Re: REFLECTOR: Velocity, Accident at Santa Monica, KSMO

[rlflade@us.ibm.com]

Jack,

          We encountered some moderate turbulence just as we crossed the numbers
on short final...
I opted to extend the roundout to mid-field to re-establish stability on the
approach and runway
heading..This was accomplished successfully..

        There was a significant side gust or windshear at the moment of
touchdown... It lifted the
right wing and thrust us to the left abruptly... Whatever hit us subsided just
as quickly and we
dropped about 5-feet back onto the runway at about 20-degrees to the left of
runway centerline...

This caused a very bad bounce and after a moment of attempted correction it was
obvious that
a go-around was our only option..Firewalling the throttle as the second bad
bounce caused my hand
to miss the up-speedbrake switch also delayed our ability to gain airspeed and
lift..this also caused
a failure of the left main-gear strut, although we did not know it at the
moment....

We were slowly gaining airspeed and cleared a low fence but just snagged the top
of a parked Cessna
with the remaining main gear wheel and that sucked us back down and into the
direct path of a steel
door hangar, which we partially penetrated....   and came to rest.  Miraculously
my wife and I were
not hurt...

I have re-lived these events in my mind a thousand times since the accident,
trying to find what I might
have done different as a responsible pilot to avoid this accident (and loss of
this beautiful aircraft)...

I also have several witnesses that say they were watching the landing and the
windsock as we came in
and they (pilots too) said the windsock did a violent dance, and at one point
did a complete 360 turn at
the same time we were coming in...

Jack, I would be the first one to accept full blame for this accident if I
thought I could have done something
 to pull it out... But the way the wing was lifted and plane moved off
centerline so abruptly, and then to fall
 back to the ground so violently created an attitude and bounce cycle that was
significantly unmanageable.

The go-around attempt would have been successful had there not been other
aircraft and hangars in our path...

   Respectfully,  Ray Flade


RAY FLADE  -  Large Sys Field Mgr (T700)
IBM Corporation
400 No. Brand Blvd, (8th Floor), L.A.,Calif, 91203
(818) 539-3309  or  T/L-396-3309

Pager:  (800) SKY-8888  (PIN#-1353761)
e-mail:  rlflade@us.ibm.com

       "If at first you don't succeed,  Sky Diving is not for you....."



MSREE3@aol.com on 07/15/99 04:22:01 PM

Please respond to reflector@awpi.com; Please respond to MSREE3@aol.com

To:   reflector@awpi.com, bkuc1@tampabay.rr.com
cc:
Subject:  Re: REFLECTOR: Velocity, Accident at Santa Monica, KSMO





It sounds to me more like improper pilot technique than anything mechanical.

Jack