Dumped a load of glitter for one of those new baby gender reveal things, hard pull back and the wing folded

RIP

https://t.co/6JILK7fsGm

What a horrific accident, terrible to think of the pilot. The celebratory context makes it so much worse.

I was stunned by the crowd's focus, it seems like nobody except the cameraperson noticed the aircraft crashing only a hundred meters away.

I don't think seeing that has improved my day.

Yes, sad. I worked out of Charlie Bush's hanger at Fabens, Texas when I sprayed down there. Charlie rebuilt Pawnees and most went across the border to Mexico. He gave the pilots who came to pick up the airplane the logs. Most, he said, pitched the logs in the trash before leaving with the airplane. I am not one to fuss, as I also flew junk. But I hired a mechanic for annuals and required maintenance.

The load didn't look that heavy, but he threw the dump handle completely open. That is not necessary and causes a violent pitch up. Were you at Ag Flight, Nine ThreeKilo, before or after Billy lost a student and the Ag Cat with a practice emergency dump? Transland pumps were mounted in the bottom of the hopper and the dump was all or nothing. Agranomics pumps on the Pawnee were mounted separate and the gate could be opened gradually. When I knocked the top of the rudder that goes over the vertical stabilizer off Mr. Behnke's Pawnee going under a wire, I flew to a grass pasture and released the load slowly before landing on a county highway.

contactflying wrote:Yes, sad. I worked out of Charlie Bush's hanger at Fabens, Texas when I sprayed down there. Charlie rebuilt Pawnees and most went across the border to Mexico. He gave the pilots who came to pick up the airplane the logs. Most, he said, pitched the logs in the trash before leaving with the airplane. I am not one to fuss, as I also flew junk. But I hired a mechanic for annuals and required maintenance.

The load didn't look that heavy, but he threw the dump handle completely open. That is not necessary and causes a violent pitch up. Were you at Ag Flight, Nine ThreeKilo, before or after Billy lost a student and the Ag Cat with a practice emergency dump? Transland pumps were mounted in the bottom of the hopper and the dump was all or nothing. Agranomics pumps on the Pawnee were mounted separate and the gate could be opened gradually. When I knocked the top of the rudder that goes over the vertical stabilizer off Mr. Behnke's Pawnee going under a wire, I flew to a grass pasture and released the load slowly before landing on a county highway.

That was before my time there, thought that was a radial air tractor or something though?


Guy in the video was playing to the camera (and fun factor) for sure, but it didn’t look violent enough to warrant that break, I too thought first about that planes history and maintenance

Wasn’t it thrush who has a couple little holes in the wing spar you could see and if a crack formed between the holes it was sposed to be the first sign to avoid a failure?

Not a Thrush man. Rob would know.

contactflying wrote:Not a Thrush man. Rob would know.

Used to always take my guys to the factory for one of their dual x/c, same with Maule

My Dad sold a Pawnee to Billy Howell when he retired. That was an interesting story in it's self. Anyway, Dad dumped ashes of a retired TWA captain friend over his duck hunting pond in Missouri. Dad put what was left from cremation into the hopper and dumped a 50 pound bag of cement in so people could see something come out. He flew in a "Gone West" direction and there was no drastic pitch up but he could have if he wanted. I'm wondering if a Chinese bolt was holding the lift strut.

Any dealings with Billy Howell was a trip. My first dealings with him was on the phone. He said he would hire me but I was to go from my home in Missouri to Ontario, Oregon to pick up a Pawnee on my way to Bainbridge, Georgia, home of Ag Flight. I forgot about the dual XC trips to the Thrush factory. I guess I wasn't paying attention on the wing inspection. If one needs to dump fertilizer, or heavy dry material, one throws the dump lever all the way. Takes a bit to come out, so no violent pitch up. Yes, I expect the pilot in the video was trying to be impressive as well. The student's at Ag Flight said the student in the, yes radial, Ag Cat loaded more than the prescribed 50 gallons for practice dump. Billy was a good guy and knew how to teach Ag, but he had three ex-wives, three girlfriends, golfed, gambled, and wasn't any good at golf. The other instructors told me the day I came in with the Pawnee, "Billy pays every two weeks on Wednesday. If you wait until Thursday, you may have to wait another two weeks." He was a fun guy to work for, however. His were the only airplanes, that I did not own, that I could solo zero timers in Wednesday who showed up Sunday for their first flight. He said I could show them a stall, but if he ever caught me spinning he would fire me. Billy understood the value of letting the airplane fly rather than stall in a turn. We taught new guys and those who came in with a commercial based on the principals in Stick and Rudder. Billy had a friend who did our check rides, however. Actually knowing how to fly was not disqualifying. Billy understood primacy and what the Ag families wanted emphasized. So did his friend, still FAA I think, rather than DPE.

Terrible shame all the way around. Prayers to all involved. I hope some up and comer will see it and learn from it. It would have been something I would have found useful when I was getting started.

My first solo in a spray plane other than the Cub I learned in was in a Pawnee. I took off with probably 100-125g of water (too long ago to remember) and was supposed to fly around, make a few passes in our practice field and then come back and dump the rest in the grass on the other side of the runway. It was quite a ride. I thought it was fun and had no idea the stress it put on the airframe.

It's amazing we survive our youth.

Back when it was the FAA who came out to watch you fly for an Ag Operating Certificate, they checked paperwork, they didn't want to check the stinky airplane, and they wanted to see a spray run and a dump. The paperwork/operating manual for an Ag 141 Certificate is almost identical to an Air Taxi Certificate, except for the 50 gallon dump. Some maneuvering flight techniques instruction and less dumping would be useful, I think.