Posted on 10/20/2018 4:41:04 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Kudos to the FIP (Flight Instructor Pilot) but I would bet that there was at least one change of underwear required post-flight. Landing on such a road is good as it would be minimally obstructed EXCEPT for traffic. Don’t try this during rush hour!
https://www.facebook.com/fox5sandiego/videos/492008041298861/
LOL, nobody stopped. He just merged right into traffic and landed in the fast lane.
Definitely. I always wonder why they mostly crash. Seems like airspeed on landing a small plane would fit into traffic flow pretty well. Of course the 100-160mph touch down speed of a heavy would pose a problem for sure.
After watching the video of the plane landing, the instructor had it all together. He made a FAST descent in that Piper to get under those power lines. In flight school, they always tell you to avoid landing on roads because of power lines. They are often hard to see from above. And, the pilots’ rule is: it’s easy to lose altitude and airspeed, but damn hard to get it back!
Also, there’s a good chance that it ran out of fuel. Fuel gauges/sensors often go bad, and over 90 percent of forced landings are due to running out of fuel. That’s why you are strongly advised to “stick” the fuel tanks with a manual fuel guage so you will know exactly how much fuel is in there before you leave.
We were in the back-up from this incident. When we passed by (after waiting about 10 minutes) the plane had been moved to the exit ramp. It was completely intact and I snapped an IPhone pic. I wouldn’t have taken a picture had there been an accident scene though. Happy ending for the instructor and the pupil.
I hate my daily commute.
The funny thing is this was on the TV show CHIPS thirty years ago.
The feat was not simply landing without engine power, but on two freeway lanes between a number of cars, with just about a 1 or 2 car space on the lane that the right wing came down on, and close behind a car in the left lane (which hit the gas when he/she saw what was behind), and with the the cars not having any slowdowns that would have resulted in the plane hitting cars. While not breaking the laws of nature, I say it was providential.
Likewise when our church bus full of people ran out of gas (gauge broken) and we coasted over a mile in a populous city, down an incline, and with just enough momentum to up again and thru 2 stop signs (sorry) and make two quick turns across two streets, and come to a stop just behind the Baptist church on a high hill.
A miracle would be to go up the hill with no propulsion (I think my being healed of a lower hernia I had for years after laying on of hands was one), but this was one of providential grace. And i have many more stories of such, as do others , thanks be to God and in the collective light of evidence i cannot believe in mere luck.
Reminds me of the joke about the Oklahoma firefighters.
Why not repair the plane; have CHP block traffic, take off from the freeway and land at Gillespi? Taking the wings off seems unnecessary, to me.
I still haven’t heard about
the failure,
to gas and go may
not have been an option.
Man, did you ever get that one right!
Great comment!
I see. Just sounded a lot easier than removing the wings but what do I know. LOL.
My buddy is a pilot at that airport.
It’s been a few months but he’s flown over that patch 20 plus Years.
Drags me along once in awhile.
Usually it’s just hanging around old
Airplanes and older Pilots
drinking beer or whiskey After Flying.
I’d like it better if I
Didn’t build drones for a living.
Pulling the wings can be a pretty
operation,probably an hour.
A pretty EASY operation.
Never Pretty.
I noticed no stopped but changed lanes so they did not get stuck in the coming traffic jam : )
This is the easiest to do; I’d say.
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