Be careful out there.

jrh

Well-Known Member
I got a call today that no instructor ever wants to get.

A former student and good friend of mine crashed a plane. Thankfully there were no injuries, but the plane won't be flying again any time soon.

Basically it was a very narrow runway, he didn't have a lot of experience, the winds were gusty, it was a tailwheel aircraft, and he momentarily lost directional control on landing. As he exited the runway he started to try to go around, realized he didn't have enough room left to get in the air before a tree line, so he chopped the power and hit the brakes. He hit the brakes harder than he intended and as soon as the main wheels touched, the tail came up, prop dug in, and he flipped over the top.


I can vouch that he's a great pilot...good stick and rudder skills and good judgment, but like we talked about on the phone, accidents never happen because of a single factor. Take away any single element and he probably would have been fine.

None of this will come back on me because it's been a while since I trained him and it was actually another instructor who did all his tailwheel training with him, but I still hated to hear the story.

It just hits home how bad things can happen. This is the first close friend of mine who's gotten in to an accident this serious.

Be careful out there.
 
Back
Top