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felt the plane “pull to the left,”


Subdeacon Joe

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172 Lands Safely Missing Much Of A Wing

 

The NTSB has released its factual report on a 2018 incident that ended with the pilot of a Cessna 172 coaxing the aircraft ten miles to a safe landing missing four feet of the left wing and most of the trailing edge. The pilot was uninjured. The aircraft was on a pipeline patrol south of Abilene, Texas, on Dec. 21, 2018, when it hit a tower guy wire. The pilot was able to maintain control of the plane and land at Abilene.

The aircraft was on an inspection flight from Temple, Texas, to Snyder, Texas, and had been in the air almost two hours when the pilot, who did not have an observer with him, felt the plane “pull to the left,” according to the NTSB report. He later said he was looking down at the time, writing observation notes, when the incident occurred. He said he never saw the wire. The impact took off the section of wing just outboard of the left aileron and the trailing edge peeled inboard almost to the fuselage. The pilot later reported that in the absence of a second crew member to note observations, he could have waited to make his notes.

 

KathrynsReport.png

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Kinda like texting while driving.

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16 hours ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

Bet he had a lot of trim on the rudder.

Don't know what the 172's are like nowadays, but the pre-1964 models didn't have an adjustable rudder trim tab.  They had a metal trim tab that had to be bent by guess and by golly...on the ground.  I rented one from the local FBO where I was going to college.  Brand new!  I was trying to build up hours and was going cross-country around the state of Illinois.  Got to altitude and discovered it was yawing right just enough to be annoying.  Wound up kicking left rudder for about four hours until I got back to the home field! 

 

Amazing how much aerodynamic surfaces a plane can lose and still fly!  See photos of that A-10 and an F-15, as well as some of the damage to B-17's in WWII! :o

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Wow. That'll teach him to have his head in the cockpit LOL. 

I learned to fly in a 172; 1961 B model with the Continental 145hp O-300. Later models had 175hp. Got chewed on by ATC going into Tucson one day. Tower asked me to "expedite" which I did. Firewalled it and got up to a whole 120kts LOL. A few minutes later Mr Cranky says 73 X-ray, I said you need to expedite! You have a Beech KingAir at your six, closing. I told him I was peadaling as fast as I could so either clear me for a missed approach or, let me do a 360 for spacing. Mr Cranky says 'say type aircraft.' I told him. Before he could answer the KingAir pilot, chuckling, told him it was ok, he'd throttle back because that poor guy in the 172 has only 145 horses LOL.

 

Out of all the A/C I flew, the 172 was my favorite. I miss old 73X-ray.

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