Yak-50 Engine failure

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

he was pulling some pretty steep turns for not having an engine. thought he was going to eat that stone wall as he was about to land. all in all he did a great job.
 
Great clip!

A few things...

He did a great job all around but can't understand why he landed wheels up. The ground looked hard enough and I believe a YaK-50 is a pretty grass/ dirt strip performer. There also seems to be some roads, some obscured by trees but seeming wide enough for a wheels up landing.

My 2 cents - watch the stock market!
 
Q: what is the scariest sound when flying an airplane?
A: No sound.

... no flaps? FBJ, perhaps the Yak-50 with no hydraulics has not backup? Can't imagine, but no flaps, no gear?
 
should still have a hand crank or secondary way to pump them down. i would have shot for a road like FBJ said but in a field i would probably stay wheels up rather than risk hitting a hole or rock and cart wheeling.
 
I know some guys at work who might have flown Yak-50s. I'll ask them about the flaps and landing gear system. I do know that most east bloc aircraft use N2 for brakes and hydraulics for landing gear and flaps. In the case of this aircraft it might even have mechanical flaps. Its pretty standard to leave the flaps up during engine out emergencies since you're going to get your best glide with the flaps up, but I can't understand leaving the gear up unless he wasn't sure about the terrain.
 
i rewatched the video to see what i could identify in the cockpit as far as flight controls. on the shots outside over the wings you can see the ailerons but no flaps at all. i find that curious.

hit a couple sites to get a closer look....and the gear when retracted isnt completely hidden. its a neat little plane. i wouldnt mind having one...

http://www.yakuk.com/yak50pics.asp
 
Last edited:
From wiki

The Yakovlev Yak-50 (Як-50) aerobatic aircraft is a single-seat all-metal low-wing monoplane with retractable main wheels and exposed tail wheel. The control surfaces are fabric-covered to save weight. The aircraft is not equipped with flaps.
 
Wasn't he over a field when he lost pressure? If so, I would have thought spiraling down would be the best solution. Recips don't last long with no oil pressure, jet engines will however, the TF33 would run 30 minutes.
 
Yeah that waswhat I was asking. Awfully odd that such an apparently experienced pilot would not put flaps down. Answers my question.

Actually its not - most aircraft of that size and category, if not all don't have you putting down flaps during engine out emergencies. You're best glide will always be with your flaps up. You might dump flaps if you have to (approaching your chosen landing area high). I've taught my students to slip rather than messing with flaps, especially if you're in a situation where you can't t them down and you're high.
 
Last edited:
Wasn't he over a field when he lost pressure? If so, I would have thought spiraling down would be the best solution. Recips don't last long with no oil pressure, jet engines will however, the TF33 would run 30 minutes.

Depends on the engine. Expect 30 seconds although those Russian radials are pretty robust and may make 5 minutes.
 
Wasn't he over a field when he lost pressure? If so, I would have thought spiraling down would be the best solution. Recips don't last long with no oil pressure, jet engines will however, the TF33 would run 30 minutes.

well not really. he said he was going to try to make it back to carlisle which was 23 miles away. at his present 2300 ft altitude....that is wishful thinking. he might have thought he has a sensor or guage malfunction whereas he actually did have oil pressure just not indicated. but there are other gauges ( like engine temp) that should have been able to confirm non-existant pressure. he was able to climb another 1000....but i will tell you once you have no engine power you arent going very far. you lose altitude at a pretty decent clip. forced landing training you usually pick out the best spot right underneath you and go for that. as far as flaps...i was trained to use the same set up as soft/short field landing or to drop my flaps on final. the slower you are the shorter you are going to slide. now that was what was taught in the late 70s. the faa constantly changes the procedures. so flaps up might have been the norm for a long time now.
 
Actually its not - most aircraft of that size and category, if not all don't have you putting down flaps during engine out emergencies. You're best glide will always be with your flaps up. You might dump flaps if you have to (approaching your chosen landing area high). I've taught my students to slip rather than messing with flaps, especially if you're in a situation where you can't t them down and you're high.

That's a good point. I forgot he was attempting to glide to a local airfield. All I could think of were those rock hedgerows on the fields he was attempting to slide her in. I thought the ending was going to be much worse than it was.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back