I hope I can do it like this guy when it happens to me.

http://www.bremont.com/mayday.php


-Brad

Durango Skywagon wrote:I hope I can do it like this guy when it happens to me.

Gear up in a smooth grassy field after a non-catastrophic engine failure at 3000 ft? Surely there is room for improvement.

1SeventyZ wrote:Gear up in a smooth grassy field after a non-catastrophic engine failure at 3000 ft? Surely there is room for improvement.

The cynic in me wonders if that wasn't a highly calculated marketing gimmick to get placement for that watch. Of course, at ~$8/gal for fuel over there I'd be looking for a field to ditch that Yak in too.

Full disclosure: I have a Bremont and while it's a pretty nice watch I'm not counting on it to get me through any forced landings.

Z

I was also lost as to why he landed wheels up.
THEN -
I remembered being told that the YAKs run everything on compressed air.
I do know that they have a high pressure air tank in the back. Like a scuba divers tank.
Could be he was low on air pressure and had planned on flying long enough to get pumped up.
Just a guess.

Chris C

Those stonewall field fences certainly slow a fella down with a clang! Looked like he sorta bellied across/thru the fence.
I'm sure he was one sore puppy the next day.

wannabe wrote:Z

I was also lost as to why he landed wheels up.
THEN -
I remembered being told that the YAKs run everything on compressed air.
I do know that they have a high pressure air tank in the back. Like a scuba divers tank.
Could be he was low on air pressure and had planned on flying long enough to get pumped up.
Just a guess.

Chris C

While I do not have any time in a Yak 50, I do have a bit of time in a Yak 52 so I will put in my .02. The Yak's have an on board air tank used for starting, brakes, flaps, and gear. The Yak won't start below 15 atmospheres and that is enough to operate the brakes, but not the gear. Until you hit 20 atmospheres the gear will not retract / lock correctly and normal operating pressure is right at 40 atmospheres. Even if the pilot just started and departed without waiting it would have been replenished long before he made it to 3,000 ft.

The reason for landing gear up had nothing to do with the pressure and more to do with the design of the aircraft. The Yak's were built to take the abuse of training as such the gear do not fully retract, but instead hang under the belly while maintain the ability to roll and use the brakes. The prop is wooden / composite and designed to shear upon impact to prevent damage to the engine. In the event of a gear up landing in a Yak, the "idea" was to simply jack up the aircraft, lower the gear, replace the prop, fix any minor damage and return it to service in the shortest time possible. The Yak is built like a tank and will take a lot of abuse as well as operate off of unimproved strips, but they do not have big tires and will not operate well "off airport". In this video you can see that the field he landed in was pretty soft as evident by the marks left by the wheels. The Yak 50 is a single seat, tailwheel version and as such would have most likely gone over on it's back if the gear were down in this scenario. By leaving the gear up, the likelihood of going over is very slim and the gear still protect the underside of the aircraft while the prop shears off "protecting" the engine. I would be surprised if there is much damage on this one other than the cowl, louvers, and possibly an engine mount.

IMO this is a textbook example of the correct way to land any retract aircraft off airport when unplanned, especially a tailwheel retract. Most retracts are not designed to land off airport (small tires) and you are more likely to do more damage and buckle the nose-gear ending up on your back with the gear down than if you slide on the belly.

Here is a close-up of the gear on a Yak 52...

He probably didn't own it or when the pressure started leaving he would have looked down and landed at Keswick. No reason to fly over another range with zero oil pressure.

mr scout wrote::shock: He probably didn't own it or when the pressure started leaving he would have looked down and landed at Keswick. No reason to fly over another range with zero oil pressure.

He was over the town of Keswick when he lost oil pressure. There's no airport at Keswick, as far as I know. He just used it as a reporting point. He was 20 miles from the nearest airport at Carlisle.

Looks like he did a bang-up job to me! I just wish we had that many nice emergency fields around where I fly.

So the prop on a YAK will continue to windmill even with the engine seized?

Throttle Pusher wrote:So the prop on a YAK will continue to windmill even with the engine seized?

I wondered the same - only thing I came up with is it has something to do with the fact that it's geared??

Either way, he passed up a lot of nice looking, seemingly lightly-traveled, roads.

Not G-YAKK's 1st incident

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... 027258.pdf

I'd probably wet myself if a 700 psi tank exploded in my lap & prop went WFO!

L-19 wrote:Not G-YAKK's 1st incident

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cf ... 027258.pdf

I'd probably wet myself if a 700 psi tank exploded in my lap & prop went WFO!

That is what happens when you do not purge the tank or have it pressure tested. It is no different than your home air compressor tank in that it will build up condensation inside and cause corrosion if the resultant water is not drained. To compound the problem, the condensation will combine with lubricant oil and cause a sludge that can clog the system. After a flight in a Yak or Nanchang you will notice most pilots reach under the cowl and purge the tank...sounds like an 18 wheeler releasing the brakes. This is known as the "snot valve" and it will blow out any condensation and oil that has accumulated in the tank onto your hand...it looks like margarine or snot, hence the name.