View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
Cherskiy
Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 3701 Location: near Amble, Northumberland
|
Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 7:57 pm Post subject: Block of concrete falls from plane over Newcastle |
|
|
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/6643891.stm
I'll have to check with my mates in ATC to see whether the block was being carried inside the aircraft or whether somehow the Cherokee took over dragging the block behind it!
Aircraft parked in the open on the south side apron at Newcastle Airport are tied-down using these blocks, especially if they're going to be left unattended for a period of time. It is not unknown for light aircraft to be flipped over in high winds - it's happened once or twice here before. _________________ Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
gfloyd
Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 4861 Location: Here, There, Everywhere.
|
Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Could be Scottish builders starting to bomb Newcastle. How are those independence talks going in Edinburgh? _________________ His name was ernie ........ and he drove the fastest milk cart in the west..... |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Cherskiy
Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 3701 Location: near Amble, Northumberland
|
Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
We'd better start rebuilding Hadrian's Wall, in that case....
On second thoughts, given the way the Scottish Parliament seem to be doing this, that and the other for folks north of the border, I'd be happy for Northumberland to be gifted to Scotland - just move the border southwards from Carlisle to the Tyne. We're marginalised by London, so we wouldn't be any worse off.... _________________ Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
mark occomore
Joined: 07 Dec 2006 Posts: 9955 Location: UK
|
Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:33 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Maybe they are protesting about Newcastle United football club.. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Cherskiy
Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 3701 Location: near Amble, Northumberland
|
Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 8:46 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Well, they should brush up on their bomb-aiming in that case - Jesmond Tennis Club is about two miles from St James' Park! _________________ Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Helen May
Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19406 Location: Cheshire
|
Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 8:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
I guess my O/H will be on the phone to ours in ATC as well!
Slight difference in the size of Jesmond Tennis club as well... My old school was a stones throw from there. <yikes>
H _________________ 88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!
I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005 |
|
Back to top |
|
|
iwarburton
Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 2133 Location: Northumberland
|
Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 11:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
I live in Northumberland but am about a mile south of the Tyne so you'd need to move the border a bit further south to include all Northumberland and Tyne and Wear.
Bring it on!
Ian. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Cherskiy
Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 3701 Location: near Amble, Northumberland
|
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:16 pm Post subject: |
|
|
So, what really happened: the Cherokee was visiting Newcastle Airport, it wasn't one of the locally-based aircraft (I'll not say which one it was to avoid embarassing the pilot further).
The cable attaching the concrete tie-down to the aircraft's wing was still attached when the pilot got into the plane and started the engine up ready for departure - my source tells me there was a 'chalk-mark' running across the parking apron from where he'd parked up to the edge of the runway, made when the block was dragged across the ground!
We still can't work out how he didn't realise something was amiss, since the aircraft would have crabbed over to one side a little whilst taxying, he'd have needed more power to take off, plus his trim settings would have been all wrong once airborne....
I suspect the CAA will be having words. _________________ Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Lord Evan Elpuss
Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3417 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land
|
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:49 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I may be a little out of my depth here, not being a pilot, just an aircraft enthusiast, but I have a problem imagining a light plane like a PA-28 getting airborne with a concrete block still attached to it's wing. Surely the very least that would happen is that it would seriously affect the aircraft's flying charactistics, at worst perhaps causing the wing to be ripped off the aircraft. _________________ Lord Evan Elpuss, Your ideal job is a Lumberjack. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Mark Mayhew
Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 2897
|
Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Excuse my ignorance-if this concrete block had landed on someone wouldn't it have killed them or seriously injured them at the very least. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Cherskiy
Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 3701 Location: near Amble, Northumberland
|
Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 5:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
LEE, Mark, yes, you're both correct.
As I mentioned earlier, no-one I've spoken to can understand how the PA-28 pilot managed to get airborne without realising something was wrong. It is theoretically possible for a Cherokee (especially one of the R and RT versions) to get airborne pulling a rope tied to a reasonably heavy concrete block (LEE, you'll have seen them before, so you know the size I mean). However, this one was just a bulk-standard PA-28-161 Warrior.
(It also does crew ferries on behalf of a major charter airline so you'd think they'd know better!)
Mark, you're spot on in saying that the block would have killed someone if it had struck them - another few hundred yards south and it would have hit a residential area. _________________ Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Triumph Herald
Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 85 Location: Bucks
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 6:18 pm Post subject: |
|
|
If nothing else, the CAA should be asking if they can incorporate details of this fantastic adventure in the pilot training syllabus.
Calculate the take-off roll required (a) on a warm day; (b) with a crosswind; (c) with a dirty great lump of concrete dangling from the strut.
Landing test: (a) glide approach; (b) flapless; (c) short field; (d) asymmetric concrete dangle. |
|
Back to top |
|
|
Cherskiy
Joined: 08 Dec 2006 Posts: 3701 Location: near Amble, Northumberland
|
Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 7:30 pm Post subject: |
|
|
_________________ Author: “To the Ends of the Earth: A Snapshot of Aviation in North-Eastern Siberia, Summer 1992”
(Free to read via Kindle Unlimited) |
|
Back to top |
|
|
|