A case of the ferris wheel and the plane...

Jim Goose · 01-10-2011, 11:37 AM

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-0...-wheel/3204912

Quote:

Plane crashes into NSW ferris wheel

A small passenger plane has crashed into a ferris wheel at a festival on the New South Wales mid-north coast.

Police say the plane crashed shortly after 10.00am (AEST) this morning at the Old Bar Festival at Taree.

Local officers say at least two people are trapped in the plane with children stuck on the the ferris wheel.

The plane is leaking aviation fuel and emergency services have been spraying the plane and wheel with foam.

The plane was taking off from the grass airstrip and failed to get enough altitude to clear the ferris wheel, which was recently placed at the southern end of the strip for the local festival.

Flyers from around the country have come to the area for the long weekend.

Lorraine was watching the plane take off from a viewing platform.

"He'd gone in and made a landing and then I heard him taking off again so I turned around to watch him come, because he was going up a pathway [that] took him over the top of the ferris wheel," she said.

"And as I turned around to watch him I thought 'Christ he's low, he's coming in low over that' and next thing bang he went straight into it.

"And the only thing that stopped anything else happening was a support bar of the ferris wheel - that sort of went in between the struts of the wing."

So someone in their infinate wisdom places a ferris wheel at the end of a runway???? (and the pilot is silly enough to take off while there is an obstruction?)

**DJR-351** · 01-10-2011, 12:25 PM

I suspect there will be a line up off asses waiting to be kicked...

nstg8a · 01-10-2011, 12:55 PM

yeah looks like there will be a few darwin awards handed out over this.

Rural 351 · 01-10-2011, 01:30 PM

Just got back from Old Bar took some photos with my phone of the plane in the ferris wheel you can see the 2 kids on the ferris wheel and the 2 blokes in the plane all very lucky

V8kado · 01-10-2011, 06:36 PM

OMG!

, looks like there are a couple of kids up the top too!

el_wagon · 01-10-2011, 07:09 PM

Gives me an idea for a new ferris wheel for kids, instead of those boring old carriages they could have planes to sit in.

Neale · 01-10-2011, 08:46 PM

I bet those kids went on the ferris wheel because the ghost train was too scary, ha ha ha

Scaffy · 01-10-2011, 09:12 PM

Thank god there was no-one in the carriage the plane hit! Unbelievable. Stupidity at so many levels!!!

LTDHO · 02-10-2011, 11:53 AM

So if a plane is on a Ferris wheel, will it take off?

BigBlue · 02-10-2011, 12:25 PM

LOL,
Kinda doubt it by the look of that one.

Flew into a Ferris Wheel...didn't see it maybe?

I would love to see the insurance claim on this one.

Peter.

flappist · 02-10-2011, 02:03 PM

There are obviously very few pilots in this thread.

There are laws regarding this and a lot of potential extenuating circumstances.
I recommend you all wait until the results on the investigation are published in the crash comics before judging and blaming.

**GasoLane** · 02-10-2011, 02:15 PM

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11344648

nstg8a · 02-10-2011, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GasOLane

http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=11344648

actually the one you linked is the repost....

**GasoLane** · 02-10-2011, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstg8a

actually the one you linked is the repost....

Bugger...

If they were both posted today maybe I could've blamed daylight saving instead on me stuffing up

nstg8a · 02-10-2011, 02:33 PM

blame it anyway lol.

good pics but, maybe a mod can merge the threads?

flappist · 02-10-2011, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstg8a

blame it anyway lol.

good pics but, maybe a mod can merge the threads?

Yep and sorted.....

Rural 351 · 02-10-2011, 06:58 PM

What happened is the pilot aborted his landing and couldn't get the height with the wind behind him, they usually take off in the other direction, I hope they payed there $5 each for the Ferris wheel

flappist · 02-10-2011, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rural 351

What happened is the pilot aborted his landing and couldn't get the height with the wind behind him, they usually take off in the other direction, I hope they payed there $5 each for the Ferris wheel

If that is the case and he was landing with a tailwind he will not be having fun during the investigation although it was an ultralight and often they seem to have the same regard for air law as many pushbike riders have for road rules....

nstg8a · 02-10-2011, 08:42 PM

i know absolutly nothing about air traffic control and its laws, but wouldnt a controller be telling planes which direction to land/take off?

or it a small strip with no controller?

Uncle Niceguy · 02-10-2011, 09:15 PM

and this is one reason why most airstrips in australia are in very open barren spaces. and the chances are the organizers of the show were a bit silly setting up a ride at the end of an airstrip.

**DJR-351** · 03-10-2011, 12:50 AM

In the pilots words "I had no idea the ferris wheel was there".....

He's pretty cut up about it, as you would be....

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-0...12?section=nsw

Rural 351 · 03-10-2011, 10:17 AM

Its just a grass runway they usually take off and land from over the bush

FGII-XR6 · 03-10-2011, 10:20 AM

would doubt there would be ATC it is just a small grass strip

Quote:

Originally Posted by nstg8a

i know absolutly nothing about air traffic control and its laws, but wouldnt a controller be telling planes which direction to land/take off?

or it a small strip with no controller?

Jim Goose · 03-10-2011, 01:09 PM

In a news report last night the organisers said that the ferris wheel had been set up in that location for many years.... A case of "its been like this for years so why should we review anything?"

And no, grass strip no ATC and it would either be privately owned or owned by council.

But yes ultralights seem to fall into their own little category....

Werd. · 03-10-2011, 09:37 PM

For anyone wondering..

flappist · 03-10-2011, 09:57 PM

That is well within the splay and if he was in trouble and trying to control the aircraft in a go around while it was not playing nicely then hitting that wheel may not be totally culpable.

An aircraft is not a car with wings. You cannot just hit the brakes and pull over on a cloud to take a breather and change your undies if things are not going well. There are 3 dimensions and external forces such as wind and turbulence.

Again, lets see what the crash comics say before forming the lynch mob

mik · 04-10-2011, 10:43 AM

it does`nt seem the wisest place to put a ferris wheel, crikey driving past moorabin airport in melb, now and again a low aircraft fly over the roadway , you can just about check the tyre tread indicators for the pilots , on the same token i have a mate with an ultra light, and he`s always asking me if i want to go up but asks me how much i weigh, cos i`m a fairly big dude and his u/l is very sensitive to take off weight, and he`s 6`5 dude as well, i politely say .....might be a bit much weight with the two of us, maybe one day

.
from the stories he`s told me about ultra lights i would`nt be having a ferris wheel at the end of the runway.

ltd · 04-10-2011, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flappist

That is well within the splay and if he was in trouble and trying to control the aircraft in a go around while it was not playing nicely then hitting that wheel may not be totally culpable.

An aircraft is not a car with wings. You cannot just hit the brakes and pull over on a cloud to take a breather and change your undies if things are not going well. There are 3 dimensions and external forces such as wind and turbulence.

Again, lets see what the crash comics say before forming the lynch mob

Amen to that Tony.
Its been a while since I played in amongst the ultra light enthusiasts, but I do recall how much of a "special" breed they are.
Jabiru's still have a special place in my heart, my hatred of them was so intense. I used to call them the "Camrys" of the sky; slowing everyone down and forcing us all to take special consideration for their limited performance. By that, I mean a Trauma-hawk or even a 152 would have to slow down for a Jabiru.

We once had a near miss in Camden between an EMB-110P I was doing command turbine time in and a Jabiru; as there was no ATC I called an all stations, waited for traffic to land, backtracked to the run off and commenced roll on 24 for a joyflight down victor one with 7 pax, and around 1000 pounds of fuel. Anyway, as we were limited to weight and fuel it was max power, full brakes on scenario. As we rotated and pulled the gear, this idiot in a Jabiru took off from the grass 28 and passed just under us. As we were extra light on fuel and pax being a twin turboprop we were luckily climbing around 3000 feet per minute. As we were in the climb we couldn't see much below us, but this fool passed around 50 to 100 feet below us.
In the end, it was handed over to the ATSB and this guy lost his licence.
This is the mindset of some of the ultra light guys. He was behind my left window view, but we were in front view of him. He should have aborted his takeoff and he'd still have a licence.

The point, I find it easy to see how someone in an ultra light hit a ferris wheel.