It’s a scenario everyone’s thought about at some time during a flight. What if something happened during landing? For the pilot of a small aircraft in Texas, that horrible scenario came true as they speared off the end of a runway into a public road, finally coming to rest when it hit a passing automobile. Any pilot will tell you that’s way too much excitement for a quiet weekend flight. Thankfully, everyone ended up okay.
The plane in question was a Lancair IV-P Propjet, flying out of Aero Country Airport in North Texas. The single-engined turboprop aircraft came to grief as it attempted a landing on runway 17.
According to preliminary reports from city officials speaking to WFAA, the pilot was unable to stop the plane as it began to run out of space on the 4,352-foot runway. When the tarmac ran out, the plane smashed through a fence and collided with a Hyundai Sonata passing eastbound on Virginia Parkway.
The incident was captured by pilot and aerospace engineer Jack Schneider, who was loading up his own jet on a trailer nearby. Schneider’s video shows the plane busting through the chainlink fence at the end of the runway, before careening into the driver’s side fender of the Sonata.
Footage taken after the crash shows the plane seriously damaged with the propeller taking a particularly hard hit. Fluid can be seen on the ground at the crash site, and the Sonata itself has significant damage to the front end. WFAA indicates that the pilot and occupant of the plane, along with the driver of the Sonata, were treated for minor injuries. FlightAware tracking data indicates the plane had departed Midland Airpark at 11:14 AM local time, transiting to Aero Country over an hour and fifteen minutes.
Reports from witnesses on the ground speaking to WFAA say that the pilot claimed the plane’s reverse thrust system had failed, meaning he could not achieve the landing by the end of the runway. It was allegedly his first time landing at the Aero Country airport. Unconfirmed reports shared on Aviation Safety.net indicate the pilot was executing an emergency landing after the plane had pressurization issues shortly after reaching FL250. A rapid descent followed, with the plane continuing to its ultimate destination at Aero Country Airport. One go-around was attempted, before the pilot landed on the second attempt, striking the Sonata in the process.
Ultimately, we won’t learn the full chain of events until the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) completes its investigation. For now, it’s worth considering the wise words of one Chuck Yeagar. “If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it’s an outstanding landing.”
@Lewin – HEY! Nice to see you here, it’s been awhile! 😀 I do still miss your little solar robot buddy 🙁
Uh… the Generic SUV clearly hit the plane, not the other way around. The two vehicles it was traveling with had no problem stopping before plowing into the plane.
“Honey, slow down–there’s an airplane in the road!”
“Screw him. I have the right-of-way!”
I guess planes of this size/type don’t have ABS brakes?
Clearly the plane would be at fault here because they failed to stop and make sure there was no cross traffic before crossing the road. Question is who would write him a ticket? FAA or local police?
Possibly both? And maybe a bill from the airport to replace the fence.
“One Hotel Papa, please prepare to take down a number. Possible pilot deviation…”
Harrison Ford belongs in a museum.
This plane is too new and has too many safety features for him to be interested in it
How many parsecs does it take to cross the road?
I know this is a joke, but assuming an average road width of 15 feet, it will take approximately 1.481674e-16 parsecs to cross it.
Cue “The More You Know” jingle. 🙂
I didn’t know planes go through side impact crash testing. this one seemed to get 5 stars with minimal damage from the car.
Agreed, those were pretty substantial impacts both from sliding across the ditch and halting the forward progress of that Hyundai, and the aircraft fuselage looks completely undeformed. This one should clearly be an IIHS top pick!
Bet the IIHS is going to love creating a new test for this…
I am confused about why/how the person filming is silent as the plane crashes through the fence and into the car. Where was the “holyshitomgomgomg?”
If you’re holding your breath in anticipation of what’s coming, you don’t make a lot of noise.
I know this could be said for any crash … but … that Hyundai is just a fraction of a second farther down the road and the driver wouldn’t be just treated for minor injuries … what a lucky day for all involved.
That’s the second time this year someone has pooped all over a plane
Hyundai so no oil spill cleanup is necessary.
Something went wrong here, planely.
Would be a crazy plot twist if it turned out the Sonata was stolen and the pilot inadvertently solved a crime
I love the superfluous detail: “saw this while loading my new jet on a trailer!”
It’s like he can’t decide which is more exciting.
So this guy was relying on beta to land at the airport?
Generally that’s a pretty stupid idea.
If the guy was having an emergency and he wasn’t able to keep the plane in the air then that’s different, but if he could have went to another airport with a longer runway that would have been the way to go.
A friend of mine had to rely on beta to land at an airport not due to the length of the runway but rather the super icy conditions that kept him from slowing down with the regular brakes, he figured that out once he landed and he still had plenty of runway left for a go-around if necessary. A private jet landing at the same airport immediately afterwards had to abort the landing and land at another airport close by as that person’s jet has no thrust reversers.
Question from ignorance: what’s ‘beta’ here?
In rock climbing it means route info, a la Betamax. In this context it seems like similar slang.
From context, I was guessing it was a way – other than the brakes – to slow or stop the plane
Now that re-read it I think you’re right. I was thinking the pilot didn’t know what the length of the runway was or something. Maybe Beta is Braking Emergency Tits Ass?
Beta Thrust AKA reverse thrust via changing the pitch of the propeller blades so while the prop is spinning in the same direction instead of the prop moving air backwards it’s pushing the air forwards.
There we go: thanks!
The TL;DR is that in turboprop operations, it’s the range of power positions below flight idle. In this situation, the power lever controls blade pitch. You can use beta to reverse the blades so that the prop is pushing air forward. The beta range can be used to maneuver the aircraft around the ground, reversing, as well as to help slow you down after landing.
http://12charlie.com/Chapter_14/Chap14Page007.htm
As MrLM002 points out, you don’t want to rely on just that for landing. The pilot in this case should have aborted the landing and found a longer runway. Maybe the final report will indicate why the pilot went through with this particular landing.
thanks!
So, literally reverse thrust. Doesn’t that get squirrelly with the weight behind you balanced/pivoting around that thrust? Like a Robin if the single front wheel was the only one braking?
4000 plus feet is a healthy amount of runway for a small plane to effect a full stop landing with wheel brakes. I suspect the pilot landed both hot and long. Should have gone around again, but it sounds like they were distracted and/or a bit panicked by what was going on in the cockpit and wanted down.
Yeah, something went wrong in there. You’d think 4k feet is ample room to stop even with some equipment failure. I’ll be adding this to my list of incidents to watch just because the final report will almost certainly be an interesting read.
Beta means reverse thrust.
Turboprop aircraft have a function called beta range, or reverse thrust. Once you’ve landed and the wheels are in contact with the runway, you are able to reverse the propeller pitch, which reverses the direction of thrust. This allows you to brake without wearing down the actual wheel brakes.
All commercial jets have this as well. It works a little differently, but the principle is the same.
Thanks, it makes sense now
The insurance guy on the phone : you were hit by whaaat ?
My first thought as well: ‘Huh, that accident report will be interesting!’
Quickly followed by, ‘And I’ll bet they’ll need to replace the driver’s seat—hope he/she had a change of clothes handy’
Picturing the typical diagram on the police report with the little rectangles representing the cars…and then…
..followed by joy for the claims agent, as denying the claim was easily justified now!
We are Farmers. Bah da bah bah bum bum bah!