Airplane Crash In-Cockpit Footage: Stinson 108-3

Glenn Pew for AVweb.com. Video of a plane crash as it was experienced from the right seat, inside the cockpit. The accident took place on Saturday June 30, 2012 near Bruce Meadows airstrip, not far from Stanley, Idaho. At the time of this report, information was preliminary and subject to change, but some had been collected by the NTSB. The aircraft is a Stinson model 108-3, a 165 horsepower single-engine high-wing propeller-driven plane capable of carrying four, plus full fuel, and light baggage. All four occupants survived the crash with the pilot suffering the worst injury. The cause of the crash is yet undetermined, but an aircraft's performance is dependent, among other things, on the density of the air it moves through. The pilot appears to have faced "high density altitude" conditions which degrade an aircraft's takeoff and climb performance. For more, visit AVweb.com:
http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/...

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[chloratum]

How can you fly 2 minutes strait towards the mountains and woods if you are not climbing? There was enough flat land to abort the takeoff or reland shorty after getting airbore.

[BANACZECH]

bad pilot skills, he had plenty of time to abort

[skazhiprivet]

Plane fixed.

Book your flight today!

[nasdaqdjitraders]

This was not a landing! More of a controlled flight into trees.

[FlyTheBlueSky]

It's not cool to second guess another pilot in command. But at the same time I'm having a hard time processing the persistence in continuing the takeoff, considering that severely anemic climb.

[bowmaker11]

inexperienced pilot.

[Doug DaCosta]

I think part of the problem was a "tired" engine. The next possibility was that instead of getting the speed up to remain airborne at higher RPM, the pilot continued to try climbing. That put his plane behind of the power curve. By slowing the plane to climb, the engine began lugging, and thus lost some available power. There are a lot of possibilities, but of course I wasn't there to feel the full effect of the conditions. Perhaps the pilot can give us more information? .

[Doug DaCosta]

Continued: Monday quarterbacking is easy, but if you're more than 3/4 down the runway still not airborne, you'd still have time to chop the power and rethink your desire to takeoff. Maybe taxi back and unload some un-necessary weight. Get some glider experience to know how and where to look for lift. I've made 2,556 glider tows, many on hot high altitude days when the tow plane wouldn't climb. Knowing how to work lift made the difference.

[Doug DaCosta]

I live at a high altitude airport. All you can do is lean the engine for maximum available power, and what I do if flying fixed pitch prop, is to have a slightly higher than normal "climb:" speed. That allows the engine to have a higher RPM and thus more power. Of course you may not be climbing at all, but at least you won't mush back into the ground. You can fly around your obstacles and head for lower elevation. The last thing you should ever do is fly toward higher terrain!

[pepper669]

Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.