Anatomy of an accident (Part II) - repost from June2010

Okay, as you see, we were able to walk away without a scratch. The "dawg" is fine too. I don't know if she'd been having nightmares since the accident; or maybe she's just an utter wacko. But she thinks she's much wiser having gone through the near-death experience.

Through the process of analyzing the accident, as we tried to determine what happened, we learned a few things that I believe would be helpful to others who may experience a similar situation.

A lot happened within minutes after the accident. I have to say that the fire department was extremely quick to respond. I think we were out on the wing when we heard the sirens. As rapidly as they arrived, they applied foam in order to prevent a fire from erupting. Oh, and of course, the "news" helicopter was very prompt. We were surprised how quickly it appeared overhead.

We knew that there would be investigators from the FAA and the local Police interviewing each of us. Not the dog, though. She was busy running around the brush checking for birds. She wouldn't have been able to tell the police anything; she can't talk, nor can she fly.

The Penn Township Police officers were very nice and took information and a brief account of the accident. They gave us a business card and said "if you need anything, let us know". The next "interrogator" was from the FSDO. Actually, it wasn't a bad experience at all. The people from the FAA know "things happen"; they just want to find out how it happened so they can try to prevent future accidents. Fortunately, John and I are involved with the Wings Program and we keep current. Flying makes pilots proficient. What makes us somewhat unique is we want to know why things happen so that we can make sure we don't duplicate the act.

We also knew we would be contacted by the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) within days after the accident, to get our accounting of the accident.

The same day following the accident, John and I started to reconstruct the sequence of events. The facts were: the winds were coming from the west. The layout of the runway and airport would be conducive to the possibility of winds coming from all directions. As best we could conclude, either runway would work.

After all the excitement had subsided, John and I walked the runway to find clues, such as brake marks. As we traversed the path of the airplane we noticed nothing unusual. The plane simply went down the runway, across the grass and over the hill. No skid marks which would indicate there were no brakes. We knew that because we couldn't get any kind of braking action toward the end.

We talked and we tried to remember everything. Should we have gone around? Well, that was the first question out of those who witnessed and watched as we disappeared over the edge. Why didn't you go around? Interestingly enough, those who would ask that question wouldn't even think of doing touch and goes at this airport and most instructors in the area will not teach touch and goes at this airport.

During the sequence of events, John thought of a lot of possibilities. Do a go around? During the roll out, John thought "if I try to take off, there isn't enough runway to be successful". "What if I try to ground loop it? No, we had a lot of fuel and what if we ended up rolling upside down and got trapped?" Ride it out? A lot was going through his mind in a very short amount of time. Thankfully, he made the right choice given the circumstance.

I can name a few accidents where pilots chose to go around, even though they were on the ground, and ended up with disastrous results. Once home, John started researching articles and found pretty interesting information. The consensus from experts is that, if you are on the ground, stay there and ride it out. An accident is much more survivable when you do that. The alternatives we all read about.

Day two brought a new day of questions; and more research. The burning question still lingered - "what happened; what could we have done differently?" We headed out to the airport, once again, to look over the scene seeking answers. We got word that someone from the FAA had looked at the plane and declared that we had brakes. Now that was very perplexing news to us because we were in the plane we know we "didn't have brakes." John called the repair station that was going to fix the plane. After explaining what happened and the conflicting causes, John asked that the brakes be torn apart. We wanted to see them and try to figure out, if we had brakes, what caused them not to work. They were going to take the plane from the scene within the next few days and transport it to Allegheny County Airport (KAGC). The more we ran through the sequence of events; we were convinced we didn't have brakes.

John agonized about whether he did the right thing. Most logically-minded pilots we talked to said that we probably did the right thing; the damage was very minimal and we walked away from the crash unscathed. It doesn't help for others to judge or second-guess this kind of decision. In a lot of accidents, some things are blatantly obvious that the pilot made poor decisions and should have done something different to get a better outcome. But we are more cognizant that accidents are where you can learn things and it's better to leave the judging to the contest judges.

Once the plane was transported to KAGC and the mechanics started to look around, we insisted that they take a look at the brakes. We wanted to know. Once they tore apart the brakes, it was quite obvious what happened. During the weeks before the accident, the Club members were required to be checked out in it by the end of the month. Having a number of members flying the plane in a short amount of time, add to it 1/2 mile taxi one way to the active runway where the plane is based, the brakes will experience wear. People don't realize it but they can tend to ride the pedals when they taxi a plane. The mechanic found that the brake pads and rotors were worn beyond minimum limitations. Pictures were taken and sent to the NTSB investigator. After discussions with the mechanic and looking over the pictures,

he came to the conclusion that we "didn't have brakes." The Probable Cause on the NTSB website was listed as "Excessively worn brake pads and rotors which resulted in runway overrun."

What has been reinforced to me from this experience is when we fly, we need to always have our "MacGyver" file with us - that little box of knowledge in your brain that we may need to retrieve at any given situation. The way to build that file and be able to access it quickly is to be proficient. Read, talk, share and verify with other pilots and gain from their experiences; attend safety seminars when you can. In no time, your file box will grow and may just be there when you need it to save your ASSets.

Anatomy of an accident (Part I) (Repost from May2010)

I thought I'd write about an accident back in April 2006 at Greensburg-Jeannette Regional Airport 15 miles northwest of Latrobe. Even though it happened 4 years ago, I wanted to write about the event and the thought processes that one goes through post-accident.

Six months prior to this accident, I hit an 11-point buck upon landing at Rostraver airport. And no, I didn't hit it mid air. I can't tell you the number of times I got that question.

I digress. Since my airplane was down for repairs and major overhaul (here's a tip: if you're going to hit a deer, do it right before TBO), I was the passenger with John, my significant other. We were taking the Pittsburgh Flying Club Archer over to Greensburg-Jeannette Regional for an open house. There was a pretty hefty crosswind from the west

so either runway would have worked. There was a Cheetah taking off to the north (Runway 2 to those who like to visualize runway orientations).  John chose to use runway 2.  We came downwind, proceeded to the base then on to final. The swirling winds jostled the plane around; nothing unmanageable though.  As we approached the runway, the downdrafts pushed the plane toward the ground. John pulled the plane up in time to come over the numbers.

The winds got less squirrely just as we got over the numbers and we were able to touch down within the first 200 feet of the runway. Since the runway is 2,605 ft. that should be plenty of time to stop the plane; or so we thought. With the winds and a 2% downhill grade, it was going to get interesting.

As we rolled out, the plane started to decelerate, and as we approached the turn-off I noticed John gingerly applying brakes. As we passed the turn off, he was more frantic in his braking and announced "we have no brakes". "What do you mean we have no brakes?" "We have no brakes. Try your side." By this time, we're approaching the end of the runway. I stomped on the brakes on my side and got nothing. No little jerky braking action.... nothing. Nada; zip; zilch. By this time, there was not much to do but hang on and wait for the inevitable.

                                                                   

For those who are not aware of Greensburg-Jeannette Regional, it's basically on top of a hill with drop offs at both ends. I'd liken it to an aircraft carrier, only without water surrounding it. The drop off to the north is a little more steep with a heck of a lot of bumps, bushes and a bank of young trees at the bottom right before you end up in a barn. 

The airplane went off the end, initially wanting to become airborne, and then proceeded down the hill. I must say, it was a pretty rough trip. Since we were on the ground, we must have hit every rock and ditch located on that hillside. Toward the bottom, it was clear that we were going to hit into the bank of trees. There's not a whole lot you can do; you just have to ride it out and hope for the best.

And keep in mind, this all happened in front of about 15 pilots standing on the tarmac awaiting our arrival.

Now you can pretty much read into the scenario; there were going to be a lot of landing critiques.

The airplane finally ended up in the trees; an 8" trunk of a tree caught the wing root and abruptly stopped the momentum. The plane half spun around and came to rest slightly downhill. The items in the back seat, including a small dog that came along for the thrills, slid forward and landed on top of me. While we were assessing things, John yelled "get out, there's fuel coming in!" It turns out when the tree hit the wing root it breached the fuel tank.

I opened up the door and climbed out onto the wing; John gathered up the dog, brought her out onto the wing and tossed her to the ground. She looked back at him as if to say "hey, couldn't you, at least, give me a parachute?" John, then, helped me down off the wing. The plane wound up at the top of a three-foot bank so being on top of the wing, we were much higher off the ground.
 

Part II to follow..................