PLANE FLIES FOR TWO HOURS WITH WING MISSING

Man did you see the rental prices for the 182 and 172 in the
UK? What's the exchange rate now? About $1.75 per UK pound?

To quote from a popular cable show. "We've got it made in
the USA!" I don't think I can complain about a $80 an hour
wet 172 anymore.

Bart D. Hull

Tempe, Arizona

Check http://www.inficad.com/~bdhull/engine.html
for my Subaru Engine Conversion
Check http://www.inficad.com/~bdhull/fuselage.html
for Tango II I'm building.

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Rich Ahrens wrote:
wrote:

So...even though the missing parts were found on the ground in Ireland,
where the flight departed, and the aircraft landed in Jersey missing
them, you somehow don't believe it happened???



So. You believe everything you read on the Internet? Just because it's
in the paper, or because someone published this "article" on the
'net, doesn't make it true. I'm tired of being sucked into 'net
hoaxes.


Well, a Pinckneyville attendee (who prefers to remain nameless) knows
the pilot on the flight and has shared information with me, so yes, I
believe it happened. Of course that won't convince you, but since you
don't my source yourself, his posting here wouldn't do any good either.
I'm guessing that even reports from the IAA or AAIB wouldn't persuade you.

I'm a pilot and an aircraft mechanic. I'm really having trouble
believing this one.


And I'm part-owner of a 182 which hit a tree on a missed approach,
ripping off the left wing tip and crushing the leading edge of the left
wing from the strut out to what was left, among other damage. The folks
on board flew it back from Duluth to Minneapolis in that condition at
night. They damned well knew something was wrong, and I'm sure the 210
crew must have as well - that part smells of ass-covering. But it flew,
and I believe the 210 did as well. The evidence is incontrovertible.

Here's that 210 in happier times, for anyone interested:

http://www.pacnetair.com/aircraft.html

Smitty Two wrote:


I don't know much about airplanes, hopefully enough to stay alive up
there, but I think it's entirely plausible that the plane could have
flown in that condition, and even that the occupants might not have
noticed. What I'm having a devil of a time believing, is that an impact
of the magnitude necessary to rip off the wingtip in flight wouldn't
have dragged the damn thing out of the sky. Supposedly this happened due
to impacting trees just after takeoff, so would I be wrong to assume
that there wasn't much airspeed or altitude available for recovery from
such a "disturbance?" To me, that's the fishiest part of the story.

Add to that it's a high wing. No one noticed the treetops OVER their
heads!!



--
This is by far the hardest lesson about freedom. It goes against
instinct, and morality, to just sit back and watch people make
mistakes. We want to help them, which means control them and their
decisions, but in doing so we actually hurt them (and ourselves)."

wrote:

I'm guessing that even reports from the IAA or AAIB wouldn't persuade you.


Wrong. A respectably-published report would convince me. I'll
wait until someone points it out.
The pictures look like it had STD'd fiberglass wing extensions
or Flint tip tanks, and if so, that may be all that's missing, not part
of the actual wing structure. And not five feet. Whacking off wing
structure will often damage the wing root structure as well, causing
much more serious damage.

I don't know what photos you're looking at, but this one clearly shows a
majority of the left aileron missing, not to mention the wing structure
forward of it:

http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ill...73.jpg&.src=ph

There was a pre-war Italian design that had one wing shorter than the other
to compensate for the P factor.

Perhaps this is a modern version.

Let's not forget about Burt Rutan's Boomerang... It was an Asymetrical
twin.

Bryan

I'm pretty sure they noticed... Maybe gettherenitis and not wanting to
admit fault (machismo) made them continue.

Bryan

The Germans in WWII also had a single-engined weirdo airplane
that had an offset fuselage. However, all such asymmetrical designs
only appeared asymmetrical; the lift was distributed so that the the
thing was balanced properly. You cannot chop a chunk of wing off any
airplane and expect it to fly normally. How much would we have to knock
off a 210's wing before it would be noticeably wing-heavy?

Dan

Flyingmonk wrote:
I'm pretty sure they noticed... Maybe gettherenitis and not wanting to
admit fault (machismo) made them continue.

Bryan

Now I can accept that the plane could fly, better 'stay in the air',
that way. What I can't accept is that any knowledgeable pilot would
continue a flight for -2 hours- in a plane that heavily damaged or that
the passengers would agree to it. I can't feature fighting the
controls in an out of trim plane for that long. I suspect that if this
story is true, there is one pilot without a license now.

Harry K

"How much would we have to knock off a 210's wing before it would be
noticeably wing-heavy?"

Apparently at least 5'7".

Colin

In article .com,
"Harry K" wrote:

Flyingmonk wrote:
I'm pretty sure they noticed... Maybe gettherenitis and not wanting to
admit fault (machismo) made them continue.

Bryan

Now I can accept that the plane could fly, better 'stay in the air',
that way. What I can't accept is that any knowledgeable pilot would
continue a flight for -2 hours- in a plane that heavily damaged or that
the passengers would agree to it. I can't feature fighting the
controls in an out of trim plane for that long. I suspect that if this
story is true, there is one pilot without a license now.

Harry K

Jeana Yeager and Dick Rutan flew the Voyager around the world, a
non-stop flight of 10 days, with both winglets having been torn off
during the takeoff roll. They actually had to shake them loose by
manuevering, because the drag they were causing in the dangling form was
making the plane handle poorly. Still they were left with loose skin,
rough jagged foam sticking out, dangling wires, etc. Not to mention that
the tips had been added to correct a tail-heavy condition. I don't
recall that their licenses were revoked...