Video released of deadly air ambulance crash in Iceland. | STATter911.com Is this real? How could anyone survive this?
"and was returning to Akureyri when it was placed on hold to the west of the airport, where the dragstrip was being prepared for an air race." This quote is from the article. What does "placed on hold" mean? Looks more like "showboating" to me.
Placed in a hold (holding pattern) maybe? Pretty unreal though...almost looks like they were looking down or distracted and not flying the plane. Only takes a few seconds that low and fast.
Jason- He was told to hold west of the airport. Nothing unusual about that. Makes you wonder why he held that bank, though, while sinking like a rock. Normal reaction should have been to roll wings level and pull. Do they do any unusual attitude training for GA and airline pilots during qualification and checkrides?
Don- Makes sense. Do it at high altitude so you know what to do at low altitude. The real thing at low altitude is usually suck up the seat cushion time the few times I have seen it.
Whoever put it on LiveLeak agrees: LiveLeak.com - Plane crashes into dragstrip at Akureyri, Iceland August 5 2013
Taz, yes, some unusual attitude training but only the simplest of stuff during my PPL flight training. Instructor has the student wear a hood and look down while the instructor puts the plane in some attitude (usually some combination of bank and nose up or down). You have no idea what the plane is doing because the instructor does several turns, climbs and descents before setting the final unusual attitude - your inner ear is totally befuddled at that point. He then says "Your plane" and you're allowed to look up at the panel instruments. The key thing they taught you to notice first is if the plane is "nose up" or "nose down" using the artificial horizon and airspeed trend. If nose down, the first step of recovery was to level the wings, then reduce power if needed, then gently pull up to get out of the dive. If nose up, the first step was add power, then get the nose level, then wings level. My PPL training did not involve anything more than about 60 degrees of bank and maybe + or - 30 degrees of pitch. It would be a lot more exciting if we'd gone inverted or near vertical, for sure. .
I have performed many passes without incident. I make sure to always increase my altitude when in a banana pass since the wing will be lower then the fuselage. If he would have just leveled the wings he may have been able to avoid the accident. It looks like the downward momentum of the pass was too extreme from the time the King Air comes into the video. I can tell you that at high speed with the nose down the ground comes up very fast and it is something you want to work your way up to before getting anywhere near that low and fast. I usually do not trim away the stick pressure as speed increases therefore the airplane will rise quickly if I should let go of the stick inadvertently or the turbulence becomes severe and control is difficult. It does look to me like he did have the airplane trimmed for the high speed in the pass. I remember my unusual attitude training in the Mustang. My instructor had me lower my head while he put us in the unusual attitude. But he pulled 5 G's doing it so I had to hold me head with both my hands as there was no way my neck muscle were capable. When he had me look up he had blocked the horizon out with the leading of the wing. And of course since we were upside down it was difficult to tell our position and what was the best way out. The answer was to push forward and then roll out. It is very unusual to push the stick forward but that is the reason for the training. There are many accidents where the low pass was the pilot's first try. There was an accident many years ago where the pilot who did not like aerobatics tried a low level roll with a girlfriend in the back. The people who knew him related that he did not like to buckle his seat belt and surmised that to be the reason for the accident. I have seen many pilot's become demons when they get a high performance airplane in their hands. Not unlike the exotic cars we always see destroyed at high speed. Unfortunately this pilot misjudged his abilities.
He was showboating. Hauling ass too. Pretty clear day to be "placed in a hold". Must be a busy airport. Why "hold" when you can buzz the local racetrack where are all your buddies are hanging out?
Did not see any attempt to level the wings. Looks like he had no idea how much trouble he was in until the low wing impacted. High bank angles like that can make for insidious sink rates. Our nose high unusual attitude recoveries were to add power and roll 90 degrees to the horizon and let the nose fall through, then roll out. Not something likely taught in any non-aerobatic aircraft, but the nose low was roll level and pull, not as worried about power for that with no airspeed limits, so pretty common except for airspeed.
Just curious, could the pilot have raised the nose of the plane by using right rudder when the plane was in the high bank turn to the left? Seems like he had enough airspeed to use the rudder like an elevator in that near-90-degree-bank situation. My concern is that it is like being cross-controlled - I'm not sure I'd want right rudder while banking left while I'm that close to the ground. .
Adding rudder while banked does not result in lift, just an increase or decrease in yaw. Yes, it would be akin to cross-control.
It appears to be pilot error, but not doing a low pass or 'showboating'. Information from the web: It shows a Beechcraft Super King Air 200, registered TF-MYX, an Air Ambulance flight operated by Air Myflug crashing into a dragstrip near Akureyri Airport, in Iceland. The plane had transported a patient to Reykjavik, Iceland and was returning to Akureyri when it was placed on hold to the west of the airport, where the dragstrip was being prepared for an air race. As the footage shows, during a left hand turn, the Beechcraft lost height until it impacted into the ground. Quite surprisingly, of the three people on board, one (the co-pilot) survived the crash. According to the user who uploaded the clip to Liveleak, This is the Co-Pilots second plane accident, exactly 12 years prior to the crash he had an emergency landing where the medic that died treated him for minor injuries.
I've never flown that fast or low in a "hold". Both engines running flat out? That's not a "hold". You don't "lose height" when your engines are running.
Nah, he was 'showboating'. Nothing in your post refutes that. What was that if not an attempt at a low pass?
