Twin Otter crash due to chafed elevator wires

[Frank N. O.]

Just noticed this news listed on the danish pilot site. Sounds like something that could be worth checking to avoid another disaster.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/10/19/218725/twin-otter-crash-inquiry-recommends-elevator-cable-checks.html

Frank

[airtac]

Just noticed this news listed on the danish pilot site. Sounds like something that could be worth checking to avoid another disaster.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/10/19/218725/twin-otter-crash-inquiry-recommends-elevator-cable-checks.html

Frank

Interesting, and speaking of Twotter pilots----where's the Soccermom?   I miss her acute (and cute) wisecracks
SOCCERMOM,  PLEASE COME BACK !!!

[G-man]

Interesting, and speaking of Twotter pilots----where's the Soccermom?   I miss her acute (and cute) wisecracks
SOCCERMOM,  PLEASE COME BACK !!!

I was checking AFF the other day and saw the minivan over the DC area.

Edited to add: Just checked again and it is flying right now over North Carolina heading back to Newport, VA. Probably all that "secret squirrel" stuff she does with scientists.

[airtac]

Interesting, and speaking of Twotter pilots----where's the Soccermom?   I miss her acute (and cute) wisecracks
SOCCERMOM,  PLEASE COME BACK !!!

I was checking AFF the other day and saw the minivan over the DC area.

Edited to add: Just checked again and it is flying right now over North Carolina heading back to Newport, VA. Probably all that "secret squirrel" stuff she does with scientists.

Second time today I heard "secret squirrel"---the first was a phone call from a friend who is flying Predators from a base in Afghanistan or somewhere in that area--he couldn't say because of the "secret squirrel" stuff ---pretty hard to hold a free flowing conversation with someone who has to be careful not to say where he really is or what his exact mission is.
By the way, he was a flight instructor when he was recruited to fly these things---sounds like the job is harder than it first appears, I'll see if I can get him on here to say howdy, at least.

[Baradium]

Hmm,  all the ads I saw for contractors flying predators seemed to be for bases in New Mexico or California... I always assumed they used satcom datalinks for operations over there...

[airtac]

Hmm,  all the ads I saw for contractors flying predators seemed to be for bases in New Mexico or California... I always assumed they used satcom datalinks for operations over there...

HMM no more Baradium
My friend deploys to the Mid-East for 4 months and lives on a base (couldn't tell me where) then comes back home (So. California) for 4 months---the pay scale is much higher when he is overseas.  I know him well and I know he is not BSing

[Baradium]

Hmm,  all the ads I saw for contractors flying predators seemed to be for bases in New Mexico or California... I always assumed they used satcom datalinks for operations over there...

HMM no more Baradium
My friend deploys to the Mid-East for 4 months and lives on a base (couldn't tell me where) then comes back home (So. California) for 4 months---the pay scale is much higher when he is overseas.  I know him well and I know he is not BSing

Not trying to imply that he is.  Just meant that I misunderstood exactly what they were saying in their ads.   

I wasn't particularly interested in it so didn't pay a whole lot of attention.    Since I assumed they were using the long distance datalink, it never occurred to me they might have people "in the field" so to speak.

[airtac]

Hmm,  all the ads I saw for contractors flying predators seemed to be for bases in New Mexico or California... I always assumed they used satcom datalinks for operations over there...

HMM no more Baradium
My friend deploys to the Mid-East for 4 months and lives on a base (couldn't tell me where) then comes back home (So. California) for 4 months---the pay scale is much higher when he is overseas.  I know him well and I know he is not BSing

Not trying to imply that he is.  Just meant that I misunderstood exactly what they were saying in their ads.   

I wasn't particularly interested in it so didn't pay a whole lot of attention.    Since I assumed they were using the long distance datalink, it never occurred to me they might have people "in the field" so to speak.

Yes , I understand the UAVs coming out of Beale AFB are either autonomous or controlled by data link  (Global Hawks?)
I believe my friend is flying the predator 'A' not sure what the difference is in the A and B models but the way I understand it, he does the takeoff and landing while the "customer" does the cruise and mission profiles. (secret squirrel stuff)

[TheSoccerMom]

Hi Frank!!   

THANKS for the post on this.  I've heard some stories of these cables...  including one crash in Costa Rica where the a/c had just come from the U.S., from some skydiving outfit.  It appears that maintenance was not a very high priority there..  (SHOCKING, yes, I know!!)....   anyway, the plane crashed, on short final,  with a full load of people into a continuous canopy of jungle (mature timber)..  It pitched to the vertical, settled at slow speed into the treetops, and every single person aboard was fine, I believe one pilot got a broken leg...  not bad, considering that was a compete failure of a flight control system.....  And, somehow, it just happened to be an aircraft that had high-backed seats installed...  so every single person didn't even have so much as a stiff neck...  the mechanics told me the empennage looked exactly like an accordion...  it had perfectly symmetrical crinkles as it buckled down into the trees.  That absorbed all the energy. 

A pretty good outcome for something as drastic as a flight control failure, I'd say!

Mom-ski**

[Frank N. O.]

You're welcome, I actually did think of you when I read it and since it seemed like a legitimate problem and not just propoganda/sensionalist journalism then I thought I should post it in case it could help. One heck of a great outcame with that other plane! Was it the landing gear that took the crash or the underside of the fuselage itself?

Frank

[TheSoccerMom]

Oh yes, it is legitimate.  The one I mentioned went into the canopy at a 90-degree angle to the ground -- as if you stood the entire airplane on its tail.  The accordion crinkles went from the aft edge of the tail up to the bulk of the fusleage.  The cockpit did break off -- the mechanics told me you could stand underneath it in the forest, look up through the tail, and see sky start where the forward bulkhead had been.  It was a GREAT outcome, considering.....