wareagle
Heliman
Location: Crowley, TX
My Posts This: Topic Forum | "I also believe the flaps did not help. I'm curious if the flaps were raised up once the aircraft was about 10' off the ground if that would have helped the issue at all."
This was a soft field take of technique. The use of flaps gets the plane off the ground in a shorter distance minimizing the stress on the gear. Once the plane is in the air, airspeed is then built up and a positive rate of climb is established prior to changing the flaps setting. If the pilot would have pulled the flaps at his airspeed, then the plane would have crashed sooner rather than later.
Several things are wrong in this accident. It takes more than one thing to cause a crash. First, the pilot didn't have sufficient airspeed to safely take off. No surprise there! Density altitude and aircraft weight play vital roles here! Second, the engine's power may have been below peak as well. In a high density altitude, the fuel mixture may have to be leaned some to get the best power, and my bet is this didn't happen. Third, there were too many people along the path of the take off role. I think that the pilot pulled the nose off too soon to avoid hitting someone. Fourth, the aircraft weight likely was too great for a safe flight. From the looks of the aircraft's flight path, the plane may have been a bit tail heavy, but I think it was within the CG limits of the aircraft. A tail heavy airplane will have a very high nose up atitude after take off with no chance of correction. A stall will take place shortly after.
As far as ground effect goes, this airplane never left ground effect. And as someone said, ground effect takes place anytime an aircraft's wings are generating lift close to the ground.
No matter what the final reason was, this was an unfortunate accident claiming several lives if the information is correct. The quick onset of the post crash fire leads me to believe that there were casulaties. |
