MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
A real shame! Looked Beautiful!
Yak Hits Truck on Takeoff
- Thread starter MIflyer
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Thumpalumpacus
Major
That wasn't a good day in the office.
It was a landing accident in April 2018.
ThomasP
Senior Master Sergeant
It looked like he was having issues controlling on the ground?
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MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
Why was he on the grass and not the runway? I realize that some people prefer to operate some airplanes on grass, but given the obstructions it would seem to have been very unwise.
It's a bit of a complex issue that the court case revolved around. The airshow operated a parallel grass runway to the concrete one and Arthur Dovey, the pilot elected to use the grass runway, but chose the one next to the concrete runway, which had vehicles alongside it following a STOL demonstration. I've read the accident report and I'm not about to make comments on either side of the incident, but its just a set of circumstances that meant an accident happened. I was at the airshow and watched it happen.
This is the Yak taking off to begin its display.
This is the aftermath with a stunned Arthur climbing from the cockpit.
One sad Yak being towed away.
Oops!
As Nuuumannn has indicated, the court findings went into all aspects of the flight leading up to the crash and all decisions and actions leading up to the crash - including movement of the equipment onto the grass runway. At the morning pre-display briefing, it was advised that the grass runway alongside the main concrete runway would be clear and available for use except when the STOL demonstration was in progress - plus a buffer either side for set up and clear away of equipment for the STOL demonstration. It was not supposed to be where it was when the warbird fighter pair landed.
The usual arrangement for warbird formations is for the pair on landing to be split across the concrete main runway and the adjacent grass runway so as to maintain clearances on landing and get aircraft back down quicker to keep the display program on schedule - particularly important for the larger warbird formations where they need the preceding aircraft to clear the active runway area before the next aircraft can land or for the next scheduled display aircraft to take to the active and take off. The lead in this instance took the concrete, the Yak that crashed being the No.2 took the grass.
Accident occurred Easter 2018. Aircraft was recovered and has been in secure storage awaiting outcomes of the legal cases in relation to the accident. As indicated above, recent judgement by the court following a very long case was that the pilot should receive compensation for the damage to his aircraft and to fund repairs. One of the defendants from what I have seen in recent coverage is considering appealing the judgement - would be a big hit to them in a number of ways if they do have to payout their share of the judgement. Given the legal case, the NZ CAA has not sanctioned the pilot in any way at this stage (and given the court's decision in relation to where responsibility lay for the accident and the circumstances around it, they are not likely to.)
To put my responses above in context with some photos, these are taken from the display on the Friday, the accident happened on the Saturday.
Friday performance, lead aircraft of the pair of Yak-3s, takes the concrete runway at the end of the performance, and will roll out to end of the runway and stay to the concrete and left of the contrete runway until the second of the pair has landed and completed his roll out. When both have completed roll out they will back track down the concrete runway and the area to the left of the concrete runway along the crowd line to their parking area that is back to the direction they landed and behind the crowd line. That then opens up the two grass runways parallel to the concrete runway for any aircraft taking off on the grass runways
Lead of the pair continues his roll out staying to the concrete runway. Note off the nose of the lead in the background at the left edge of the photo, parked beyond the edge of the further parallel grass runway, the equipment hit during the accident on the Saturday, parked well off the edge of the grass runway areas.
The second Yak-3 of the pair, as briefed, takes the parallel grass runway to the right of the concrete runway and remains on the grass for his landing and rollout.
2nd Yak-3 of the pair from the Friday, here during his landing roll out, tail is down and nose is obscuring forward view. He continues his rollout down the closer grass runway parallel to the concrete runway used by No.1 of the Pair. Note in the background the equipment involved in the accident on the Saturday, well clear of the further of the two parallel grass runways and parked where briefed.
In this photo, pairs landing roll out, the Yak-3 closest on the concrete runway, the P-40 in the background on the further of the two parallel grass runways.
Friday performance, lead aircraft of the pair of Yak-3s, takes the concrete runway at the end of the performance, and will roll out to end of the runway and stay to the concrete and left of the contrete runway until the second of the pair has landed and completed his roll out. When both have completed roll out they will back track down the concrete runway and the area to the left of the concrete runway along the crowd line to their parking area that is back to the direction they landed and behind the crowd line. That then opens up the two grass runways parallel to the concrete runway for any aircraft taking off on the grass runways
Lead of the pair continues his roll out staying to the concrete runway. Note off the nose of the lead in the background at the left edge of the photo, parked beyond the edge of the further parallel grass runway, the equipment hit during the accident on the Saturday, parked well off the edge of the grass runway areas.
The second Yak-3 of the pair, as briefed, takes the parallel grass runway to the right of the concrete runway and remains on the grass for his landing and rollout.
2nd Yak-3 of the pair from the Friday, here during his landing roll out, tail is down and nose is obscuring forward view. He continues his rollout down the closer grass runway parallel to the concrete runway used by No.1 of the Pair. Note in the background the equipment involved in the accident on the Saturday, well clear of the further of the two parallel grass runways and parked where briefed.
In this photo, pairs landing roll out, the Yak-3 closest on the concrete runway, the P-40 in the background on the further of the two parallel grass runways.
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