Wayne Handley Turbo Raven Crash at the Salinas Airshow

Wayne Handley's custom built Turbine Powered "Raven" experienced an engine malfunction. Below 1,000 feet, there is no option but to crash land. Footage contains a slow motion segment of the crash and the same maneuver from the day before.

His experience as Navy fighter pilot, air show performer, and aerobatic instructor is called upon for what looks to be an unsurvivable situation. With only seconds to impact, Wayne fights to control the descent speed and hit at the most survivable angle. Wayne recovered from his injuries and continues to fly recreationally and teach aerobatics.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• crash
• airplane
• aerobatic
• aerobatics
• Wayne Handley
• Turo-Raven
• airshow
• injury
• rescue
• extreme
• impact crash accident
• aircraft
• flying
• aviation
• airplanes
• fail
• failure
• popular
• pilot
• stall
• training
• smoke
• turboprop
• breakup
• stunt
• homebuilt
• custom
• design
• science

[CFITOMAHAWK]

Does that airplane have flaps available? I recovered from a 300' stall on take off (night IFR) due airspeed was indicating 11 knots over. Did by dropping 25 degrees of flaps. Airplane was a Hershey Bar Cherokee 180. I was near gross weight, recovered at under 200 feet next to a Hotel building. If you are at flaps speed you are supposed to have flaps I assumed and it worked well. I was a Bush Pilot. We used to drop 25 flaps at Vr/Vx and was used to drop flaps for climbing or slow turning.

[TheVidPro]

@CFITOMAHAWK No flaps.

[CFITOMAHAWK]

@TheVidPro ooops no flaps? I would not fly an airplane with small wings and no flaps after they saved my life a few times. Bush Pilots depend on them a lot.

At 0:43 looks like he tried as usual to recover from the stall with power, but eng. failed. Only remedy was releasing back pressure to let it pick up speed to best glide speed instead of pulling up stick hard as seen on all the 9 seconds stall but it is not easy to release back pressure when you are dropping hard and low. Glad he survived.

[TheVidPro]

@CFITOMAHAWK

He's a pro. Teaches aerobatics and recover from things like this. He actually uses reverse pitch on the decent to slow his speed. The engine failed at that point and the prop didn't feather- more drag= steep decent! He keep the plane right at the edge of control with the least amount of speed to reduce impact forces.

[TheVidPro]

@CFITOMAHAWK

to all, from The VidPro

Wayne's full demo from the NAS Moffett Field Airshow 1999 is on my website

[CFITOMAHAWK]

@MiGutzu

Do a Simulated Cylinder Loss exercise by using 1, 700 RPM or Minimum Level Power. Fly simulating you are going back to airport miles away. With no flaps keep altitude by increasing AOA until next to stall, then drop 10 flaps and you will see you will unstall. Many don't know this kind of emergency or to drop flaps to climb or turn quicker or unstall quicker. They are WW2 Fighter Pilots tricks. Few USA CFI's teach them due they are AOA demanding, but they can save your life.

[MiGutzu]

@CFITOMAHAWK Hmm...I will check the Principles of Flight manual, but for a moment I can't see the difference between a high wing with flaps down and a low wing with flaps down when we are thinking at AOA. Anyway, when I was flying aerobatics, I was trained to rise up the flaps and then to recover and nobody told me to lower the flaps if I want to recover with a minimum loss of height. But maybe I'm missing something.

[CFITOMAHAWK]

@MiGutzu

Makes AOA increase on high wingers, makes AOA decrease on low wingers and vise versa. Both pitch changes due to stabilator air flow changes. As you say the manual say to bring flaps up AFTER unstalling the wings, not before. You do that after releasing back pressure and developing speed. That's what happened to Stalled Crash of Comair at Buffalo in 2009, they were semi stalled & they raised all flaps which, Dah! increases stalling speed, they dropped 2,000' fully stalled.

[MiGutzu]

@CFITOMAHAWK I am sorry, but as I know, lowering tle flpas while you are stalled makes AOA increase resulting in stall. In the aerobatics manuals I've found that if you are stalled with flaps down, the second step after releasing the stick pressure is to rise the flaps. Maybe I'm wrong, but the same procedure must be performed if you enter accidentaly in spin.

[64wing]

@CFITOMAHAWK Wayne is still performing, but not in a Turbo Raven...too much money to build another I would suppose. He is even instructing students in an Extra. Just Google him and you'll find his website! :)

[CFITOMAHAWK]

@andgate2000

Falling Leaf Maneuver is very different. See your Aerobatics Book again. He was not planning to stall from 200 feet to the ground. Falling Leaf you keep the stall on purpose frontal and Whip stalls multiple times.

[CFITOMAHAWK]

@64wing

So it was was not engine failure?

I was wondering how a bullet proof PT-6 could flame out on such a short Beta. A procedure that is used thousands of times on the ground daily.

Even with some negative G's it won't flame out on a short Beta. Its a PT-6

So was it just a stall at say 200 feet and kept the stall to the ground? oooops, stall, Bang!!!, Ouch... Is he still flying another one? Hope his back is well now.

Where else I can find more videos with other Ravens?

[CFITOMAHAWK]

@Daldosch

By the way Bush Pilots are pilots ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD that can land and take off safely on unpaved and short runways. Alaska Bush Pilots are the most famous in USA due to TV shows etc. But the low Alaska temps make been a Bush Pilot easier than say been Tropical Bush Pilots which have to take off and land on hot muddy runways after flying among thunderstorms to get there, then get it out at 90 degrees temp. Alaska is easier than the Tropics Bush Pilots. What do you know?

[CFITOMAHAWK]

@Daldosch

You are wrong! I was a CFI Single and Multi and Aerobatics and Bush Pilot CFI over 4,000 hours of the 6.4 hours. I'm retired, 61 years old and doing Ballroom Dancing last five years. I rather maneuver women on the dance floor than Arrogant Rich Lazy Clods that just wants to say they are Pilots like me without maneuvering at all. USA GA regs are cut by the rich to allow all kinds of Rich Clods to get the licenses. I saw enough crap/crashes I Go Gym/Dances and fly LSA's now.

[64wing]

@CFITOMAHAWK This particular aircraft was capable of reverse thrust. During this maneuver Wayne made a steep approach to the field with reverse thrust to reduce airspeed in the dive. Unfortunately he reduced it beyond stall speed for the attitude which he subsequently established, thereby stalling the aircraft...big oops