Maul STOL - spinning a yarn or credible story?

The plane is a Maul (short take off and landing)
Location : the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia.
Forty+ years ago. There are no roads/ tracks/ waterholes, ... nothing

quote:-
------------------------------------------------
""At the prosepct, as we circled, I showed Mike the spinifex burn from
last summer's lightning storms. We
agreed three passes over the proposed landing site, the first with a
right hand wheel lightly on the surface,
the second with the left, ..and if it was okay, a final touch down.
Descending towards the the sand plain,
the dome outcrop looked much larger at low altitude and the strip
ridiculously short. During the second
pass Mike had barely grounded the left wheel when he throttled back
and we came to a perfect three point
landing, breaking hard before a quartzite outcrop.

Retracing the landing tracks about 200 metres I noticed the right
wheel had passed beside a low anthill, not
visible. A few inches to the right would have put us over the centre
of the mound and Mike agreed this
could have caused the plane to cartwheel, but, he said, a miss was as
good as a mile."

(And then there is a bit about having to clear sticks off "the
runway" (of native scrub) before he could take off again.)
------------------------------------------------

Is this a credible story? It's the bit about "breaking hard" before
the quartzite outcrop and the 'anthill' that could have tipped the
plane that worries me. And the "sticks". If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Would a pilot, (even a cavalier 'bush' pilot) take this risk on the
edge of the great Sandy Desert for a look-see stop? (spinifex clumps,
rocks, sticks anthills)

What do pilots say?

don findlay wrote in news:5446b3ed-023e-46ec-a748-
:

The plane is a Maul (short take off and landing)
Location : the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia.
Forty+ years ago. There are no roads/ tracks/ waterholes, ... nothing

quote:-
------------------------------------------------
""At the prosepct, as we circled, I showed Mike the spinifex burn from
last summer's lightning storms. We
agreed three passes over the proposed landing site, the first with a
right hand wheel lightly on the surface,
the second with the left, ..and if it was okay, a final touch down.
Descending towards the the sand plain,
the dome outcrop looked much larger at low altitude and the strip
ridiculously short. During the second
pass Mike had barely grounded the left wheel when he throttled back
and we came to a perfect three point
landing, breaking hard before a quartzite outcrop.

Retracing the landing tracks about 200 metres I noticed the right
wheel had passed beside a low anthill, not
visible. A few inches to the right would have put us over the centre
of the mound and Mike agreed this
could have caused the plane to cartwheel, but, he said, a miss was as
good as a mile."

(And then there is a bit about having to clear sticks off "the
runway" (of native scrub) before he could take off again.)
------------------------------------------------

Is this a credible story? It's the bit about "breaking hard" before
the quartzite outcrop and the 'anthill' that could have tipped the
plane that worries me. And the "sticks". If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Would a pilot, (even a cavalier 'bush' pilot) take this risk on the
edge of the great Sandy Desert for a look-see stop? (spinifex clumps,
rocks, sticks anthills)

What do pilots say?


He mis-spelled Maule and braking, but aside from that it sounds like
pretty standard bush pilot stuff.



Bertie

On 2008-04-12, don findlay wrote:
Is this a credible story? It's the bit about "breaking hard" before
the quartzite outcrop and the 'anthill' that could have tipped the
plane that worries me.

Take a look on Youtube for some bush piloting. Such as this landing on a
lakeside:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56qvyjHKsF4

--
From the sunny Isle of Man.
Yes, the Reply-To email address is valid.

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:42:54 +0000 (UTC), Bertie the Bunyip
wrote:

don findlay wrote in news:5446b3ed-023e-46ec-a748-
:


visible. A few inches to the right would have put us over the centre
of the mound and Mike agreed this
could have caused the plane to cartwheel, but, he said, a miss was as
good as a mile."

(And then there is a bit about having to clear sticks off "the
runway" (of native scrub) before he could take off again.)
------------------------------------------------

Is this a credible story? It's the bit about "breaking hard" before
the quartzite outcrop and the 'anthill' that could have tipped the
plane that worries me. And the "sticks". If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Would a pilot, (even a cavalier 'bush' pilot) take this risk on the
edge of the great Sandy Desert for a look-see stop? (spinifex clumps,
rocks, sticks anthills)

What do pilots say?


He mis-spelled Maule and braking, but aside from that it sounds like
pretty standard bush pilot stuff.



Bertie

a friend of mine used to do this in his supercub when prospecting for
orebodies.
he said that he eventually stopped when he realised that he could
never reliably see the ant nests in the spinifex. he missed a 3ft high
one by 6 inches and never knew it until walking the takeoff line to
check it.

taildraggers like the supercub and the maul get tipped on the nose if
they hit an obstruction while landing.
these ants nests btw can be huge. it is not unrealistic to see a mud
ants nest chest high and about the area of a small car. land into one
of those and you are history.

after a fire the area was probably littered with sticks about the
diameter of your thumb, fairly straight and anything up to 6 ft long.

I dont read anything in the account that is implausible.
Stealth Pilot

In a previous article, don findlay said:
plane that worries me. And the "sticks". If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Something that slows you down is a problem when you're taking off. When
landing, not so much.


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
"Integration by parts -- a very powerful technique."
Teaching by intimidation -- also a very powerful technique.
-- Logan Shaw, quoting Chuck Odle, his Calculus teacher

Paul Tomblin wrote:

In a previous article, don findlay said:
plane that worries me. And the "sticks". If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Something that slows you down is a problem when you're taking off. When
landing, not so much.

Well, ..I guess that's the point. It's the edge of the Great Sandy
Desert - a long way from anywhere. You can always bellyflop down I
suppose. It would be the getting back up would be foremost in my mind
(if I was a pilot). As a passenger, ..well,..would a pilot license
allow you to endanger a passenger's life in that sort of way?
(passengers are on the plane).






--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
"Integration by parts -- a very powerful technique."
Teaching by intimidation -- also a very powerful technique.
-- Logan Shaw, quoting Chuck Odle, his Calculus teacher

Stealth Pilot wrote in
:

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 12:42:54 +0000 (UTC), Bertie the Bunyip
wrote:

don findlay wrote in news:5446b3ed-023e-46ec-a748-
:


visible. A few inches to the right would have put us over the
centre
of the mound and Mike agreed this
could have caused the plane to cartwheel, but, he said, a miss was
as
good as a mile."

(And then there is a bit about having to clear sticks off "the
runway" (of native scrub) before he could take off again.)
------------------------------------------------

Is this a credible story? It's the bit about "breaking hard"
before
the quartzite outcrop and the 'anthill' that could have tipped the
plane that worries me. And the "sticks". If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Would a pilot, (even a cavalier 'bush' pilot) take this risk on the
edge of the great Sandy Desert for a look-see stop? (spinifex
clumps,
rocks, sticks anthills)

What do pilots say?


He mis-spelled Maule and braking, but aside from that it sounds like
pretty standard bush pilot stuff.



Bertie

a friend of mine used to do this in his supercub when prospecting for
orebodies.
he said that he eventually stopped when he realised that he could
never reliably see the ant nests in the spinifex. he missed a 3ft high
one by 6 inches and never knew it until walking the takeoff line to
check it.

taildraggers like the supercub and the maul get tipped on the nose if
they hit an obstruction while landing.
these ants nests btw can be huge. it is not unrealistic to see a mud
ants nest chest high and about the area of a small car. land into one
of those and you are history.

after a fire the area was probably littered with sticks about the
diameter of your thumb, fairly straight and anything up to 6 ft long.

I dont read anything in the account that is implausible.
Stealth Pilot


Yeah, sounds like fairly standard bush stuff to me. Never had anthills
to deal with though! A friend of mine's uncle flew the bush with all
sorts of things for years. he had lots of stories about damage in the
bush in Alaska and Canada. Hard to know how much was genuine some
sounded so outlandish..


Bertie

don findlay wrote in news:88e88cc3-6ad1-4ef3-aabd-
:



Paul Tomblin wrote:

In a previous article, don findlay said:
plane that worries me. And the "sticks". If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Something that slows you down is a problem when you're taking off.
When
landing, not so much.

Well, ..I guess that's the point. It's the edge of the Great Sandy
Desert - a long way from anywhere. You can always bellyflop down I
suppose. It would be the getting back up would be foremost in my mind
(if I was a pilot). As a passenger, ..well,..would a pilot license
allow you to endanger a passenger's life in that sort of way?
(passengers are on the plane).

Bellyflop down? WTF is that?


Bertie

On Apr 13, 4:30*am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
don findlay wrote in news:88e88cc3-6ad1-4ef3-aabd-
:







Paul Tomblin wrote:

In a previous article, don findlay said:
plane that worries me. *And the "sticks". *If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Something that slows you down is a problem when you're taking off. *
When
landing, not so much.

Well, ..I guess that's the point. *It's the edge of the Great Sandy
Desert - a long way from anywhere. *You can always bellyflop down I
suppose. *It would be the getting back up would be foremost in my mind
(if I was a pilot). *As a passenger, ..well,..would a pilot license
allow you to endanger a passenger's life in that sort of way?
(passengers are on the plane).

Bellyflop down? WTF is that?


It's what happens when you stand up if you eat too much or drink too
much beer. It's very common in the USA now -even among young people.

Cheers

WingFlaps wrote in news:ad3071a4-43d9-465e-99d6-
:

On Apr 13, 4:30*am, Bertie the Bunyip wrote:
don findlay wrote in news:88e88cc3-6ad1-4ef3-
aabd-
:







Paul Tomblin wrote:

In a previous article, don findlay said:
plane that worries me. *And the "sticks". *If there was a stick
problem to get up off the ground, there would surely have been
one
coming down, ..yes?/ No?

Something that slows you down is a problem when you're taking off.
*
When
landing, not so much.

Well, ..I guess that's the point. *It's the edge of the Great Sandy
Desert - a long way from anywhere. *You can always bellyflop down I
suppose. *It would be the getting back up would be foremost in my
mind

(if I was a pilot). *As a passenger, ..well,..would a pilot license
allow you to endanger a passenger's life in that sort of way?
(passengers are on the plane).

Bellyflop down? WTF is that?


It's what happens when you stand up if you eat too much or drink too
much beer. It's very common in the USA now -even among young people.

Cheers


Ah, OK. Big in OZ too, apparently.


Bertie