Harrison Ford seriously injured in plane crash

[Crusader]

Just saw this on breaking news : http://news.sky.com/story/1439619/harrison-ford-injured-after-plane-crash

[Wayland]

Video shows it is fairly intact, a forced landing with gear collapse.

Steve

[paiken]

He was flying Solo...

[Bomber_12th]

It's a PT-22 that he owns and has been flying for some months now. I'm very glad to hear that currently he is reported in fair/moderate condition, rather than the initial reports that had been made. I hope he heals-up quickly. As has been mentioned elsewhere, he was able to put it down in the only area that is clear, anywhere near the airport (Santa Monica).

He's an "airplane nut" through and through, has headed the EAA Young Eagles program (2004-2009), and even volunteers his time for air search and rescue missions when he's in Wyoming. A couple months back, the warbird restoration company Pacific Fighters shared on their Facebook page some photos from a visit he made this winter to check out their latest P-51 and other warbird restorations.

[glh]

Maybe a snake crawling around in the cockpit ???

[Ickie]

But he is Hun's Solo

[Dumonceau]

Just heard it on the news over here. Apparently the plane suffered a sudden loss of power. There were even some recordings of the comms with the tower. He made an incredibly cool impression.

He put her down on a golf course. So apparently there IS some use of these things!

Dumonceau

[Ferry_vO]

He was flying Solo...

The force wasn't with him on this one... :mixed-smiley-010:

[Wayland]

Trust your feelings!

"I got a bad feeling about this!"

:biggrin-new:Steve

[Bomber_12th]

Here's a quote from an individual on the WIX forum, that lives near to where it happened:

"Crash was at Penmar Golf Course, about four blocks from our house on Ashland, down the hill. The golf course is at the end of the runway, separated by 23rd Street. As others here noted, the end of the runway is on a plateau higher than the adjacent neighborhood including the golf course. His landing spot was his last-last chance, he was too low to make the end of the runway and headed for homes along Dewey and 23rd Street

Saw the news helicopters hovering near the runway, knew it was an aircraft accident or similar. Checked the TV news and confirmed it.

Walked over to the crash site, its on one of the greens next to the street (Dewey Ave.). It looks like he was close to nosing it over but his momentum was more down than forward by the time he hit.

Chain link fence separates the golf course from the street. He landed on the last spot remaining on the course before the end of the golf course. A house abuts the course directly in his flight path. He flew over two 40-50 foot trees to drop it onto the green. He only had about 150 feet for a landing area but he did it. Didn't hit the houses and somehow saved his own life. It seems to me like he did a great job. He's cut up and bruised but alive. But I wonder about internal injuries and he's not a young chicken any more.

Hordes of cars, gawkers and paparazzi in the area of the crash. I just looked to see how far he was from the end of the golf course and how close he missed the trees, then left. No pics. Dewey was taped off nearest the crash and inaccessible. Anyway, a crash is no place to gawk and stare at a near tragedy."

And another quote from the same forum:

"He did a great job getting it on the ground right side up and surviving. Hundreds of people since WWII have been killed in stall/spin accidents with the PT-22. It also drops like a stone when the engine isn't running. I checked out in one about 15 years ago. Great fun to fly and very balanced controls. I tried landing using less and less power and it has a terrifying sink rate, maybe 1500 to 2000 fpm, if you lost the engine and prop was windmilling."

As you can see by these images, there aren't too many options to put the aircraft down anywhere else when near the airport.

http://forum.keypublishing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=235722&d=1425637745

http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o679/Mark_Allen_M3/image_zpsyjhml3as.jpg

http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o679/Mark_Allen_M3/img_4291_zpsdgpsb6r8.jpg

[fliger747]

I know a guy that augered one of these in back on the east coast, also with serious but not fatal injuries. Apparently not the easiest plane to fly near the edge. He was a high time 747 capt and ex Air Force pilot...

From looking at the intact cockpit area I am guessing that a historically correct plane might not have shoulder harnesses. I am not familiar with the fuel system of this plane but the number one reason for engine stoppage after takeoff is fuel starvation from mis configuration of the fuel system. Will be interesting to see what shakes out, I am sure he had first class maintainance.

Thanks for the info and wishing him a thorough recovery!

[Bomber_12th]

When I was working on developing a PT-22 for FSX (stored, pending future attention), I had read a number of times that the wings on the PT-22 were purposely canted/swept-back as they are, because the USAAC wanted it that way so as to make the aircraft more challenging to handle for a student pilot at slow speeds, as they thought the original STA/PT-20 design, which doesn't have the canted wings, was too stable/forgiving at slow speeds. As a result, you have the notorious slow flight/stall characteristics (you hear similar sentiments about the slow flight characteristics and stall that comes on without much or any warning with the NAA Yale as well).

I've seen photos from other PT-22 forced landings in which the outcome was much worse than in this case (such as the whole aircraft flipping over on its back).

[glh]

As it was a fixed-gear aircraft, I was wondering why the landing gear collapsed or was sheared off in the after-crash pictures.

But, as some of you state, if this particular plane sinks like a stone instead of gliding with the power off, that pretty well explains it.

Just too bad he could not have found a nice deserted street to set it down.

[hairyspin]

There were some screaming headlines about this in the UK press (HORROR!!! – get real, dudes) but the most amazement seemed to be that some doctors were playing golf on the course. That's not amazing.

[Rami]

Hey,

Hats off to Harrison. :encouragement: He did a very smart thing getting it down in a safe place, without flipping it and/or injuring or killing someone. He also kept it away from residential areas. Training, maintaining control, and smart decision-making saved himself and others.

Thank God for golfing doctors, they did their part as well. Sully Sullenberger is smiling somewhere. :very_drunk:

[dvj]

Recovery operations at crash site.

[paiken]

NTSB Press briefing on the Harrison Ford crash...
http://www.sim-outhouse.com/sohforums/attachment.php?attachmentid=20671&stc=1

[Ferry_vO]

Some more: http://aviationhumor.net/harrison-ford-plane-crash-twitter-reacts/