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My good friend Hal Woodruff had an unfortunate landing experience with his Lancair 360 a few weeks ago and he wanted me to post some excerpts of my e-mail conversations with him regarding this incident. Understandably, Hal is still in shock about the whole matter and is currently assessing the situation. NTSB Preliminary Report: http://www.ntsb.gov/Aviation/LAX/00A349.htm
Subj: Re: Are you alright?
Date: 10/04/2000 1:36:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: woodruff@swefco.com (Hal Woodruff)
To: RicArgente@cs.com
Thanks for your concern. I think that I'm still in shock and denial. I
can't believe that I can't go to the airport and go to far places fast.
My passenger and I walked away without a scratch, bump, or bruise. The
passenger compartment was unscathed - a testament to the strength and
resiliency of glass.
I'm afraid that the airplane is a total. At least that's what the insurance
adjuster thought.
Here's what happened: I was on a stabilized approach to runway 35 at
Kernville, CA (L05) and carrying 85 knots airspeed, flaps down, and had a
fairly steep approach angle (like I always did - in case the engine quits).
I started my flare over the numbers, and at first this too was normal.
Then, as I pulled back further on the stick, there was nothing there - it
was like the air just disappeared. A friend on the ground saw the whole
thing and told me that I was level in the flare, and then I just dropped.
It was if I had been swatted from the air. The mains contacted first, and
compressed the shocks. I could feel the gear legs bending - strange
feeling. The aircraft then rotated strongly onto the nose gear and then
launched us into the air again. Now I was slow, nose high, with the right
wing coming up. I'm convinced that if I had added power here that I'd have
cartwheeled the airplane into the rocks to the side of the runway. Somehow
I got the plane onto the runway, well half on the runway, and heading off to
the left. I had it straightened out and headed back onto the runway when
the left main struck a large rock, which broke the casting and dropped the
left wing. From there it was a matter of skidding sideways across a berm of
large rocks (boulders) until we came to a stop.
You can't imagine what the bottom of the wings look like. If its to be
repaired it will take new wings, center section, gear (all three wheels
ripped off), new cowling, and substantial repairs to the aft fuselage where
a large rock punched through the bottom. Is that all? I don't think so.
There's instruments to check, an engine to tear-down, and of course, a new
prop and engine mount. It's toast.
Will I fly again? You bet!!
Hal
.
Subj: Re: Are you alright?
Date: 10/05/2000 5:03:27 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: woodruff@swefco.com (Hal Woodruff)
To: RicArgente@cs.com
Rick,
I think that I flew into some kind of wind shear, or thermal gust. Also,
the runway had a slope from the side where it had been built up from the
surrounding terrain. The shear could also have been some sort of rotor that
formed in the lee side of this slope. If only we could see the air!
Here's how I would do things differently:
Flatten the approach angle. 500 foot/min. This requires more planning, and
a lower pattern than I've felt comfortable with in the past. Certainly
creates problems for fitting into the pattern since the pattern legs will be
longer, especially the final leg. (Hope the engine keeps running). With
the flatter approach angle the "energy of descent" is lower. You'd be less
pressed to stop the rate of descent with the flare. There's a side benefit
here also. You'd be less apt to descend upon an unseen Warrior or C150.
Use less than full flaps. This is a gut feel item. It seems to me that my
landings were always better with less than full flaps. Its more conducive
to flying it on - visibility is better since the nose is a little lower.
Overfly the fence with 90 knots. Since most of the runways out there are
long enough for this kind of speed, I'd plan on using all of the runway.
Plan on touching down on the runway somewhere past the numbers - kind of
like the big boys do. This, I'd hope, would eliminate experiencing any kind
of weird shears caused by changes in terrain at the end of the runway. This
particular runway had a sudden drop off at the end of the runway. I don't
think that this figured in, but, who knows?
Look for "traps" in a crosswind. Buildings, trees, changes in terrain, etc.
can set up "wind shadows" that could cause shear or rotor. I'd try to
envision what the air might be doing because of these obstructions and plan
accordingly.
Rick, I've thought long and hard about this particular "landing" and these
are the things I'd do differently. Its really hard to say if it would have
made a difference for me that day. But in retrospect it just seems as
though the above would, in general, lead to more benign and uneventful
landings.
Maybe we should share this thread with the rest of the group. What do you
think? Go ahead and put them together if you want. I just don't have the
heart to do it myself.
Hal
From: RicArgente@cs.com
Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 08:32:27 EDT
To: woodruff@swefco.com
Subject: Re: Are you alright?
Hello Hal,
I'm looking at the picture you sent me and am in awe by the size of those
rocks, oh yes boulders!!
It was really weird reading your description of the accident and had
"butterflies in my stomach" as I was reading your email, very depressing and
saddening. I can only imagine how you must feel, very, very sorry Hal. :-(
Thank God you and your passenger did not get hurt.
<<Then, as I pulled back further on the stick, there was nothing there - it
was like the air just disappeared.>>
That's just damm scary! Your approach speeds are pretty close to mine,
between 80 and 90 knots, usually on a steep approach. I wonder what
condition would cause you to, pretty much, stall, at this stage of the
approach? Wind sheer/gust? How is this possible? If you come up with the
most logical answer/s, please let me know. This incident makes me a bit
nervous because I know that you are a very good pilot with lots and lots of
hours and I'm just shy of 300 hours, a bit on the low side...
You seem to be taking this very well and keeping a positive attitude, that's
good. I hope you can get N360HW back together and in the air again. If you
decide to total the plane, then take the insurance money and run. At least
you still have the IV to look forward to....
Hope to hear back from you soon...
Rick
Hal,
Okay, I'll put it together and post it on LML. I didn't know how you felt about making this incident public. I'm sure our Lancair buddies on LML will appreciate your openness on this matter and hopefully, learn something out of it. Bill Russell's and Don Geotz's landing approach techniques are two perfect examples of what you described. Bill likes the 'Navy Approach' (i.e. flatter approach with more power) vs. Don's steep approaches. I kinda find myself doing steep approaches myself since our airport favors RWY 28 85% of the time and this runway has telephone wires on the approach end to deal with. However, landing on RWY 10, I use the flatter approach and I actually make better landings this way. But you know what, Hal, Mother Nature is a powerful force (as you well know) and it's tough to predict what she has in store for us, regardless of the landing techniques we use. We can only respect her cause we definitely can't beat her, and try the best we can to overcome what she throws at us as best we can, as you clearly tried to do.
N360HW and N360ZR sort of 'grew up' together and were 'born' pretty much the same time. It was great for both planes and us builder-pilots to make it to OSH this year together, truly a dream come true! Therefore, I was utterly shocked to see N360HW on the NTSB report and had to read it again to make sure. Again, I'd like you to know how saddened I am about what happened and hope things work themselves out for the best, as they usually do...
Talk to you soon,
Rick
LML website: http://www.olsusa.com/Users/Mkaye/maillist.html
LML Builders' Bookstore: http://www.buildersbooks.com/lancair
Please send your photos and drawings to marvkaye@olsusa.com.
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