my 2 cents
of late there has been much discussion about trike flight over
water. personally, having spent 6 yrs of a mis-spent youth at sea,
i only need to see it from the shore, not first hand. the mere
thought of trying to ' land' a trike, with its high c of g ,
surrounded by wires, and or rigid tubing, belted in, ones lower
limbs trapped in the nose cone, possible injuries, maybe inverted
and almost certainly under water just ain't fun, to me. we need to
learn from every trikers accident, to perhaps avoid a repeat of it.
it appears from press reports that thick fog was ' as our revered
faa would say ' a contributing factor'. well having sailed the
english channel many times, fog should have been in the weather
forcast. its very often foggy. ok, why continue into a worsening
situation, that's what 180s are for. we all have our 'chicken'
points', some early, some later, some too late. this is not in any
way a criticism of martins decision to continue in what was
probably a worsening situation, only an attempt to avoid a repeat
tragedy. before you start throwing rocks at me, i'm only the
messenger ! i've created my share of bent tubing, the latest when i
also was flying where a satisfactory landing was doubtful, 50 ft
up, 50 mph, my crankshaft decided to seize. my video recorded this
latest triumph in stupidity, 5 seconds to 'landing' in arizona
scrub brush, which cushioned my rollover, 20 secs to exit the
partially inverted trike, and walk smartly away( it hadn't rained
in 4 months and the crackling sounds of the brush as i floundered
around convinced me my world was on fire). my point isn't to
broadcast my own stupidity in flying in a hostile area ( i
had a vague notion that i ain't super smart) but to point out the
obvious, had i been in water you people wouldn't be reading this
boring diatribe, i'd have been fish food. yeah, i know, 'sully' did
it, but we ain't 'sullenbergers', and he proved that a 75ton anvil
is easier to land in water than a trike ! anyhow, this latest
tragedy has only beefed up my own aversion to waterlandings with a
wheeled trike. to the undoubted many of you that have the guts to
take on the challenge my hats off , i admire your guts, just
pay a little more attention to the details, even more than when
flying over land, hugs and kisses, monty
4 Comments
I appreciate your trying to bring some good from a tragedy. We all need to learn, learn more, listen to others experiences and advice, and be very careful.
A few thoughts I had were:
I've been re-reminded that a GPS with weather capability (such as Garmin 396 or above) would be invaluable providing minute by minute weather updates, but also a graphical depiction- allowing some steering around (or a 180, 270, etc). Subscription to Garmin's XM WX is pricey, but on a monthly basis not too bad- I just looked again $29.99 for the Lite version which gives weather, TAFs, etc, and $49.99 for the standard version which includes other items such as winds aloft. For an important trip of a few weeks, a 1 or 2 month subscription actually makes a lot of sense. But, I don't think Garmin XM WX is available outside the US/Canada/Puerto Rico. Whereas most of us think of the $50/mo on a yearly basis as $600, for a trike (even an active one) that spends most of its days on the ground. However, on a monthly basis, for certain big trips, it's seems surprisingly affordable. Fifty bucks and cancel it at the end of the trip.
Second I had been envisioning ditching in the water when you may not be able to see the surface. I've read that his GPS showed a long shallow descent to ditch- was he disoriented, or power out (he did have a newly installed (~2-3 days) long range fuel system)?? In any case, if he couldn't see the water's surface it would be difficult to flare at the right moment. I would normally not advocate use of a BRS if the aircraft still flies, but in this situation, a vertical water entry MIGHT have been slower or cause less chance of going upside down. I'm not trying to second guess- but trying to envision so that my mind can more quickly reconsider options if I am faced with similar. He was found quickly, so it appears he got his vest inflated and out of the aircraft, help was there quickly due to his radio use and GPS beacon he used. I feel so sad. So many have mentioned what a great man he was.
David
My trike for one I believe if fitted with the right wing could technically perform very well in high speed .It is very aerodynamic and hydro dynamic and tends to fly quite fast in cruize with the 19M M-Pulse Northwing. I'm actually hoping to find a faster strutted wing in the future capable of 80-100mph speeds , with stalls of around 40mph ,that will fullfill my needs, .
All in all, fly safe everyone. Things can go wrong at anytime and we goto make right decisions ALL the time, and be prepared at all times. But there is still the unknown and unexplainable. In general , I' still a big proponent of BRS's and think its a small investment for a second chance at life.
May he RIP.......
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