It’s been beautiful sunny weather and I’ve seen a lot of GA planes flying past, which always cheers me up. Also, I’m hoping to go flying myself in the next couple weeks after an extended break. Hurray! So to celebrate, today’s post is full of good news and happy endings. I hope you enjoy it.

Pilot who survived Lake Huron crash speaks | wzzm13.com

“A big freighter went by within 50 feet of me and I was screaming and screaming,” he recalls. “Obviously they didn’t see me.”

Trapp took off a sock to wave at boats and finally he was seen by people aboard a 45 foot yacht.

“I about started to cry when they slowed down,” he says. “I was like, “Oh my God, thank you, thank you.’”

Maule ferry flight to Europe « Contract pilot tales

The trip got off to an ugly start. I ran the beautiful, brand new, yellow and blue Maule M7-260 off the runway before we even left our departure airport. Never before in my career as a pilot have I done anything like that.

Aircraft Incident: American B772 at DFW engine fire indication plus blew tyres

An American Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration N780AN performing flight AA-963 from Dallas Ft. Worth,TX (USA) to Sao Paulo Guarulhos,SP (Brazil) with 246 passengers and 14 crew, was in the initial climb out of runway 17R when the crew reported they had an engine (Trent 800) fire indication.

Pilot survives plane crash in Waterford

Flight Training: Miracle Student

On a freezing day in January 2009, Clay Presley found himself in a very improbable place—standing on the wing of an Airbus A320 that had just landed in New York’s Hudson River.

Huddled with the other 154 passengers and crew, waiting for a tour boat to take him to dry land, Clay Presley could have vowed never to set foot on an airplane again.

Instead, just two years and 10 days after he was part of the emergency landing that riveted the nation, Presley soloed a Cessna 172 at Rock Hill Airport in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

And if that’s not enough to make you smile, then there’s always this wonderful Monty Python clip (shout-out to thermalhound who reminded me of it).

Do you have good news or do you know of a happy ending that we could celebrate? Add it into the comments!

I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about today and then I saw this unbelievable video posted on Golf Hotel Whiskey entitled Amazing video of how NOT to land a Cessna Citation 2. Although the incident was over five years ago, I’d never seen it before.

The Citation, OY-JET, was coming into Atlantic City, New Jersey. He had the airport diagram attached to his control column which read “Arpt CLOSED to jet traffic”. The pilot flew a low pass over runway 29 and then climbed out to the right. He then came in to land on runway 11.

Somewhat telling is the commentary from the person who started filming: “We’ve got a nutball trying to land.” Even he didn’t expect to see the landing go so completely wrong, though. And then at the half-way mark of the video, just when I thought it was all over, things suddenly get exciting again. Take a look:

The pilot stated that he “lost the brakes”; however there as no fault found with the brake system nor the emergency brake system. However, examination of the runway shows that the treadmarks start about two-thirds down the runway.

OY-JET appears to have touched down about 800-1,000 feet beyond the approach end of runway 11. The video shows us the windsock with a tailwind which as been estimated at 10-15 knots. Runway 11 is a 2,948 foot asphalt runway.

NTSB Factual Report NYC05LA085

According to the Cessna 525A Landing Distance Chart, an airplane with a landing weight of 11,400 pounds required 3,000 feet of landing distance, in a no wind situation. With a 10 knot tailwind, the airplane required 3,570 feet of landing distance.

So if he’d landed on the numbers, he still would have not have been able to land safely. Touching down a third of the way down, he had no chance at all.

The same pilot has been in the news once before, as a result of this photograph taken into the cockpit of a Cessna 550 Citation II at Copenhagen five years previous. Maybe he’d planned to go skinny-dipping?

The NTSB have published Probable Cause on their website.

The pilot’s improper decision to plan a flight to a runway of insufficient length, his improper in-flight decision to land on that inadequate runway with a tailwind, and his failure to obtain the proper touchdown point.

Other than that, though, it was a lovely landing.

The owner of the aircraft appears to have one heck of a sense of humour. They’ve replaced the ruined aircraft with a Cessna 680:

Photos: Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net

The new registration? OY-WET

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The 398th was a B-17 bomb group in the 8th Air Force 1st Air Division during World War II. The US Eighth Air Force was the largest of the Army Air Forces, engaged in heavy bombing of enemy targets in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress was a four-engine heavy bomber aircraft which was heavily used in the strategic bombing campaigns of World War II.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

From its pre-war inception, the USAAC (later USAAF) touted the aircraft as a strategic weapon; it was a potent, high-flying, long-range bomber that was able to defend itself, and to return home despite extensive battle damage. It quickly took on mythic proportions, and widely circulated stories and photos of B-17s surviving battle damage increased its iconic status.

The 398th were stationed in Nuthampstead, England during the final year of the conflict where they ran 195 combat missions. Thanks to the hard work of the 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association, the locations, combat diaries, log books and missions are all documented on the web. They have also collected priceless memories from “friends of the 398th” – both Brits who remember the 398th while stationed in England and other squadrons who flew with them.

You could spend all day on this website and never get bored. It’s an amazing collection.

I received permission from the association to share one story with you and it was difficult to decide. You know me, though, I’m a sucker for a happy ending. And this happy ending against unbelievable odds has to be read:

It Was A Fortress Coming Home by Allen Ostrom tells the story of the B-17 Flying Fortress on the 15th of October 1944. 90-year-old Allen Ostrom is the military historian for the 389th Bomb Group. The story starts on the ground:

“They’re 20 minutes early. Can’t be the 398th.”

They could hear it before they could see it! Something was coming home. But what?

All eyes turned toward the northeast, aligning with the main runway, each ground guy and stood-down airman straining to make out this “wail of a Banshee,” as one called it.

Not like a single B-17 with its characteristic deep roar of the engines blended with four thrashing propellers. This was a howl! Like a powerful wind blowing into a huge whistle.

Then it came into view. It WAS a B-17!

The B-17 Flying Fortress took a direct hit over Cologne, Germany. The crew had just dropped their bombs and were turning away when a flak burst took out the nose of the aircraft.

The togglier was killed instantly. Here’s a front view of the Flying Fortress that day:

The full size view and more photographs of the damage are on http://www.398th.org/.

Lt. deLancey described the scene from the cockpit:

“Part of the nose peeled back and obstructed my vision and that of my co-pilot, 1st Lt. Phillip H. Stahlman of Shippenville, Pennsylvania. What little there was left in front of me looked like a scrap heap. The wind was rushing through. Our feet were exposed to the open air at nearly 30,000 feet above the ground. The temperature was unbearable.”

They had no oxygen, no maps, no radio and and practically no instruments. They descended and turned back towards allied territory.

By this time they were down to 2,000 feet.

“We finally agreed that we were over Belgium and were flying in a southwesterly direction,” said the pilot.

“About this time a pair of P-51’s showed up and flew a loose formation on us across Belgium. I often wondered what they thought as they looked at the mess up front.”

Amazingly, the American crew made their way over France and found England where the skill of the flight crew came into its own:

“Once over England, LeDoux soon picked up landmarks and gave me course corrections taking us directly to Nuthampstead. It was just a great bit of navigation. Ray just stood there on the flight deck and gave us the headings from memory.”

They weren’t safe on the ground yet, though, and Allen Ostrom’s account had me at the edge of my seat until the very end:

Nearing the field, Stahlman let the landing gear down. That was an assurance. But a check of the hydraulic pump sent another spray of oil to the cockpit floor. Probably no brakes!

Nevertheless, a flare from Ruckel’s pistol had to announce the “ready or not” landing. No “downwind leg” and “final approach” this time. Straight in!

“The landing was strictly by guess and feel,” said DeLancey. “Without instruments, I suspect I came in a little hot. Also, I had to lean to the left to see straight ahead.

1st Lieutenant Lawrence deLancey was awarded a Silver Start for bringing a plane home that, by all rights, had no business flying. The navigator, 2nd Lt Raymond J. LeDoux, received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Read the whole account at It Was A Fortress Coming Home.

I recommend also taking a look at the 398th Veterans’ WWII Personal Histories and read, well, everything. And you can also watch the 398th Timeless Voices Interviews and see and hear the men tell their stories first hand in an amazing collection of oral history. This is an outstanding selection of real stories from real people, with hidden gems such as Nunzio Addabbo, 398th Navigator explaining how he paid for his flying lessons at 17 by picking blueberries and James (Dean) Hill, 398th Pilot remembering flying the bomber: seeing the flak coming up and knowing you had to fly through it.

The 398th Bomb Group Memorial Association have created a truly wonderful website to share their stories and memories with a wider audience. The next time you see Kipling’s words “Lest we forget” on Remembrance / Memorial / Anzac Day, take a moment to savour treasures such as this one.

On the 1st of April this year, Southwest Airlines flight 812 departed from Phoenix for Sacramento. There were five crew and 118 passengers on board.

At 34,000 feet, climbing through to FL360, there was a loud sharp noise. The cabin experienced rapid decompression and the oxygen masks deployed.

Shawna Malvini Redden, a passenger on the flight, blogged about the experience:

The Blue Muse: Southwest Flight 812: I prefer my plane without a sunroof, thanks

An explosion. A loud rush of air. A nosedive toward the ground. An oxygen mask? I had not anticipated a change in cabin pressure.

With hypoxic fingers, I fumble the mask. With chagrin, I realize it really does not inflate.

To my right, a mother shrieks in hysteria, her panic rising above the din. Ahead, a young man with curly brown hair and an easy smile walks about, helping to affix oxygen masks. Behind me, a woman’s tears stream down her face as the shock sets in.

I realize I have my seat mate’s hand in a death grip.

This is Southwest Flight 812.

The pilot immediately began a descent. The Federal Aviation Commission released the audio recordings this week which you can hear on the FAA site or read online: PDF Transcripts of Southwest Flight 812, April 1, 2011.

Here’s the initial discussion, with added punctuation and the times given as local time. R6 and D31 are controllers covering specific sectors in the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center.

The flight was approved for a direct return to Phoenix but then they realised that Yuma International Airport, a “shared use” military and commercial airport, was closer. The flight landed at Yuma at 16:32 local time. A flight attendent and one passenger received minor injuries as a result of the incident; both were treated at the airport.

The aircraft had a large tear in the fuselage. The NTSB reported that it was a 5-foot by 1-foot (152cm by 30cm) hole in the crown area on the left side, aft of the over-wing exit.

NTSB Continues Investigation of Southwest Airlines Flight 812

The 59-inch longitudinal fracture occurred in the aluminum fuselage skin along the lap joint at stringer-4 left (S-4L) between body station (BS) 666 and BS 725. At S-4L, the crown skin overlaps the lower skin forming a lap joint. The two skins are connected at the lap joint by three rows of rivets (referred to as lower, middle, and upper row of rivets.) The fracture was through the lower skin and connected 58 consecutive rivet holes in the lower row of lap joint rivets. The exterior surface of the skin in the area of S-4L is painted blue. Evidence of blue paint was also found inside the joint between the upper and lower skin and on several areas of the skin fracture surface.

Southwest grounded 80 aircraft as a result of this incident, all Boeing 737-300s which had not already had the skin on their fuselage replaced. Boeing announced a Service Bulletin instructing operators to inspect the aircraft. This was followed by the FAA issuing an Emergency Airworthiness Directive on the subject.

NTSB Continues Investigation of Southwest Airlines Flight 812

The Federal Aviation Administration issued Emergency Airworthiness Directive AD 2011-08-51 on April 5 mandating the inspections in the Boeing Service Bulletin. To date, the NTSB has been informed that 136 airplanes have been inspected worldwide in accordance with the Service Bulletin and Airworthiness Directive including all U.S. registered airplanes covered by the Directive. As stated in a previous release, four of these airplanes were found to have crack indications at a single rivet and one airplane was found to have crack indications at two rivets. These airplanes had accumulated between 40,000 and 45,000 total cycles. The lap joints from these areas of the subject airplanes have been removed and will be fully documented as part of the NTSB investigation.

The investigation continues but it did make me happy to hear the utter competence with which the flight crew and ATC dealt with the emergency. Hurray for happy endings!

A RusAir passenger jet, a Tupolev 134, crashed in northern Russia on Monday the 21st of June, killing 47. The five remaining survivors, including one crew member, are still being treated in hospital.

The flight was en route from Domodedovo airport in Moscow to the city of Petrozavodsk. The Federal Aviation Regulator stated that the approach was conducted in darkness and poor weather, with a cloud base of 170m and visibility of 2,100 metres.

The aircraft’s approach was too low. It clipped a tree and severed the power line to the airport, causing the runway lights to go off for ten seconds. An air traffic controller on site stated that the airport visibility was at minimum and that the crew should not have continued their descent. He said that he ordered the crew to abort when the runway lights went off but it was too late.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Sergei Ivanov, claimed that the crew had failed to see the runway and instead were attempting to land on the road.

The captain had logged 8,500 hours including 3,100 hours on the Tu-134, while the co-pilot had 813 hours on type from a total of 2,580 hours.

Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) is investigating the incident. The preliminary findings have not found any technical faults with the Tupolev and have attributed the disaster to pilot error.

Experts transcribe air-ground conversations in Petrozavodsk plane crash | Russia | RIA Novosti

The experts have ruled out technical failure as the possible cause of Tu-134 crash. In both reports on the circumstances of the crash, MAK said the engines of the Tu-134 passenger jet were operating normally, as were all radar, electronic, lighting and other systems at the airport where the Tu-134 airliner crashed.

Pilot error has been identified as the most likely cause of the tragedy.

The only surviving crew member, Yulia Skvortsova, confirmed that it was not a planned emergency landing. She stated that the co-pilot was at the controls at the time of the landing and believes that the aircraft did not go around because the co-pilot wanted to save fuel.

Tu-134 crash survivor reveals horror flight’s details — RT

Skvortsova is still being treated at a Moscow hospital, but had been released from the intensive therapy unit on Monday. She believes that the ill-fated aircraft did not make a second landing approach, despite the bad weather, because the second pilot wanted to save fuel. Small airlines like the one which operated the crashed plane often fine pilots for overspending.

Ukranews.com reported that the aircraft did not have enough fuel for a second approach although this has not been confirmed by MAK.

The Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, has insisted that the remaining Tupolev 134 airliners must be withdrawn from service. In addition, the air transport safety chief has reaffirmed that any commercial airliners that do not have collision-avoidance technology installed by next year will be grounded.

This video from Reuters shows amateur video footage directly after the accident: