Warbirds Over Wanaka Next Weekend!

[nuuumannn]

Not too late to get yourselves to New Zealand for this!

Welcome to the Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow » Warbirds Over Wanaka

 

[JJWilson]

I'd love to go someday, it looks awesome!

 

[Airframes]

Hobbit's a good show - I'll get me coat !!

 

[Dai]

Not too late to get yourselves to New Zealand for this!

Welcome to the Warbirds Over Wanaka International Airshow » Warbirds Over Wanaka

I wish! I was in Wanaka in 2004 (but not for the airshow) - it's a beautiful location. One day - maybe!

 

[Airframes]

Saw a video of the opening of the show, with the Yak landing. It's starboard wing collided with a 'cherry picker' type of lift on the roll out, wiping off the wing and swinging the aircraft around, still more or less on its legs. Pilot got out OK, but what the heck was a cherry picker doing at the edge of the grass runway ?

 

[gumbyk]

Saw a video of the opening of the show, with the Yak landing. It's starboard wing collided with a 'cherry picker' type of lift on the roll out, wiping off the wing and swinging the aircraft around, still more or less on its legs. Pilot got out OK, but what the heck was a cherry picker doing at the edge of the grass runway ?

The latest I read was that it wasn't on the runway, but between the seal and grass. But that's speculation at the moment.

 

[gumbyk]

Probably my favourite photo from the airshow.

 

[JJWilson]

Yeah, such a shame to hear about the Yak, I too saw the video, and I agree with everyone that it's ridiculous there was a cherry picker that close to the runway.

 

[nuuumannn]

Yep. That's the obvious question. They were moved and the balloon busting routine was not done on Sunday's show.

Plane's probably a write off, but don't know for sure; its not insured. Pilot Arthur Dovey is 80 and this was going to be his last show season. the Yak was put up for sale some time ago.

DSC_4011
ZK-YYY taking off for its last display.

DSC_4025
That's the right hand wing in front of the left hand wing.

DSC_4075
Being taken back to Dovey's hangar on site.

DSC_0494

DSC_4117
Show must go on...

More photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/147661871@N04/albums/72157695251809835/with/40507327044/

 

[J.A.W.]

That Yak aint 1/2 as bad as the Spit XIV Tim Wallace (the W-B's over W founder) foolishly augered in ~20 y/o..
& that one was fully restored to flight status.. so I 'd reckon.. $ up = Yak back up..

 

[gumbyk]

That Yak aint 1/2 as bad as the Spit XIV Tim Wallace (the W-B's over W founder) foolishly augered in ~20 y/o..
& that one was fully restored to flight status.. so I 'd reckon.. $ up = Yak back up..

I'll ignore the insult for the moment, if you knew a bit more about his accident you'd understand.
The difference is that the spit is worth multi-millions, while a yak 3 is worth around 750k. One's a lot easier to write off...

From those photos, I'd take a wild guess that the fuselage is twisted - the tail hit hard enough to rip out the tailwheel and bend the rudder.

 

[J.A.W.]

I do understand, there is no insult..

Reckless ol' Tim was by no means the 1st to do that, auto-trimming the rudder the wrong way,
for the opposite rotation Griffon, since he was so used to flying his Merlin Spit.

If he'd allowed his crew to put an alert along the lines of:

"Boss! Heads up! Griffon take off torque requires reverse rudder application'

The awful crash with its unpleasant outcome was entirely avoidable.

Historically, root cause-wise, the issue is a classic of nasty 'unintended consequences'.
British Air Min had its engines standardised for prop rotation, but the earlier Merlin stayed
with its original, opposite direct, & of course, was the most numerous fighter engine.

R-R did produce very late Merlins with a capability of either rotation of prop, for the
DH Hornet, but they really ought to have been directed to do it, when the standard
was established.

 

[pbehn]

The early Rolls-Royce engines had epicyclic propeller reduction gears, so the propellers rotated the same way as the crankshaft. The original Kestrel had a direct drive but when they fitted a reduction gear they chose a spur-type making the prop rotate opposite to the crank. This design feature was incorporated into the Merlin. In the late 1930s the Society of British Aircraft Constructors formed a committee (among others) to standardise aero-engine powerplants. One of the Committee's aims was to allow engines of a similar power to be installed on the same bulkhead.

 

[gumbyk]

I do understand, there is no insult..

Reckless ol' Tim was by no means the 1st to do that, auto-trimming the rudder the wrong way,
for the opposite rotation Griffon, since he was so used to flying his Merlin Spit.

And yet you carry on with the name-calling?

Can you please justify your statement that he was reckless? He made a mistake that very nearly cost him his life, and as you acknowledge, he wasn't the first to do this.

Civilian operators of warbirds typically don't operate with a 'crew', about the only thing that may have helped was if there was a placard on the instrument panel, but as 'trim set to take-off' is one of the standard pre-take-off checks, I wouldn't have expected it to have been there.

 

[J.A.W.]

Its not 'name-calling', its a fact, Tim Wallis was well known as a reckless pilot, & a crasher/cowboy operator,
& had drawn official sanction from the Aviation Authority - so check your facts before gettin' all critical, eh..

He most certainly had a crew to do flight prep, & it was his 'kick the tyres & light the fires' attitude that caught him out,
Big Tim 'didn't need no stinkin' pre-flight check-list!' - but he did, he did..

 

[gumbyk]

That was the typical attitude for warbirds operators at the time. It was a carry-over of ex-military pilots (who should have had the experience to know better), and led over into the civilian operators. He was by no means unique.

Considering he wound the rudder trim the wrong way - he obviously did pre-takeoff checks. Ironically, if he hadn't done them, he may have been able to over-come the yaw, and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

His brushes with the authority were in regards to his helicopter operations, and IIRC, he came off best during these altercations...

But, this is distracting form the thread, so I'll consider this part of the discussion closed.

 

[J.A.W.]

Of course he didn't "check", he simply followed 'muscle memory' routine from his Merlin Spit mind-set.
If he'd actually done a real/valid Griffon Spit SOP check, he surely would not have.. just 'augered in'..

 

[nuuumannn]

I'd take a wild guess that the fuselage is twisted - the tail hit hard enough to rip out the tailwheel and bend the rudde

Yep. The Yak's basic structure is a welded steel tube. The force on it of having the RH wing ripped off will have most definitely placed enormous stresses on the centre section. The tail wheel has been ripped off, which will have placed strain on the rear fuse structure. Let's not forget the prop was stopped by the ground when it collapsed as it came to rest. How much strain is being placed on the crankshaft? A total engine strip down, measure, NDT, the works. The prop will be written off. Nothing from it will be saved. If it's been in an accident, this is standard procedure. Prop shop personnel will inspect to determine whether it had any role to play in the accident as a matter of investigation by the authorities, then it'll be scrapped. Might be cheaper for the owner to buy a new Yak, than to overhaul that one.

Mind you, this is all conjecture based on photographic evidence.

Here's a pic of a Yak without its skin on at Omaka. Aaron will know more about this particular aircraft. Note also Spitty XIV NH799 in the shadows...

Yak structure

 

[Crimea_River]

Interesting. Hurricane was built the same way.

 

[JJWilson]

So........so..........depressing. There's only about 18 left in the world at this point, when the Soviet Union made 4,800. Sad stuff..........