm hangar. The strip owner had the same vineyard excursion into endposts of graperows there in a Dec wx-similarity a decade later (long after at a farm banquet he noted "you were lucky with the highwing going over them"), so the sock apparatus at the bottom of the field eventually got installed high on the old barn, more central / visible at all times from all directions and for better accuracy in representating such component/changes.
Edit/Col Sandrs:
Yes, a wx profile still exists to explore the learning curve. A friend and mentor Charlie (author of "Don't call me a Legend") talked to me about occlusions after.
To answer "3 trys", the first overshoot was at 100' high for threshold , the second 50' (those two I admit were brief go-arounds with almost immediate left crosswind turns and regular downwind); then had no idea a high groundspeed approach is going on. Those first two downhill overshoot's were quik into left crosswind, still over the strip. By the third try ... I'd determined ENOUGH (gonna look stupid in front of peers) and took the first of two extended downwinds, a left-base to 'suitably above treetops' final 64-65kts at the high groundspeed (didn't realize how strong). The 4th was the second EXTRA long downwind into final approach that managed the flair for a touchdown early enough.
Here ... fixed with a little more detail:
To answer/illustrate requires surface analysis for Thurs Nov18/1976. Was my 4th attempt at the threshold on a downhill ~36T approach onto a N/S strip 3-4nm SE-Vineland/SSE-Jordan Ont; performed touchdown 3:55pm in the first 1/4. Wx briefer not in, departed home base in right crosswind in an occluding front ( SN-CYAM-[i]ocln[/i] hist 3pm / intensified LO YGW) used rwy28 at 3:20pm CYSN. BINOVC at CYSN made it appear ideal to go 'grass strip' there 15nm to the SW after school with the 2 pax approx 90%MTOW in the '68 172.
Was 16 when preparing for the flight test in the summer of '76; eventually the PPL arrived after waiting four months due to Transport strike (M.O.T/D.O.T) ..now could take up friends. It snowed early that AM and out the High School's windows during class could see the dry football field absorb the quik-melt, so flying-wx began to look up by early aft. Touched down in a low spot top of-the field out of flair doing 56,55kts (GS70+) where mud fills wheelpants for a sec (observed by rear pax) while releasing flap without delay; exac same time IAS rushes up from increased performance shear to 60-65kt for a brief sec and GS going ~70,69, 68 (I guess from brief lee-effect under tall trees south of threshold after roundout). Crap, I re-power for TOGA, now unsure of remaining rwy beyond the rise ahead (no more than a few hundred ft is in view) but in next 3-5 sec IAS-increase under full rpm only gets me 56,57,58, and worse, there suddenly a decreased performance AS-decay 58, 57, 56 happens. Runway now obviously going fast / TODA totally blocked from view by the high spot, got to pull power again after 4-5 seconds on account of the lives now at risk. An uncertain amount of unfamiliar strip had passed by to judge whether sufficient is left to clear tall treetops ahead and end-posts I knew were at the bottom of the hill out of view.
After shutting-down/exiting the AC near the downhill-situated sock, it was indicating West, no longer WNW as was so clearly showing on first pass overhead. The "switch" to WSW-SSW became sock-noticeable down below at rwy's end very shortly though ... while pushing CF-RXM past the sock-post out-of-sight into the farm hangar. The strip owner had the same vineyard excursion into endposts of graperows there in a Dec wx-similarity a decade later (long after at a farm banquet he noted "you were lucky with the highwing going over them"), so the sock apparatus at the bottom of the field eventually got installed high on the old barn, more central / visible at all times from all directions and for better accuracy in representating such component/changes.
Edit/Col Sandrs:
Yes, a wx profile still exists to explore the learning curve. A friend and mentor Charlie (author of "Don't call me a Legend") talked to me about occlusions after.
To answer "3 trys", the first overshoot was at 100' high for threshold , the second 50' (those two I admit were brief go-arounds with almost immediate left crosswind turns and regular downwind); then had no idea a high groundspeed approach is going on. Those first two downhill overshoot's were quik into left crosswind, still over the strip. By the third try ... I'd determined ENOUGH (gonna look stupid in front of peers) and took the first of two extended downwinds, a left-base to 'suitably above treetops' final 64-65kts at the high groundspeed (didn't realize how strong). The 4th was the second EXTRA long downwind into final approach that managed the flair for a touchdown early enough.