Prop flies off plane at airshow, pilot lands safely

Kinja'd!!! "Jayhawk Jake" (jayhawkjake)
03/13/2014 at 11:46 • Filed to: Planelopnik

Kinja'd!!!1 Kinja'd!!! 13

Found this on reddit: during a spin maneuver the prop separates from the airplane, and the pilot performs a recovery and lands successfully. Pretty impressive


DISCUSSION (13)


Kinja'd!!! Agrajag > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 11:49

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Holy shit!


Kinja'd!!! Dusty Ventures > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 11:52

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Jesus! That's some incredible flying


Kinja'd!!! desertdog5051 > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 11:58

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I thought all fasteners had to be safety wired.


Kinja'd!!! Jayhawk Jake > Agrajag
03/13/2014 at 12:01

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I've seen this happen with RC planes a ton of times. Hell, I've had it happen with an RC plane on the ground. But a full scale? It's insane.


Kinja'd!!! Jayhawk Jake > desertdog5051
03/13/2014 at 12:02

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I believe the prop shaft snapped.


Kinja'd!!! desertdog5051 > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 12:09

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That would make more sense.


Kinja'd!!! Autolegend86 > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 12:28

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Every plane has a glide ratio. Without a prop in the way, it improves.

Pitch down to sacrifice altitude for airspeed, once you have enough airspeed, establish speed for best glide and maneuver for best landing location.


Kinja'd!!! Jayhawk Jake > Autolegend86
03/13/2014 at 12:48

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What makes this impressive to me is he was in a stall maneuver at low altitude. Very little room for error in that recovery


Kinja'd!!! NaturallyAspirated > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 12:53

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It's apparently a know issue on certain Lycoming engines, as in, the FAA has issued Airworthiness Directives (ADs) of additional required maintenance for them. http://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=m…


Kinja'd!!! Autolegend86 > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 13:02

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Quick correct thinking followed by quick correct actions. Very impressive.


Kinja'd!!! MichaelW > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 15:17

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Odds are decent that a pilot with this level of skill and experience has been at the controls of a glider at some point.


Kinja'd!!! Jayhawk Jake > MichaelW
03/13/2014 at 15:30

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There's a big difference in gliding and recovering from a stall maneuver at low altitude.

This is a very skilled pilot, clearly. Could any other aerobatic pilot have accomplished the same thing? Sure, but that doesn't make it any less impressive.


Kinja'd!!! flyboy77w > Jayhawk Jake
03/13/2014 at 22:05

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Here's what it looks like from the cockpit.