Harrison Ford plane crash.

Wait a minute: Jack Ryan crashed a Ryan?

The golf course was a good place to put her down. Doctors everywhere.

slantvaliant wrote: Wait a minute: Jack Ryan crashed a Ryan? The golf course was a good place to put her down. Doctors everywhere.

Lawyers too in case anything went south.

Based on the pics they showed on the news, it looks like he stalled it in. Looks like the tail hit first. This would explain why the gear collapsed. He apparently was dodging a tree, but in retrospect, keeping the speed up and just landing the plane at normal landing speed (if possible) would have been a more ideal approach.

Believe me, I am well aware of how hard it is to just land a plane in this situation there is a very strong tendency to just try and make it fly a bit further. I had a very similar thing happen to me while flight training when I was 16. Engine quite on approach (forgot to push mixture in). I ended up about 10 feet short of the runway, touching down with the gear and tail at the same time (it was a tricycle gear 150) trying to desperately keep it flying when it would not.

I am a big proponent of teaching pilots "how to crash" and more especially "when to commit to a crash". The act of trying to avoid crashing is a huge cause of making accidents a lot worse then they could be (e.g. trying to turn back to the airport that in this case was actually viable plan). Most attempts to avoid doing damage to the plane are just very bad ideas. That is what insurance is for, screw the plane, take the wings off if you have to (the best way to land in a tree heavy area).

I can imagine standing on the tee, preparing for my next shot, when out of the sky comes an airplane that crash-lands on my fairway......and out pops Indiana Jones!

I'm sure it's a day those golfers won't forget. Or Harrison for that matter.

because Indiana Jones > Han Solo by a long shot

aircooled wrote: I am a bit surprised the gear dug in, but it has rained recently around here so maybe a soft spot. The news was saying he hit some trees, but based on the look of the plane and it's construction, it's maybe "brushed" at best. He apparently had head injuries, which were almost certainly caused by the fact that even military planes did not have shoulder harnesses back then (civilian ones did not start using them until, maybe the 80's?).

i don't even see lap belts in this shot of the cockpit after the crash:

I heard he got out and started trying to hand prop it while humming the theme to Raiders of the Lost Ark...

Glad he's mostly OK. I'd say putting it down upright and with the big pieces all attached is a pretty good job. No clue what the glide characteristics of it are with all that stuff hanging out in the breeze. About the shoulder harnesses, on an aviation forum there was a pic (pre-forced landing) where it looks like he has shoulder harnesses on, but that cockpit is so small I could see how you could hit your head if the harnesses weren't torqued down tight.

From the looks of it and reading everything it looks like he nailed an emergency landing as best as he could. Also, there is a pending lawsuit against Santa Monica Airport where he was going to land due to them on the verge of potentially closing. It has numerous residental neighborhoods located around it and they have had nearly 15 planes crash near the airport over the last 20 years.

Joe Gearin wrote: because Indiana Jones > Han Solo by a long shot

92dxman wrote: ...It has numerous residental neighborhoods located around it and they have had nearly 15 planes crash near the airport over the last 20 years.

Yup, as you can see below, there are definitely a few houses around it.

Wait, that's 1922... so where did all those houses that are there now come from?

I wonder how they hid such are large object from people who bought houses built around it? Strange, you think you would notice such a large landmark.

I mean, clearly someone would not knowingly buy a house near an airport, then have the balls to complain about it, or the city allowing houses to be built up around such a dangerous place right?

I would be curious to know how many people where killed in those crashes, and during the same time, how many where killed in auto related accidents.

aircooled wrote: I would be curious to know how many people where killed in those crashes, and during the same time, how many where killed in auto related accidents.

Facts are irrelevant to fear mongerers.
From what I see in AOPA, the city has been trying to kill the airport for years. Sadly, this will just add fuel to their fire, regardless of whether it's justified or not.
I heard they now want to reduce runway length to keep out the larger aircraft that bring in the big businessmen you want to fly into your city. That should help safety...

Slight thread creep, but the hospital in my town now has to drive patients about five miles to the airport because residents complained about noise from helicopters. Helipad was there years before the development behind the hospital.

Yup, it's really more of a media issue. Plane crashes make great TV.

Hey, maybe it will be THE YEAR OF THE PLANE CRASH!

(also of note, almost no plane crashes every hurt anyone but the people in the plane)

Last I heard, it sounds like he actually got pretty badly hurt. Broken hip from what I heard on the radio. That's not good, especially at his age.

I would be curious to know exactly how he was strapped in, the cockpit does not look to be deformed (rear seat for solo flight I am almost sure)

In reply to aircooled: actually from what I hear old people typically break their hip then crash the plane.

None of the news reports I've read said anything about a broken hip.

stuart in mn wrote: None of the news reports I've read said anything about a broken hip.

doesn't matter.. it's on the internet so it must be true.

So it was Boba Fett, and not Connery's umbrella...

I thought he had a fractured pelvis and ankle/lower leg.

Here's the pic I was talking about earlier: Pretty close quarters, plus I'd be willing to be there's not much impact/g-force absorption built into the seat.

Appleseed wrote: Kinner radials are notoriously temperamental. I wouldn't trust one. If it hasn't crapped out on you, it will.

We would also have accepted "He flew in THAT thing? He's braver than I thought."

XLR99 wrote: Facts are irrelevant to fear mongerers. From what I see in AOPA, the city has been trying to kill the airport for years. Sadly, this will just add fuel to their fire, regardless of whether it's justified or not.

I don't fly, but I have a passing interest in the field. Several years ago Atlantic City finally got Bader Field closed due to "safety".. in reality, the city council and mayor wanted the land for more casinos (just as the economy dropped out too). It was really a shame, as Bader Field was -the- first airport in the world... now it is a desolate plot of land with crumbling runways

Mad_Machine, for a real eye-opener, do some reading on what the thugs that run Chicago did to Meigs. Shameful.

Also, the NIMBYs' jihad against airports is pretty similar to their war on our autocross sites, racetracks, etc. Food for thought.

slantvaliant wrote: Wait a minute: Jack Ryan crashed a Ryan? The golf course was a good place to put her down. Doctors everywhere.

Not the first crash for jack Ryan. He left the marines when he broke his back in a helicopter crash(the character)

In reply to XLR99:

Don't get me started on that E36 M3.

…pretty sure that’s the same PT-22 I’ve enjoyed seeing at the Camarillo airshow for well over a decade except for the times I missed the show due to it no longer being on Father’s Day – epic marketing department fail BTW. There were three PT-22’s that would show up…two with straight engines and, presumably this one, with a radial engine.

Fun fact, my wife agreed to name our first male child, if we had one, Ryan until she discovered it was the name of an aircraft company…hehehe.