Hurricane has an accident

[Milosh]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3uMDlp2dw0

Published on Oct 6, 2015

After a practice for an airshow known as the Flying Heritage Collection SkyFair, this Hawker Hurricane from the Flying Heritage
Collection touched down on runway 16R and lost its right main tire, resulting in quite a bit of smoke and sparks.

 

[Park]

Should have cut the fuel before landing? Looks like a prop strike?

 

[Airframes]

Looks like he just got away without a prop strike, although it'll need a new wheel !
Considering the fire trucks were 'standing by', they seemed to take a long time to get there though.

 

[Wurger]

Agreed.

 

[Crimea_River]

There's a definite prop strike seen in the slow-mo. He did well to limit the damage.

Though posted 2 days ago, it's not clear to me when this happened. That Hurricane was to appear at the Abbottsford Airshow in late August but did not make the schedule due to an undisclosed problem.

 

[Airframes]

Yep, you're right Andy. I watched the slow motion clips again, and there's a puff of smoke/dust as the prop tip strikes. It looked fairly 'light', so might have got away without shock loading the crank.
I t seemed to nose over before any sign of the tyre either deflating, or parting company with the wheel - I wonder if that was through braking ? Although I'd guess a pilot with Hurricane hours in, would let the speed decay and the tail drop before applying the brakes.

 

[Crimea_River]

I think it was flat before he landed. He called the tower to have the fire trucks ready so knew he had an issue. Seems he favoured the port wheel until he lost all lift and it's when the weight came on the right side that the wheel finally gave way.

 

[Airframes]

Ah, got it. I hadn't heard all of the R/T chat the first time I watched it, as there was a truck outside off-loading a car, making a heck of a din !
I presume then, that he had a tyre burst on take off - plenty of time to think "Oh sh**, the landing is going to be interesting "!

 

[Crimea_River]

Yep. The tyre burst, but it did not catch fyre....

Just got confirmation that this happened on July 24 and that would explain why it wasn't at the Abbotsford.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

He did a excellent job of holding it on the runway and keeping it under control.

 

[Gnomey]

Yeah the pilot did a good job in a sketchy situation. Hopefully not too much damage done.

 

[GrauGeist]

After it was shut down, you could see damage to the tip of the prop (bent back at the tip) resting at 8 O'Clock, the props at 2 and 6 O'Clock seemed to be in good shape.

He did a good job of setting it down in one piece and I have to wonder if he held the tail high while braking to prevent a ground loop.

 

[gumbyk]

Looks like he just got away without a prop strike, although it'll need a new wheel !
Considering the fire trucks were 'standing by', they seemed to take a long time to get there though.

60 seconds from when they got the clearance to enter the runway - well within acceptable timeframes (ICAO recommended minimum is 3 min.).
They would have relaxed when it was clear that there wasn't a fire and the pilot was out of the aircraft.

 

[GrauGeist]

By the way, about 2/3 of the way into the video, there's a warbird holding and I can't quite make it out...at first glance, I thought it was a Fw190, but then it looked Japanese...anyone have a better take on that?

 

[nuuumannn]

Good spotting there, Dave; it's a Zero. At 2:52 you can see a Boeing 247 and DC-3 in the background, too.

He did remarkably well to minimise damage; the sparks are probably from the U/C door and leg being worn flat. You can see the wheel leaving the aircraft at 1:25.

 

[Airframes]

Yes, I understand that the time allowed from 'shout' to being on location is 3 minutes (it was two minutes on the grass field where I worked as volunteer fire crew), it just seemed a long time in the video.
I couldn't make out whether the tyre had detached from the wheel, which it looked like, or if the entire assembly had come off. The sparks/flames looked like an alloy wheel burning away.

 

[Crimea_River]

I agree.

 

[nuuumannn]

I suspect the whole wheel came off from the axle; it's highly unlikely that the tyre would rip from the wheel as a whole unit the way that one did, particularly if its going round. If it were damaged, it'd probably tear itself to bits, rather than remain whole and be able to bounce away. At 1:26, you can actually see the wheel kinking over and bouncing up and hitting the underside of the aeroplane and at around 1:24 you can see the aeroplane leaning heavily on the right wheel, just before the wheel departs; its possible that the extra strain on that side caused the axle or gear leg to fail.

 

[Airframes]

Watching it again, and using 'Pause', it certainly looks like just the tyre, and not the tyre/wheel, bouncing and then rolling across the grass - the white edge marking on the runway can be seen through the open tyre. Just as it detaches, there is a flash at the base of the gear leg, which would coincide with the wheel making contact, although when the aircraft comes to rest, the wheel can't be seen.

 

[GrauGeist]

Terry, if you go back and look, as the wheel assembly wobbles and tire comes free, you'll see debris scatter just as the starboard gear strikes the ground.

As the aircraft comes to a rest, you'll see some of that debris (appears white in color) and is rather large - I believe that the wheel shattered, letting the tire run away and the gear's axle/bearing assembly struck the ground first, gave way and then the fireworks begins.