Brit_in_Japan

For the pilot's on here, can you provide any explanation for the following story from here ?

Pilot didn't know he'd lost half a wing

A pilot flew his plane for two hours without realising he was missing half a wing.

His passengers - two flight engineers on their way to repair a Boeing 767 - also failed to spot it had been ripped off, taking a fuel tank with it.

Their Cessna 210's wing was split in two when it hit a tree on take-off from an airstrip near Shannon in Ireland, reports the Mirror.

The pilot later said he heard a bang but thought he had just hit a small bird.

He only realised what had happened when he spotted his back-up fuel tank gauge was on empty as he flew over the Channel on the way to Portugal.

He put out a Mayday call and landed at Jersey airport.

A spokesman there said last night: "We were amazed it managed to fly as long as it had. It was in a real state.

"The pilot was the most shocked as he had not realised the extent of the damage while he was flying."



Could a pilot of a Cessna 210 seriously not notice they'd lost half a wing? Or is this another example of gross journalistic sloppiness?

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

I'm no piolet but I'm damm sure I'd known I'd lost half a wing, the alarm bells in the cockpit must have been going mad, though I maybe wrong, proberly total rubbish fom the press, Cue Leslie
Cheers
Colin

Dieseldog

Wouldn't have thought a light aircraft like a little Cessna has much more than a stall warner buzzer in terms of 'alarm bells' in the cockpit, but where it would really manifest itself would be in control of the aircraft - one wing being bigger would generate more lift, so you'd constantly be using the ailerons to keep the wings level. Plus it sounds a bit sloppy if his first fuel check was over the channel. And to be honest it sounds a bit sloppy not to turn your head to see this! ...



Have a look at http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...hreadid=185783

P1Fanatic

Well like your thread says they didnt notice any control problems and looking at the damage it would appear to be quite easy to miss when looking from inside.

Simon.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

I'd speculate that the pilot consumed his duty free goods before leaving UK soil

stevencotton

I would speculate there was some soil on the seats after they noticed

Leslie

I thought that was a pretty amazing story too!

I was giving an air cadets pilot a check ride once in a Chipmunk out of White Waltham. I asked him to do a loop and he was a bit nervous, about halfway round the loop there was a lurch and I saw that the fabric covering which was on the top rear half of the starboard wing was detached at the front and was trailing back over the flaps and ailerons. I took control and recovered to level flight and when the other bloke saw the damage he was set to jump out on his parachute at first!

It seemed to fly alright so I went back to the airfield and landed a bit fast for extra control with no problem. I was surprised how well it continued to fly even though we could see and count all the ribs in the wing. It turned out there was a right and wrong way to attach the fabric to the aluminium wing and guess which way this one had been done!

Les

Iwan

DanTheMan

Its only missing a bit of wingtip, he probably trimmed out the roll without realising there was any damage

yoza

I once lost 4 dust caps, never noticed a thing until I washed my wheels, and there they were....gone !

I was really lucky.

astraboy

I remember seeing a picture of an F15 eagle which was missing everything outward from the root of his right wing. you could see the vulcan cannon and everything.
Pilot still landed it as the F15 produces a lot of bodylift, so anything is possible.
astraboy.

astraboy

Ah, here you go, the actual page is gone, but google still has the pic on its cache.
astraboy.
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?im...3Doff%26sa%3DN

Harry_Boy

Flatcapdriver

So he confuses hitting a tree with a bird strike and then fails to notice the damage to the wing whilst failing to monitor his fuel. Shouldn't be allowed to fly.

davegtt

Surely if he checked his wing mirrors he'd have noticed? The guy should be more observant

Reality

They should use this story to help people get over their flying fears.

Look - they don't even need wings to keep up in the air

Although the picture might scare them a little

CrisPDuk

The scary thing was the fact that his passengers, flight engineers on their way to fix a grounded airliner, didn't notice bits of the plane were missing either! Was ANYBODY looking out the fecking windows when, or after, the tree was hit

Leslie

Might not have been able to see the damage so plainly looking at it from inside the 'plane.

Les

Reality

Even so - I'd have thought the pilot when taking off would have seen the tree and at some point must have thought - **** me this is gonna be close (To hitting the tree). Then there must have been one hell of a bang.

All sounds a little dodgy / scarey to me - When was the pilots last eye / hearing test .

Flatcapdriver

Les, I was always taught in a high wing aircraft a la Cessna to tilt the wing prior to banking to ensure that no other aircraft are in the vicinity. Pick up any copy of Thom and you'll find it in black and white as taught to thousands of PPLs in JAR land.

This guy failed to carry out even the most rudimentary of scans, didn't manage his fuel situation and given that he was providing an air taxi service (I presume) he must have an ATPL/IR etc so again you'd assume a reasonable level of professionalism which if the reports are accurate - he didn't display.

Leslie

Yes I meant that looking at the wing from the cockpit angle may not have shown the damage so easily as looking at it from the photo angle as horrific as it seems.

You are quite correct of course about lookout from a high winger, it does block the inside view in a turn. I taught enough ab initio pilots too so I should know.

Did not know the rest of the details as you say, he should do all that as second nature especially with those licences. I have known enough pilots who having reached a few flying hours in the log book without incident, become a bit over familiar with the job and that is when disaster can strike before you know it. The margins are not that wide in flying as you will know very well.

Les