Corsair accident at PDK:

Last Friday, pilot Jim Tobul flipped his F4U-4 Corsair "Korean War Hero" while landing at PDK airport in Atlanta while arriving for an airshow on Saturday. Reportedly he encountered a crosswind that abruptly switched to a tailwind right at a critical point in the landing. Someone snapped a rather dramatic photo!

Fortunately, the pilot was just fine and the damage to the aircraft seems to be limited to the propeller and the vertical fin. The plane will be trucked back to Colorado, where repairs will begin promptly, and Tobul says it will be back in the air before the end of 2014.
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wow! glad he's OK. that's an amazing shot.

 

Last month my wife and I experienced a go-around at ATL in a 767-300 due to extreme turbulence, my second time as a passenger. This place must get really tricky some times. Too bad that this had to happen to Jim but I'm glad that he is okay.

 

Jim is one of the most talented and friendly warbird guys there is.
His father was killed in a Corsair something like 10 years ago.
The Corsair can be a hand full in a crosswind. I once landed in a 19 knot 70 degree wind and the stick was all of the way over to the stops.

My guess is it will be at least 2 years maybe 4 years to get back in the air. But I do think he has quite a lot of spares which will help.

If the ailerons got damaged they alone can take up to a year to get rebuilt. The worst problem would be if the fuselage was damaged.

 

wow... wouldn't a shock like the props and probably the spinner hitting the ground while running likely damage the motor? Even if the engine rotated smoothly would you chance starting it up again without a complete tear-down?
That would be impressive of only the tail and prop needed replacing...
Glad the pilot is ok!

Mike - have you seen or heard how the Corsair restoration in Milwaukee is going, or is it already done?
There was a ton of work still to do when I was last there 1-1/2 years ago.

Here's a vid of Korean War Hero flying with P-51d Quicksilver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0R2ceIsg2c

 

A sudden stoppage requires a full teardown.

Rob beat me to it. The local dpe has told us if you ever run over a tailwheel tiedown, dont cut the engine for this reason.

 

Thank goodness the pilots OK and the aircraft is fixable. The Corsair one of the most beautiful and classic airframes.
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So many of those over the years while in service have suffered the same fate I am sure they understand the damage that happens. I know the GA airplane world generally do a tear down but I have been told by some of the Merlin guys that the prop takes the damage and the motors don't get hurt unless it gets hit hard enough to break the gear box. But a prop strike and standing the plane on the engine are a little different.

Beautiful airplane. Corsair was always my favorite.

 

Brian- What does an R2800 overhaul cost compared to a Merlin? Any experience? Very tough engine.

 

I had my Merlin rebuilt in 1999 for $81,000 including some mods. And that included the core and all of the accessories. I think the price now would be closer to $150,000.
I had my 2800 rebuilt in 2002 and if I remember correctly it was $56,000.

Not sure of a Corsair rebuild in Milwaukee. but a dash 5 just flew in Australia about a week ago after a long rebuild.

 

An ex air racer Corsair was supposedly going to be restored to original condition at Sam Taber's shop outside Milwaukee, at least that's what I was told when I visited there in 2012 when his crew was breaking down P51 Moonbeam McSwine for shipment overseas. Maybe something changed and it's no longer there, or could be I got bad info.

 

Mike- Thanks for the info. About what I figured.

 

Two beautiful original Corsair patches from my collection. Both patches are actually 5 inches round.

VBF-74 Bombing Fighting Squadron 74 USN (late WW II)
VMF-511 Marine Fighter Squadron USMC - from an aviator who served in the Okinawa Campaign.

Glad pilot and machine are ok.
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There's no such thing as a shear pin/key in the drive system?

Or, in a case like this, do you WANT the engine to be abruptly stopped?

(not a pilot. just curious.)

 

Piston engines get abruptly stopped all the time without harm, it's a matter of how they were abruptly stopped. Prop blades bending actually absorb a lot of energy and in a case like this it is at very low power. The problem comes from deflection stresses at angles not intended. That can bend cranks or in the case of some motors crack the case at the front bearing.

Getting stood on their nose isn't a good thing. I understand in some cases Merlins can get damaged reduction gear drive in those events and that's never good. I know someone with a couple of sets of bent blades from his 51 from gear up events and I don't think the motor got hurt either time.

As far as a shear system I just can't imagine that would be wanted for fear of an unwanted failure from that, especially in a round motor. One hiccup on starting could overstress it. One of the ideas in airplane design is if it can get you down in anyway safe even if it means the loss of the aircraft it did it's job. Planes can be fixed.

 

Makes me wonder what one of those goofy Brit sleeve valve motors would cost.

Nothing with that many moving parts should be airborne.

 

Come on they have less moving parts than the space shuttle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrvep_YOio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEbDlNeMtLM

 

Yea but except for the gimbals on the exhaust nozzles the motors only have one moving part.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrvep_YOio]Bristol Hercules sleeve valve radial animation - YouTube[/ame]

 

IN 03 a friend of mine was teaching his soon to be wife how to fly in my C170. In an attempt at a Xwind, she got off the RW, and was bouncing along in the grass and rocks. I won't mention the guys name, but he was an X naval aviator, and a 737 check pilot for the FAA. Anyway he decided he could hit the power, and fly it out. It was an 0-300 with 145 hp. NFW, He then ran into a pile of dirt behind a big ditch, totaled my beautiful 170. Running at full song, the engine hit first, and folded the prop back on itself on each end by about 18". When we tore down the engine, the only damage was a cracked prop flange. I would say that Cont makes a pretty good engine. Happened at Brown Field in San Diego, an it took me 3 years to fix it.

Still flying today, and looks gorgeous.

Klatu

 

...barada nickto.


Is he still a friend?

 

Thread is off topic, but my old Citabria in the hands of the guy I sold it to, struck the prop and a new prop was just bolted on with no inspection or work on the engine to my knowledge. I think it made several hundred hours without issue after that.

Very glad to hear that the Corsair will not be lost and that no injury resulted.

 

Reference the Corsair at Sam's
I didn't put it together with Milwaukee, Sam is at a small airport west of Milwaukee East Troy, I have been there many times as he did the annuals for a buddies P-51 and I used to fly it home for him.
The last time I saw it (about 10 months ago) they were in the dis-assembly process and trying to locate missing parts, I think the flaps were fared in and all of the fold mechanism was gone.

It is owned by a growing museum located fairly close.
My guess is it is at least 5 years to complete.

All of the engine and prop manufacturers are taking the time to require complete tear downs for any and all strikes. I had a buddy flying my Arrow and he was running it up in high winds and the prop barely hit the chock. This required a complete replacement of the propeller and an engine tear down. I have been told the same is required for going through high grass if you can believe that.

I have repaired 8 engines on airplanes with prop strikes and we have never found anything wrong but the tear down is required.

 

"Fared in" as in made inoperable by the previous owner (racer?), or finished with restoration? That must be a milestone of sorts on a Corsair, with those flaps!
Always amazed me that foldable wings could withstand the forces of aggressive flight.
Can yours still fold?

BTW - looking at the photo in the top post, you can't even see the flaps. I assume they were fully down for the landing, just seems like they still should be visible from that angle. The timing of the photo looks like right when the nose made first contact, so they probably "flapped" a little further down at this exact moment or is full down-flap really about perpendicular with the wing?

Wow, I can imagine a pilot going through some tall grass on his way up/down and just keeping that little fact to himself...

Where does one go these days for a Corsair prop anyway? How much are we talking about here, Ferrari Mondial or 360 money?

I'm currently building a F-82 Twin Mustang RC model, and having a hard time finding counter rotating 4-bladed props so will probably just use a set of pusher/puller 2 bladers. From what I've read there are currently two full scale F-82s under restoration, and they're also having trouble finding suitable propellers. First world problems...
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