(Video) Bonanza Engine-Out Crash at Fairbanks Shown from 3 Onboard Cameras N334DH

Thank you for the original post and this followup. Sometimes you can do everything right and Murphy still pops up. Thanks for the info on camera 4. Did you get them back yet?

Its all excellent stuff Dale...and a valid topic worthy of learning from... all of it, Pay no mind the neanderthal mind that can distributes itself on here,The one big drawback to online discussions. On another note... Anything you discovered in dealing with NTSB that you would be willing to share about the agency itself?

He mentioned there were four cameras, but the memory chip in one was dislodged and didn't record.

The cause hasn't been determined yet but some of us suspect a collapse of the inner fuel line leading to the fuel pump. Evidently this is something that can happenthen the line returns to normal and is hard or impossible to detect. NTSB was on site within 10 minutes of the crash because they just happened to be there anyway and did a thorough examination of the entire system including all the normal placement of switches etc and found nothing obvious. All I kow for sure is this was a real mechanical failure; not an omission by the pilot.

Cool! what a clever fraud.
Even fooled these guys I guess
http://www.ntsb.gov/aviationquery/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20120727X40845&ntsbno=ANC12FA079&akey=1

Maybe the lack of the familiar rumble was due to the event precipitating engine failure.

8)

First off please understand that I am neither a mechanic nor an engineer and don't claim a depth of mechanical experience to know ehether the following is relavant or not but after reading it in a posting from someone who had s similar incident I ran it by my a couple of folks whose expertise I respect and they said it's very plausable. Here's what I'm referring to, again, from somebody else, not the NTSB nor my own mainetnance folks, the contributor's name is Gary Snoe:

"I lost my right engine on lift off climb out, low slow and trying to clear trees and houses, put it down in field no place to go, point is, NTSB, FAA and attourney all said, "Sounds like fuel line colapse, we see this quite often, but never got to talk to a surviver, I said REALLY, You know this but don't say anything? I bought my new Baron 3 months ago and required a annual before closing.

I asked the mechanic did the fuel lines need replacing around the engines and he replied, they will probably be ok for another year or two! I said, are you kidding, they are 9 years old and the POH says to replace every 5 years, he said nobdy does that, this was a different mechanic from before. The inner liner seperates and suction causes the line to colapse and starve your engine immediately with no notice on take off, most fuel demand. I ahd the lines replaced $1,500 both sides."

Back to my event - my engine was only about 100 hours since factory new and I've always insructed my former mechanics to replace all hoses with new at engine change. I wish I could swear that happened but there has been a lot of water under the bridge since the engine change in 2011.

Again, this is supposition but it's as good as any I've heard and rack my brain as much as I can I just can't come up with a reason for teh failure that I can hang my hat on.

I was the first aircraft in a flight of eight high-performance airplanes taking off in formation. When I began my takeoff roll there were three airplanes lined up left of centerline behind me and four to the right of centerline.

I briefed our climb out speed as 120 knots specifically for the makeup of this particular group of aircraft in order to make us more maneuverable than if we were to climb out slower. I've been leading groups of aircraft on tours like this for more than 20 years and it's a technique I had built in as a safety mechanism never really thinking this would happen but always planning just in case the worst happened, this time it did.

Since I recognized the engine failure instantly and knew that the airspace I “owned” was to the left of the runway centerline I limited my initial landing choices to that area and pushed the nose over ever so slightly to initiate a glide. I immediately saw that the road to the left of my course had power or telephone poles so turned back toward the center and then seeing the cyclone fence and rough terrain beyond the DC-6 which was where I figured my cone of landing to be I elected to go further right to what appeared to be and in fact turned out to be the best suitable area to land.

I made this radio call to Fairbanks Tower “Fairbanks Tower, N334DH; I have a problem”. I figured that would be enough said, they could watch and know what was happening and do what they needed to do and they did. I switched boost pumps to high and continued to fly the airplane.

While I was maneuvering left then right I also let my airspeed bleed off from 120 knots to about 60 knots at touchdown. There was a berm just beyond the water that I glided over that I was concerned about clearing. I did not want to stall and belly into the berm so I elected to do a a smooth constant airspeed bleed off and decent.

I did not lower my landing gear for a couple of reasons. Landing with the gear in either the full up or the full down position gives you the maximum possible impact protection. This is a 12 volt Bonanza and the landing gear takes 12 seconds to extend and lock in place (as opposed to 4 seconds on average for a 24 volt Bonanza). Had I extended the gear I would have touched down in transition. Additionally, the terrain was so rough that landing with gear fully extended would certainly have caused me to end up upside down.

I did not lower the flaps because that would have changed the pitch attitude of the aircraft and I don’t think I would have cleared the berm. As it was, I cleared it by less than a foot. Any less than smooth movements and the outcome would not have been as fortunate.

As specifically for the flare question, I think the angle I used was about ideal especially as I review the video and in light of the fact that I touched down right at the no flaps stall speed. The view from the front camera sounds violent but it’s really the sound of the camera and wing going through the willows. The side view shows that the aircraft is sliding forward without violently pitching nose downward with the right wingtip absorbing energy from its contact with the higher areas. As you cans see I was still able to maintain directional control by never stopping flying the airplane. As you look at the rear view you can see again that the touchdown is smooth and the airplane comes to a fairly smooth stop as the small willows slow it down.

Had I flared with too much of an angle there would have been more energy transmitted directly into my spine through the rudder pedals as the airplane fell downward which would likely have caused serious spinal injuries. Controlling the descent and touchdown to the maximum extent possible to slow the aircraft without any sudden stoppage was the goal and both thinking back and reviewing the video over and over I am satisfied with the outcome.

One the engine quits in this flight regime you don’t have a lot of time but it’s amazing how well you focus on the task at hand and how quickly you can react. It truly was as if it was in slow motion as others have described similar events.

If I can offer any advice for survivability in a similar situation it would be:
1. Know your aircraft and its particular characteristics very well.
2. Fly it so often that you don’t have to think to identify a problem; it will give you the extra edge of time you may need to troubleshoot or make decisions.
3. Never stop flying the airplane until it comes to a complete stop.
4. Once you do stop now is the time to turn off everything that pumps fuel and/or could cause a spark.

YOu're right about the altitude and very little time. Even with turning on the boost pumps the engine still didn't come back.

I personally supervised the refueling the evening beforfe depatrture, I personally sumped the fuel before startup, NTSB was on site within 10 minutes and pulled the fuel lines all from the pumps to the injectors foundd the system still presurized with clean fuel.

There are many reasons to put HD cameras on an airplane.

Typical Peanut Gallery remark. The aircraft had 80 gallons of fuel and approximately 22 seconds of flight. Jackass!

I filled teh tanks to capacity with 80 gallons of fuel and the flight was 22 seconds. Where should I have put the extra fuel?

Perhaps Mr. Rudd, you should have put your brains in before posting.

Not sure if that was the issue.
'The fuel pump’s drive gear and shear shaft were intact. Fuel was noted in the pump upon hand rotation.

Disassembly of the fuel manifold revealed fuel in the housing, the fuel appeared clear, with no impurities, water, or other contaminates.'

Rudderless strikes again. He doesn't post unless his opinion is derogatory.

Dale, I was just about to post how happy I was that the usual moronic Peanut Gallery had stayed home for a change and then this clown pipes up... No accounting for brains (or lack thereof) in a public forum... My post on YouTube stands... Once again, congratulations on a flawlessly executed EFATO! BZ!!!

You are a silly person.