Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:24 pm
#1128197
"Three brothers and business colleague die in light aircraft crash, France!!!"
Thank god the newspapers of the morning 04-03-12 did not carry this headline, they could so easily have! This is a report on a flying trip by a 52 years old student PPL flying as a back seat passenger to the south of France in a Piper Saratoga. Up front P1 is my younger brother age 46 with around 200+ hours, alongside him another brother Richard aged 50 with 700+ hours PPL experience acting as P2 but no real IMC experience or rating
The purpose of the flight was for the pilot to drop myself and Richard at Bologna to collect a Rolls Royce which we were going to drive back to the UK. The pilot was booked to attend a property conference in Cannes for most of that week, with his wife and two children flying in commercially later that week and all returning to Hampshire at the weekend in the Saratoga. The "business colleague (a journalist for a leading UK property paper) was making his first ever light aircraft trip and nervous with it, he too was leaving at Cannes.
The aircraft had positioned from Thruxton to North Weald that morning and we converged from around London to join the party. Weather was very windy with gusts reported at 35+ knots. The pilot of the Saratoga told us these were the bumpiest conditions he had flown in to date and that we could expect a rough departure until with luck winds abated at altitude. Fully fueled engine was fired and clearance requested. We were lined up for a 02 departure, number two behind a Cessna 172 heading for Turweston. We watched the Cessna as it appeared to levitate upwards almost vertically with little obvious forward progress. At around 1200 feet the Cessna turned downwind and streaked off seemingly with turbo or rocket assistance! Now it was our turn, throttle forward and even at max gross we were off in seconds and immediately being beaten by severe turbulence. Quickly leaving the circuit we routed south crossing the Thames just east of the Dartford bridge, past Rochester, skirting Headcorn, Lydd and on out over a seriously rough channel. Visibility was VFR with patches of scattered cloud, mist,sleet a real mixed bag.
The handling pilot qualified for his PPL in 2009 and immediately bought a Cherokee 180. This was soon deemed to slow and small for his needs, he was in the fortunate position to be able to move up to the Saratoga. Now owning a serious high performance aircraft an IMC was the next challenge, this was duly completed early 2011 followed by some UK and European trips including a Baltic summer tour in 2011 and a night rating.
Meeting the French coast at Dieppe ATC cleard us to climb to 6,500 which meant we were flying in between cumulus clouds and at times inside for between 15 to 40 seconds. Soon we emerged into clear air from my rear forward facing seat port side, I commented on ice crystals appearing on the leading edge. This was acknowledged and we continued south. By the middle of France we were cleared to 8000 ft and again found ourselves skimming the cloud tops which were higher then suggested, and at times we were in them for long periods. The frontal system we were warned about was bang on track, stable north to south over France with us literally flying the edge. To the west was clear but our chosen track and flight plan kept us heading in and out of cloud tops. At this time the aircraft was on auto pilot with P1 monitoring the panel and engine, occasionally reverting to flying manually when things got especially rough or the auto pilot jumped off line! Flying the high ground in this region was incredibly turbulent with wave effect winds rolling off the mountain tops. At times it became quite violent with empty drink cans and a spare head set hitting the ceiling. For a spell I was reduced to bracing myself with hand on the cabin roof and feet pushed hard into the seat back of the empty club class seat opposite! Our journalist friend was by now not a happy bunny at all.
I noticed that we were now collecting a proper layer of ice on the windscreen, a blast of warm cabin air soon dealt with that little did any of us realize what was collecting on the airframe outside! Sweets and drinks were dispensed and a general feel good factor was felt by all. All on board the flight work in reasonably high stress careers, this trip was a brief relaxation, a break away from the usual with time to enjoy each others company. Richard ( P2) took a nap whilst I continued to take photos from the back and enjoy the scenery. Somewhere over the Haute Savoie region we were again scud running (Richard was awake now, auto pilot had been engaged for the past 20 or so minutes). From the back and even with my limited experience I commented on the nose high attitude and angle of attack. This was immediately followed by a series of heavy jolts and thumps felt by us all. Bear in mind this is happening in cloud and turbulence, quite unnerving for all.The initial reaction up front was that the engine was running rough, the mixture was advanced to full rich to no obvious effect. Richard as P2 scanned the panel and immediately noticed the VSI was showing between 1000 and 500 ft per minute decent. The airspeed to his, my and by then P1's horror showed under 75 knots and decreasing!! This all happened in seconds just as we broke out of cloud into clear skies. First thoughts prior to the stall buffeting was that ice had frozen the heated pitot head and we were receiving erroneous readings.
P2 was quick to recognize our dire and worsening situation, the nose was immediately lowered, throttle pushed hard forward with the expected airspeed increase thankfully flying us out of trouble, and theloss thank god of that ominous pre stall shake and buffeting.
We descended below cloud level and made the coast near St Tropez turning east for Cannes. Cannes approach looked after us most professionally, they were incredibly busy with business jets from all over Europe arriving for the property conference.
The plan was to drop our journalist friend, re fuel and depart immediately for Bologna 300+ miles east. Poor weather was rapidly moving in the thought of a night landing in mountainous territory held zero appeal, enough close calls thanks!!
The Rolls collection would now have to wait for another day, easyjet from Nice now looked most attractive!
So what happened?
The following morning at breakfast in our hotel the three of us talked through the events of the day before. Various factors had contributed to the position that we found ourselves in. The frightening conclusion was that despite plenty of warnings, and advice from P2 going unheeded,factor after factor added into the mixture, that not one of us recognized that we were on a flight into danger until we almost reached the point of no return.
Factor 1 - P1 IMC rated with plenty of recent time logged but little actual IMC experience.
Factor 2 - Continuing with a flight into known icing conditions.
Factor 3 - Sticking rigidly to the flight plan, not taking options that were available when icing was noticed, and filing an altered flight plan.
Factor 4 - Possible gung ho attitude from P1, I am with my brothers they have not flown IMC with me before, I can show them that regardless of weather I can get through ok!
Factor 5 - Despite P1's IMC rating and P2's considerable experience the icing situation was allowed to develop with advice from P2 not being heeded to skirt west into clear sky VFR conditions.
Factor 6 - If as a passenger (albeit a training PPL) and useful advice can be offered, don't be afraid to say so,if necessary forcefully. Sitting in the rear with a good idea of what was unfolding but staying stum was akin to being led meekly to the gallows when innocent, and not protesting!
Summary - The aircraft with autopilot engaged flew into known freezing levels accumulating considerable ice. The danger of this contamination was that it lowered the stalling angle of attack of the wing. Autopilot compensated by holding the attitude and as forward speed decayed due to impaired lift, the angle of attack increased unnoticed.
What saved us? Quite simply pure luck in that the stall warning symptoms happened just as we broke into clear VFR. Had it happened in extended IMC conditions and without P2's help and experience, I fully believe our airframe with wing heavy wing ice contamination would have led quickly to a fully stalled aircraft, loss of control and fatal spin. With an out of balance aircraft, normal flight would likely have been impossible or recoverable in the height available.
Foot note: - As we descended to flight level 2000 ft and lower I witnessed huge lumps of ice breaking away from the port wing underside.
Dinner that night was excellent but a sober affair, that reserved table for four so easily could have remained unused!
We learnt about flying from that.
Thank god the newspapers of the morning 04-03-12 did not carry this headline, they could so easily have! This is a report on a flying trip by a 52 years old student PPL flying as a back seat passenger to the south of France in a Piper Saratoga. Up front P1 is my younger brother age 46 with around 200+ hours, alongside him another brother Richard aged 50 with 700+ hours PPL experience acting as P2 but no real IMC experience or rating
The purpose of the flight was for the pilot to drop myself and Richard at Bologna to collect a Rolls Royce which we were going to drive back to the UK. The pilot was booked to attend a property conference in Cannes for most of that week, with his wife and two children flying in commercially later that week and all returning to Hampshire at the weekend in the Saratoga. The "business colleague (a journalist for a leading UK property paper) was making his first ever light aircraft trip and nervous with it, he too was leaving at Cannes.
The aircraft had positioned from Thruxton to North Weald that morning and we converged from around London to join the party. Weather was very windy with gusts reported at 35+ knots. The pilot of the Saratoga told us these were the bumpiest conditions he had flown in to date and that we could expect a rough departure until with luck winds abated at altitude. Fully fueled engine was fired and clearance requested. We were lined up for a 02 departure, number two behind a Cessna 172 heading for Turweston. We watched the Cessna as it appeared to levitate upwards almost vertically with little obvious forward progress. At around 1200 feet the Cessna turned downwind and streaked off seemingly with turbo or rocket assistance! Now it was our turn, throttle forward and even at max gross we were off in seconds and immediately being beaten by severe turbulence. Quickly leaving the circuit we routed south crossing the Thames just east of the Dartford bridge, past Rochester, skirting Headcorn, Lydd and on out over a seriously rough channel. Visibility was VFR with patches of scattered cloud, mist,sleet a real mixed bag.
The handling pilot qualified for his PPL in 2009 and immediately bought a Cherokee 180. This was soon deemed to slow and small for his needs, he was in the fortunate position to be able to move up to the Saratoga. Now owning a serious high performance aircraft an IMC was the next challenge, this was duly completed early 2011 followed by some UK and European trips including a Baltic summer tour in 2011 and a night rating.
Meeting the French coast at Dieppe ATC cleard us to climb to 6,500 which meant we were flying in between cumulus clouds and at times inside for between 15 to 40 seconds. Soon we emerged into clear air from my rear forward facing seat port side, I commented on ice crystals appearing on the leading edge. This was acknowledged and we continued south. By the middle of France we were cleared to 8000 ft and again found ourselves skimming the cloud tops which were higher then suggested, and at times we were in them for long periods. The frontal system we were warned about was bang on track, stable north to south over France with us literally flying the edge. To the west was clear but our chosen track and flight plan kept us heading in and out of cloud tops. At this time the aircraft was on auto pilot with P1 monitoring the panel and engine, occasionally reverting to flying manually when things got especially rough or the auto pilot jumped off line! Flying the high ground in this region was incredibly turbulent with wave effect winds rolling off the mountain tops. At times it became quite violent with empty drink cans and a spare head set hitting the ceiling. For a spell I was reduced to bracing myself with hand on the cabin roof and feet pushed hard into the seat back of the empty club class seat opposite! Our journalist friend was by now not a happy bunny at all.
I noticed that we were now collecting a proper layer of ice on the windscreen, a blast of warm cabin air soon dealt with that little did any of us realize what was collecting on the airframe outside! Sweets and drinks were dispensed and a general feel good factor was felt by all. All on board the flight work in reasonably high stress careers, this trip was a brief relaxation, a break away from the usual with time to enjoy each others company. Richard ( P2) took a nap whilst I continued to take photos from the back and enjoy the scenery. Somewhere over the Haute Savoie region we were again scud running (Richard was awake now, auto pilot had been engaged for the past 20 or so minutes). From the back and even with my limited experience I commented on the nose high attitude and angle of attack. This was immediately followed by a series of heavy jolts and thumps felt by us all. Bear in mind this is happening in cloud and turbulence, quite unnerving for all.The initial reaction up front was that the engine was running rough, the mixture was advanced to full rich to no obvious effect. Richard as P2 scanned the panel and immediately noticed the VSI was showing between 1000 and 500 ft per minute decent. The airspeed to his, my and by then P1's horror showed under 75 knots and decreasing!! This all happened in seconds just as we broke out of cloud into clear skies. First thoughts prior to the stall buffeting was that ice had frozen the heated pitot head and we were receiving erroneous readings.
P2 was quick to recognize our dire and worsening situation, the nose was immediately lowered, throttle pushed hard forward with the expected airspeed increase thankfully flying us out of trouble, and theloss thank god of that ominous pre stall shake and buffeting.
We descended below cloud level and made the coast near St Tropez turning east for Cannes. Cannes approach looked after us most professionally, they were incredibly busy with business jets from all over Europe arriving for the property conference.
The plan was to drop our journalist friend, re fuel and depart immediately for Bologna 300+ miles east. Poor weather was rapidly moving in the thought of a night landing in mountainous territory held zero appeal, enough close calls thanks!!
The Rolls collection would now have to wait for another day, easyjet from Nice now looked most attractive!
So what happened?
The following morning at breakfast in our hotel the three of us talked through the events of the day before. Various factors had contributed to the position that we found ourselves in. The frightening conclusion was that despite plenty of warnings, and advice from P2 going unheeded,factor after factor added into the mixture, that not one of us recognized that we were on a flight into danger until we almost reached the point of no return.
Factor 1 - P1 IMC rated with plenty of recent time logged but little actual IMC experience.
Factor 2 - Continuing with a flight into known icing conditions.
Factor 3 - Sticking rigidly to the flight plan, not taking options that were available when icing was noticed, and filing an altered flight plan.
Factor 4 - Possible gung ho attitude from P1, I am with my brothers they have not flown IMC with me before, I can show them that regardless of weather I can get through ok!
Factor 5 - Despite P1's IMC rating and P2's considerable experience the icing situation was allowed to develop with advice from P2 not being heeded to skirt west into clear sky VFR conditions.
Factor 6 - If as a passenger (albeit a training PPL) and useful advice can be offered, don't be afraid to say so,if necessary forcefully. Sitting in the rear with a good idea of what was unfolding but staying stum was akin to being led meekly to the gallows when innocent, and not protesting!
Summary - The aircraft with autopilot engaged flew into known freezing levels accumulating considerable ice. The danger of this contamination was that it lowered the stalling angle of attack of the wing. Autopilot compensated by holding the attitude and as forward speed decayed due to impaired lift, the angle of attack increased unnoticed.
What saved us? Quite simply pure luck in that the stall warning symptoms happened just as we broke into clear VFR. Had it happened in extended IMC conditions and without P2's help and experience, I fully believe our airframe with wing heavy wing ice contamination would have led quickly to a fully stalled aircraft, loss of control and fatal spin. With an out of balance aircraft, normal flight would likely have been impossible or recoverable in the height available.
Foot note: - As we descended to flight level 2000 ft and lower I witnessed huge lumps of ice breaking away from the port wing underside.
Dinner that night was excellent but a sober affair, that reserved table for four so easily could have remained unused!
We learnt about flying from that.
Tango Charlie