Plane hits ferris wheel!

[mrloudly]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15135...

"Couldn't gain enough height to clear it" Can't see why he couldn't turn to avoid it though???

[Eric Mc]

Maybe he was afraid of stalling and spinning?

[Simpo Two]

Could have looked where he was going though.

[Eric Mc]

I'm sure he was looking. But if for some reason his airspeed was too low he felt he couldn't risk banking and turning the aircraft for fear of stalling.

[mrloudly]

May have been "dragging" the aircraft with a very high nose attitude, still a weird one though...

[Eric Mc]

It's one of those micro-light. light aircraft hybrids isn't it. These type of aircraft seem to offer a fair amount of drag and not an awful lot of horsepower.

http://uk.reuters.com/video/2011/10/01/australian-...

Edited by Eric Mc on Saturday 1st October 11:11

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

I'm sure he was looking. But if for some reason his airspeed was too low he felt he couldn't risk banking and turning the aircraft for fear of stalling.

He may have taken the hit rather than stall and crash. But he shouldn't have got himself into an irrecoverable situation.

Maybe he was heading to miss it but a gust of sidewind caught him? But he still should have anticipated it.

[mrloudly]

Eric Mc said:

It's one of those micro-light. light aircraft hybrids isn't it. These type of aircraft seem to offer a fair amount of drag and not an awful lot of horsepower.

http://uk.reuters.com/video/2011/10/01/australian-...

Edited by Eric Mc on Saturday 1st October 11:11

A popular mis-conception Eric. Many "micro-light" aircraft outperform many conventional group "A" machines, indeed they can make them look daft
performance wise. Most of the good ones are now fitted with a Rotax 912 kicking out 80 or 100 bhp all in aircraft with a mtow of 450KG = 222bhp/tonne
It's enough to make you smile :-)

[fatboy b]

Looks like he had a roller-coaster of a ride!

[paintman]

According to one radio news report this afternoon the pilot said he just didn't see the ferris wheel.

[Simpo Two]

Thought as much.

File under 'idiot'.

[Eric Mc]

Or maybe not.

Was the Ferris wheel a permanent fixture on this site or installed on a temporary basis?

It seemed an odd thing to be erected in the vicinity of an airfield.

What type of NOTAM or airfield hazard notices were in place for that airfield?

I think there might be a bit more to this incident than the pilot just being "an idiot".

[Rollcage]

Looks like a lucky escape for all involved. The ferris wheel manufacturer will probably want to use the incident in promotional literature now, to illustrate how safe their wheels are!

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

I think there might be a bit more to this incident than the pilot just being "an idiot".

I'm beginning to think you were the pilot Eric! The man flew into a Ferris wheel. It is nobody's fault but his own, and he's admitted as such. If I drive my car into the side of a lorry it is no use my saying 'But it wasn't there yesterday'.

[Eric Mc]

Ultimately, yes, the pilot is generally the person responsble for where he puts his plane. But there may be mitigating circumstances which might have contributed to the accident.

[mrloudly]

I suppose we have to say thank god he hit the wheel and didn't plough into a fair full of kids...

[Sifly]

I see all the arm-chair critics are out!

No pilot would fly into anything on purpose (other than in an act of terrorism)!
It's all speculation until the final report comes out.

Amazingly, and thank god, no one got hurt.

[Eric Mc]

He apparently had no sight of the wheel as he was in a climb-out atitude with the nose blocking the view below and forward of the aircraft.

What I would like to know is-


did he take a non-standard departure from the airfield

who gave permission for an object such as a ferris wheel to be placed relatively close to an airfield?

had such permission actually been granted?

was there adequate warning in the airfield charts about the wheel or had a NOTAM been issued about its presence.

[mrloudly]

Eric Mc said:

He apparently had no sight of the wheel as he was in a climb-out atitude with the nose blocking the view below and forward of the aircraft.

What I would like to know is-


did he take a non-standard departure from the airfield

who gave permission for an object such as a ferris wheel to be placed relatively close to an airfield?

had such permission actually been granted?

was there adequate warning in the airfield charts about the wheel or had a NOTAM been issued about its presence.

Mmmm looking on google maps it looks like the wheel was displaced to the side of the runway (On the sports field I guess)
I'd say "showboating" that went wrong...

[Eric Mc]

Do you know if the wheel was a permanent fixture on that site?