So many things wrong with that......must be more to the story.

http://www.sudouest.fr/2015/03/12/un-avion-atterrit-en-urgence-sur-une-piste-bleue-et-blesse-une-skieuse-1857153-7.php

Apparently yes. Emergency landing after some sort of accident on takeoff.

I only had an Air Taxi a couple of years, so didn't carry that burden long. However, we didn't shut down spray planes to load. I was a really nice guy until someone got in front of the wing. I shut down and became real mean, if that happened. Props and people don't mix well.

I didn't see any blood on the windshield, the lady must still have most of her appendages intact. Hope she is OK!

The French article says her hand was almost amputated.

lesuther wrote:The French article says her hand was almost amputated.

True, hope she recovers.

I think I'd been flying nearly 10 years before someone told me that shutting the mags off killed the prop fast. I'd always pulled the mix and waited, never knew any other way and never needed to shut down quick.

A good thing about the geared Rotax I suppose, is that once those electronic ignitions are switched off the prop stops real quick. I never thought of that as a safety feature before but it has saved me a few props when things went south on a landing. I hit the switches with no conscious memory of doing so, and only took one blade out of a three blade prop. Twice. The same blade both times! Poor lady, she deserves a big settlement, too bad all around.

Nosedragger wrote:I think I'd been flying nearly 10 years before someone told me that shutting the mags off killed the prop fast. I'd always pulled the mix and waited, never knew any other way and never needed to shut down quick.

Don't rely on that--nothing stops a prop fast enough when it's about to hit someone (or something).

Cary

Cary wrote:

Nosedragger wrote:I think I'd been flying nearly 10 years before someone told me that shutting the mags off killed the prop fast. I'd always pulled the mix and waited, never knew any other way and never needed to shut down quick.

Don't rely on that--nothing stops a prop fast enough when it's about to hit someone (or something).

Cary

No, but if you're about to make a smoothie out of someone, it's about 3 seconds faster than pulling the mix.

So...this is interesting.

Same actual plane.

Same strip.

You see the problem here.

A privately owned plane.

yeah, someone put a lift at the departure end of the airstrip! what could possibly go wrong?

Wow, I sure couldn't get away with that at the ski area behind my place. Looks like a good fun little ski strip, just need to get that lift out of the way before someone gets hurt That "not having brakes" things strikes again.

The Europeans, unlike in the US, have a requirement for a specific training and endorsement prior to operating aircraft at these "Altiports". Actually requires training, a certain number of landings at Altiports and an endorsement.

And I believe each Altiports is specifically approved for operation.

In any case, even though takeoffs on glaciers (and ski slopes) is nearly always downhill, sticky snow and/or a tailwind can make takeoff impossible. Even on a steep downhill. And as demonstrated here, the turnaround at the bottom has to be pre-planned and well executed.

Tough deal in any case. Point is, though, that pilots who use these mountain landing sites have demonstrated some significant skills and they land these sites with some frequency. The good news is, if you do get stuck, there's lots of muscle around to help, and often a good restaurant there for lunch.

I hope they are able to save the lady's hand.

MTV