Luck of the Irish

[EirePlane]

From this morning's Daily Mirror:


PILOT FLIES 2 HOURS WITH HALF A WING MISSING
A pilot flew this plane for two hours without realising half the wing had gone.
And 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 2 when it hit a tree on take-off from an airstrip near Shannon in Ireland.
The pilot later said he heard a bang but thought he had just his 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.
"It could have ended up a lot more serious than it was. They were very lucky."
The pilot's employers, carrier firm Pacific Network Air, refused to comment.
Irish air crash investigators are probing the incident.
A spokesman said: "It's possible he misjudged take-off."

[Fly2e]

Come on, they didn't know.  
Bet they were just out of the pub!  ;)

Dave

[TacitBlue]

How did he not notice?! Isn't that the part of the wing with the aileron?

[Hagar]

The pilot's employers, carrier firm Pacific Network Air, refused to comment.

Make that ex-employers.

[GWSimulations]

It shows how well these aircraft are built though. I seem to remember a story about an F-15 crashing into an A-10, and losing a whole wing...and the pilot still landed it.

[ozzy72]

I think this is what is known as journalistic artistic licence!
No way any plane can lose a whole or half a wing and keep flying, she'd go over...
Probably just a wingtip shaved off otherwise the pilot would have noticed, and what about outside observations, you mean he didn't look to his left the whole way?

[|| Andy ||]

I seem to remember a story about an F-15 crashing into an A-10, and losing a whole wing...and the pilot still landed it.

Ive heard about that on TV.. F-15  :)

Think it was half and a 'bit' wing though..

[Hagar]

I think this is what is known as journalistic artistic licence!
No way any plane can lose a whole or half a wing and keep flying, she'd go over...
Probably just a wingtip shaved off otherwise the pilot would have noticed, and what about outside observations, you mean he didn't look to his left the whole way?

Presumably not. According to the report it's a Cessna 210. From the angle that photo was taken it's not clear how much of the wing is missing but I would have thought these wingtips would be easy enough to see.



In the report I read they found the fuel tank back in Ireland. Not sure if this was a tip tank or what that might look like but I would think losing one of them would be more obvious. Very strange story indeed.  ::)

PS. Extended tip tank here. http://www.flintaero.com/what_we_have.html

[beaky]

Really can't believe that
 A) this guy thought he'd hit a small bird... there would at least be a yawing moment as the wing impacted a tree stout enough to take off a chunk... especially at the lower airspeed associated with takeoff and climbout; and
 B) he didn't notice he'd lost most of the outboard section of the left wing, including aileron and fuel tank!! If the fuel selector was on "both", that engine would probably start sucking mostly air very soon after losing the tank. Then there'd probably be a warning light showing an overload on the accesory buss due to the severed cables to the wingtip lights and fuel quantity sensor (unless by some miracle neither pair shorted out)...
I've heard of a C172 being landed safely after losing the outer 1/3 of the wing (midair) once, but believe you me, that pilot knew what had happened- he was barely able to keep it level after losing that aileron!!
OK, looking again at the picture, with the foreshortening, it's hard to tell where the break is. But if the fuel cell fell out, you can be sure that aileron either fell off or was not working properly after that collision.  And you can see that more than just the wing cap was removed-in fact, to me it looks like the rib in the foreground  makes up only half the camber (forward of the ailerons and flaps are a few partial ribs in this type of wing)- the trailing portion visible is that of another rib farther inboard- probably the last one before the aileron. The break in the upper skin in the right of the picture also looks like a right angle, suggesting the corner of the aileron opening, or whatever you would call it.
  Even if I'm wrong, I can't believe he didn't turn back and land right away- bird or not, that must've been a hell of a bang!

[beefhole]

It's obvious from the angle that only the WINGTIP was sheared off-all control surfaces and flaps intact, and it would be hard to see from the cockpit (you don't see the wingtip from the cockpit).

Clever shooting by a photographer and a conspiring reporter I say

[ozzy72]

Okay well I seem to be correct, look at the pitot chaps
Quite a long way in still on the first shot, and more than half way out on the second, he just lost the wingtip and the journos are trying to make an exciting (if wildly inaccurate) story out of it. Nothing serious just the usual BS to sell their rag

[Hagar]

It's obvious from the angle that only the WINGTIP was sheared off-all control surfaces and flaps intact, and it would be hard to see from the cockpit (you don't see the wingtip from the cockpit).

You chaps know a lot more about this than me as I've never flown in a Cessna. I would expect any pilot hearing an unexpected bang (possibly a bird strike) to make a careful visual inspection of the parts of the aircraft that he & the passengers can see from the cabin. The complete lower wing surface looks visible from the cockpit to me, especially if you take the trouble to look. From the photo I posted the C210 has downturned wingtips so it should be obvious if one of these was missing - apart from the jagged edges of the torn skin. I assume this aircraft was fitted with the Flint Aero type extended wingtip tanks & that this was what was actually torn off.

Clever shooting by a photographer and a conspiring reporter I say

That newspaper report is exaggerated as usual but I still think they were very lucky.

[beaky]

More good evidence to support the "tip only" theory..
But regardless, why he just kept going I can't imagine.  ???