NZFF

looks like a nice landing there, interesting that it was diverted to Blenhiem and not Wellington. I suppose because they didn't want to tie up flights at Wellington airport.

very intersting start to a morning indeed ,to bad when i do belly landings in sim it just bounces of the ground and acts all weird ,tops to the pilots of this aircraft
oh and thanks for the link

Hmm the Herald must of changed the page after I made the link - here is a rather spectacular photo of the landing in Stuff.

that's an awesome photo!

"Near tragedy" on One News

I was at work today when my wife rang to see if I knew about it as she had heard on the news that the plane was circling. I wondered all of 200 metres from my office to the tarmac to get a good view.

By this time the aircraft was circling Blenheim, about six fire engines and two ambulances were positioned on the airfield and a gathering of SafeAir and Air Force people were lined up on the tarmac. After about 5 minutes the aircraft came in on what can only be described as a normal approach (except no landing gear visible) from the east. Once close to the ground the composite prop blades flew off in spectacular fashion (as per the pic in your links) with a few bangs, the aircraft then slid down the runway and came to a halt midway without appearing to yaw at all. No sparks were visible. The assemble crowd clapped - pilots made a text book landing. Two Fire engines approached and spayed foam, whilst the passengers also soon started exiting the overwing escape hatches.

After that I went back to my office, but approx 2 hours later I think they had cleared the plane from the runway.

This is the second wheels up I have witnessed - I saw an Eagle Air Bandit do a wheels up at Palmerston North in 1988.

As for near tradgedy - It really irks me that the media make such ridiculous statements, it was not what I call even close.

Deane

Yeah good call Deane,

I've been in the hills as a member of a search party, come out and later read a media report of the same search. Then wondered if it was the same one.

We have a great pool of untapped Fiction writers in this country.
Now if it had been in Womans Day or on Shortland Street that's a different matter.
Cos that's all true

Hmm the Herald must of changed the page after I made the link

nope... you just put the url as http://http//www.nzherald.co.nz

Now if it had been in Womans Day or on Shortland Street that's a different matter.

Yeah, with their awesome cover story headlines like:

XXXXX in shocking cancer scare!

Turns out that XXXXX had a funny looking mole that turned out to be benign, but its put their life in perspective, living life to the fullest yadda yadda

did they land on the grass? thats dangerous... Did they keep the blades spinning or turn them of?

they did land on the runway, you just can't see it in that photo- the herald website has an overhead shot
and I presume they stopped the blades, but if they're composite they would snap rather than bend like a metal blade.

Just read this on the Herald site. Looks like a job well done by the pilot

My uncle was in a similar crash in Australia involving the landing gear not coming down. The cause of that crash was that when the pilot was doing his pre-flight checks you have to flick this switch for the landing gear(I'm not sure why or the name) and he forgot to flick it back so the aircraft didn't know whether it was up or down.

So as the plane took off it raised without a problem but then didn't know whether it was up or down once raised.

This was most probably the cause of the crash, could be something different though.

The plane should be easily fixed and put back in service in a few months.

Great landing

to the crew


Do you think the aircraft was Written off / will it ever fly again

Yea I just saw a news update with this on it will have to watch it at 6:00.

ZKTOM wrote: My uncle was in a similar crash in Australia involving the landing gear not coming down. The cause of that crash was that when the pilot was doing his pre-flight checks you have to flick this switch for the landing gear(I'm not sure why or the name) and he forgot to flick it back so the aircraft didn't know whether it was up or down.

So as the plane took off it raised without a problem but then didn't know whether it was up or down once raised.

This was most probably the cause of the crash, could be something different though.

The plane should be easily fixed and put back in service in a few months.

Its not really a crash. Gear up landings cant really be called a crash.

Exciting story- and great to have a first hand report of events from Deane!

Does anyone know the rego of the 1900d that landed? This is a perfect scenario to recreate with the new Woodbourne scenery!

Also, like scon said, how bad was the damage to the aircraft? How long/much money will it cost to be repaired?

So as the plane took off it raised without a problem but then didn't know whether it was up or down once raised.

I would have thought the pilot would have done a low pass infront of the airport tower to get a visul confirmation on that?

I can imagine Trolly watching at NZWB... Like on Distraction USA when they smash a huuuge TV... It's sad seeing something so beautiful get wrecked, but you just can't pull yourself away..

Zöltuger wrote: they did land on the runway, you just can't see it in that photo- the herald website has an overhead shot
and I presume they stopped the blades, but if they're composite they would snap rather than bend like a metal blade.

They did not feather - I guess because they are composite blades they had no need to as they would snap off anyway. This is a good thing - because by quickly and easily breaking, very little shock is imparted to the engine drive shaft.

Deane

scon wrote: Great landing

to the crew


Do you think the aircraft was Written off / will it ever fly again

I think the Aircraft will be repairable - some skin replacement on the belly and lower eng nacelles for sure, engines will nedd inspection etc etc. In saying that sometimes a critical area or structure could be badly damaged, but I don't think so in this case. Apart from scraping along the runway, the forces on the fuselage are probably not much more than if landing on its wheels, so its not like the fuse would be bent like a banana or anything

Deane