Thanks for sharing and God bless you in your teaching. After crashing my Pawnee and having to go hat in hand to lease another, the old crop duster/mechanic said, "you've only crashed once? Maybe you don't have enough experience to lease my airplane?" So in 17,000 hours of crop dusting and pipeline patrol I had eleven engine failures and totaled a CallAir. Hang in there, young man. Flying is worth it.
God bless you and thanks for sharing. I also have a grass strip with one way in and out. On 04-23-24 I lost oil pressure 4 miles away from my strip at 2800 feet. I shut down the engine to save it. Made a perfect dead stick approach until I flared at ten feet above ground. The airspeed dropped out and I bounced. She shot to the right and with full left rudder nothing happened. I flipped and came to a stop some thirty yards down the strip. I saved the engine but lost the plane. You've inspired me to get back in the air. Your Cessna is a beautiful aircraft. Thanks again.
Sounds like you had even more of an unlucky set of circumstances than I did. Glad to hear you are coming back from it. That's what I hope this story will do for others.
You sir, are a full grown man. Not many can talk openly about their mistakes, let alone use them as a teachable moment. Glad I stumbled onto your channel, looking forward to watching more
Thank you for sharing. It's not easy to point out our failures and you did this in a great positive way. We can all be grateful for the positive outcome to what could have been just another tragedy.... you needed to share this as it could save someone's life. I look forward to your upgrades or next project plane, maybe something a little different. Thanks again bob
Never rely on weather forecasts. Look at the indicators where you are landing. Lakes, trees, windsocks, control feedback and any opportunity to land is an opportunity to go around
I've since learned to read waves, look for smoke/steam, and other factors like this. As I mentioned, my very limited strip makes for an impossibility going around. Especially with 30 less horsepower than my Maule had. That's why I force myself to be stable crossing the creek (
So Glad you were ok Collin!! Things like this can happen to any pilot!! Some get away with it on occasion, and the unlucky ones don't. You happened to be the unlucky one on that day. It can happen to anyone! Great Video Sir, and Thank You!! Also, What a Beautiful 140. You're a man after my own heart!! Stay safe brother!
First As a Christian Professional Pilot and Anesthetist, Your story impacted me more than any aviation channel I have watched!! Just discovered the channel today and your composition drew me in. As I get nearer to the end of my flying days, your story WILL impact the way I fly in the Future. I have had many failure in life and your comments helped me heal. May you continue to produce meaningful content and God continue to Bless you and your family🙏
Thanks Collin and huge respect to you for sharing your personal story. My father was a pilot back in the biplane days lol and he told me any landing you can walk away from is a good landing. Then he told me the story of crashing a a farmer's cornfield and walking away from it. You, me or any one else only fail when we or they quit trying. Anytime I need inspiration to see failure in the right perspective I remember the story of Abe Lincoln.
Your video was riveting. I don't think you did anything wrong, you just got dealt a bad hand at the last second. I don't think the ASOS would have made any difference. I took my deepest breath during your post crash analysis when I saw your 2 beautiful kids in front of the airplane. I'm so glad for them and your Wife that you survived this. Leaving them to start over would have been a tragedy of immeasurable proportion. Airplanes and Ego's can be fixed or replaced. God wasn't ready for you just yet. Keep counting your blessings, share the word, and hang in there.
Thank you! I mentioned this to another commenter but the brutality of the internet was expected! I'd rather receive a bit of negative feedback at the benefit of helping someone else however...
This is such an awesome video, Brother! I see so many aviation RU-vidrs have aviation experiences that are cool, but don’t show some of the tough times in an aviation journey. Having the experience that you did, I think is the ultimate experience that all of us endeavor to avoid. Not only did the good Lord see you through it, he gave you the courage to share it with all of us. I am definitely grateful for it. It has the proper impact. By that I mean, I will make sure to stay with my personal minimum, fly according to procedures, and when in doubt, go around at the proper time.thanks again! God bless!
I'm a bit surprised at some of the negative comments on this video. I appreciate you sharing your story even though that is TOUGH to do on RU-vid! This stuff can happen to anybody so it's good to be reminded to stay vigilant and trust your gut. I think you did well sharing your story, taking responsibility for the accident, and reminding other pilots of how things go wrong.
It's the internet... Everyone has a right to their opinion. Personally I debated sharing it because I was worried my ego couldn't handle the negative feedback. I ended up deciding the value of causing someone to self reflect on how their own operations was more than the cost of negative feedback. As a side note, I've learned low connection negative feedback should be ruled out all together as I don't have a face to face conversation with these folks.
@@The_Flying_Mechanic I like that part about "low connection negative feedback". It's so true but that's such a succinct and clear way to describe it! Definitely remembering this in the future.
Thanks for sharing this story. I once failed to realize that the ATIS was several hours old. While preflighting, I kept thinking to myself those xwind numbers were acceptable, but darn this feels like a lot more wind. I listened to the ATIS a second time just to double check. And again I failed to (-5hrs) convert the zulu time. I launch and my (new to me) plane is all over the place. On crosswind the G1000 is showing 26knots on the nose at 800ft. Plane is rated for 24kts and my mins were 12ish. Short final I have full left rudder and still crabbing. Around my touchdown point the hangars blocked a good bit of the xwind rather suddenly and I was misaligned the OTHER way just a foot or two off the ground but I worked it out. We had had nearly two weeks of really bad weather. I had a beautiful, new to me plane that I was dying to fly. The feel of the wind during preflight created some dissonance but I failed to really act on it. Could have cost me my airplane.
I would never have thought that the Zulu Time portion of an AWOS could be a link in the accident chain if I had not personally experienced. I have found it to be a powerful point when teaching Aviation Safety to my students.
Every time I hear the Zulu time on an ATIS or ASOS I wonder if FAA wants me to die. There is absolutely no reason not to have it local time, but I guess nobody cares about you except you and maybe your immediate family. It is what it is.
I have been watching you for over a year. When you got the 140 I suggested you call it Huckleberry. So when I saw the thumbnail for this video I thought it was Huckleberry that crashed! I’m so glad you were ok and have worked back from such a trauma. Some never are able to get back on the horse. I look forward to watching more of your videos. I’m 76 and my piloting days are behind me now.
Man I wish I had the script writing skill that this guy does. The way he made us think the accident was going to be about his current plane and then told the story of his previous accident while literally only including one or two pictures from it but still keeping us engaged was very well done.
@@The_Flying_Mechanic The effort you put into making a cohesive story is definitely evident. My videos are pretty much just me blabbing at the camera for half an hour :-) I don't even write a script. Look forward to your future videos!
Thanks for sharing. As a missionary pilot myself, I can resonate with many of the things you said. One way strips are particularly challenging. Neat to hear the providence of how you were able to continue to develop professionally "because" of the accident.
Your courageous doing this video for sure. Good to share so others may learn from your mistakes. I also know its easy to criticize at the end of the day you were there no one else.I too fly a Maule m5. One thing i immediately noticed your approach in the 140 looked very shallow. I would of in that situation have had a much steeper approach giving me more of a saftey margin for any event. I put my touch down point on the cowl or even just hidden Maules dont glide very well. Just something to think about
Never put yourself into a situation where you have no way out. Even if you’re practicing for a job where you’ll be faced with that situation…because no matter what, you don’t NEED to be in that situation if you don’t have to be. When you go to PNG, you can fly their planes into these crazy circumstances. But you shouldn’t risk anything until you’re actually needing to do it. And even then…why risk it? Some pilots are just willing to risk their lives for some little pay check and some hours…but it’s a personal worth that you have to have. To me…not worth it…but maybe you feel different as others do. Anyways…glad you’re still alive brother. Be safe and make good aeronautical decisions.
I completely understand the view point. I personally however saw the risk I was taking a minor comparison to the life it provided. I have personally seen this type of service save hundreds of lives that otherwise would have been prematurely lost. Flying in and of itself is a risk; learning to minimize it is key to maintaining the gap between calculated and reckless. I personally was there to make a career out of it although I am sure some build hours doing it. Thanks for the feedback!
“A superior pilot uses his superior judgment to avoid situations which require the use of his superior skill.” - Astronaut Frank Borman, Origional 7 Astronaut I don’t think you violated The five bad pilot attitudes: *anti-authority *invincibility *impulsivity *macho *resignation
9:24. This doesn't seem to make sense. If the wind shifts from behind you to a crosswind, you actually GAIN airspeed. It's the opposite of wind shear. The danger is when the wind suddenly turns to a tailwind. THAT means you lose airspeed and performance. In any case, glad you were OK and kept flying!
The massive yaw to the left is what I think started the incipient spin… the left wing decelerated loosing lift while the right accelerated. I think my knee jerk aileron input maybe pushed the AOA up to the critical angle over the aileron resulting in the stall/spin entry. By the time I had rudder and power in, the wing was dragging the ground… it wasn’t performance loss or gain as much as direction issues causing the LOC
@@The_Flying_Mechanic Always lead with the rudder first, an automatic reaction, you need to react without thinking. Saved a C177RG from going into the weeds when a sudden crosswind hit, on a calm day with no wind forecast. See You-Tube video of an ultralight cranking in aileron for a base to final turn then full opposite rudder to stop the spin entry that could have been fatal. Great presentation, glad you're OK and flying again.
Thank you for telling us your story. I'm glad that you are back to flying and that you were able to land at your strip again. I have two questions about your accident. The first one is did your plane have shoulder harness in it? And the 2nd is how bad were you injured? I understand if you would rather not talk about your injuries. I ask mainly because I want to know what to expect when the time comes that I have to respond to a airplane crash. We have had a massive spike in GA in our area and it's only a matter of time unfortunately. I have been to a couple crop duster crashes and thank goodness that the pilots were unharmed. Anyway thanks again.
Injuries were expansive and the result was my lost medical. I had several fractures on my skull with the impact on the panel. I was able to exit the aircraft on my own with no injuries except a jammed thumb outside facial injuries. I was very blessed and fortunate.
Just caught this.. thanks that took guts, and compassion to teach and protect your fellow pilot. Funny how God works as he gives you the challenges, he all ways gives you a better door to open.. you just have to want it.
I felt like it was more humility than guts… sometimes it is just mentally challenging to admit total personal failure and recognize you messed up. My goal is simply to help others see their own vulnerability.
Thank you for sharing your experience to turn it into a teaching moment to help others learn from your experience. Selflessly and humbly opening up to a failure is a vulnerability not many people would do, and I admire you willingness to do that as an effort to help others. That is a true servant to the good Lord. .As pilots, missing one minor thing can turn tragic and this video brings this to light.
Loved it Colin. Subscribed immediately. You're a good man of faith, not ashamed of the gospel and not afraid to overcome adversity. I have never felt so alive in my life (apart from committing my life to Jesus), since becoming a pilot and instructor. God bless you mate from down under.
Don’t know if this means much, but when I check winds I check surrounding reports with special consideration to those up wind…. My theory is I can see what’s coming.
Something obviously missing from the approach videos are Wind Socks. Why? Simple wind socks visible on base and final will provide real time wind directions and velocity.
New subscriber hope you are able to post regularly. I too planed to be a missionary and things didn’t work the way I planed. I watch the missionary pilot that is as much excitement as I care to see. God bless you and your family. Come down to Texas some day I would love to take you to Nassa and treat you to a meal .
My dad wanted to be a Missionary pilot and never achieved that but flew for 35 years accumulating over 15000 hours and taught hundreds of new pilots and flew country music stars, actors, and former president Jimmy Carter to several Habitat for Humanity projects. God bless you brother!
I've had a couple crunches, and one of my partner's I should have anticipated because the same envelope design had a failure the months before. Yes, the adversity is the best prep for the next steps up.
In flying, as in life, sometimes you can do everything right and still have a bad outcome. More commonly however we often get away with our mistakes usually without even knowing it.
Awos from the public airport is not what the weather is at the farm near by. Do you have a wind sock at the farm strip? Just a simi low pass and looking at the sock would be better than an awos from a near by airport.
It’s not, but it is pretty close. The problem with that suggestion on that day was the sock would’ve been straight out (above 15 knots). When I finally did notice it it was too late past commitment point. I’m actually working on investing in a weather station that reports weather over a frequency like an AWOS from a private company. A buddy out west got one for his high altitude strip and it’s pretty pricy but awesome.
Landing a taildragger with a tailwind is almost guaranteed to be BIG trouble. Landing a taildragger in a tailwind is asking for disaster. At various parts of the landing the only control you have is the tailwheel… IF the tailwheel is firmly on the ground. Add to that that the landing distance will be SIGNIFICANTLY longer and HELLO you got trouble in River City. Taildragger tailwind landing dangerous? Doing it in a tricycle gear airplane ain’t much better. There’s always a time when it’s okay to make a tailwind landing… when you’re in an extreme emergency… that you should never have put yourself in the first place! …speaking from experience? Yup. ‘ever crashed an airplane? Nope. ‘come close? Uh… yup. Experience? A little … 1,300 hours in a taildragger, maybe 6,000 landings. Only one downwind landing. What saved me? Luck and skill, ‘ probably in equal amounts. Why? Inattention and carelessness. That’s where the experience of 6,000 landings can be detrimental; ‘can lead to inattention and carelessness. Note Kirschner’s Student Pilot’s Flight Manual doesn’t mention doing practice downwind landings.
Hi Otis, Due to terrain issues at my backcountry strip, it is significantly safer to land into the terrain with a tailwind than dive over the ridge and try to land. The slope is what pins the tail down. Now, I simply go to an alternate airport when winds are above PMs and land there. Even in airlines today there are provisions for tailwind landings so it isn't out of the question. Thanks for the input!
First off, I do agree with you that having an accident doesn’t mean you’re a bad pilot. And I am glad you made this video, to make that point at the very least. We’re humans and we make mistakes. Another good lesson is the weather observation issues. That’s something I’ll keep in mind when I fly, so thanks! As far as the accident goes, no disrespect, but seems like you’re not taking responsibility enough for the accident. Gust of wind won’t stall your airplane unless you’re really that close to stall speed. Even in short field speeds, airplane is flown usually at least 10 knots above stall speed. You may hear the stall horn, but stalling the airplane should be far from there. From my observation of your story, what caused you to crash was a failed go-around, which means your angle of attack increased (nose got high) when you applied power and the airplane was uncoordinated (not enough right rudder). Nevertheless, I am glad you survived and worked through it. After all, that’s the most important thing.
Great video. You probably are familiar with him, but if not, Dan Gryder has a youtube channel called Probable Cause in which he discusses and educates on all things aviation. Talks a lot about this very type of accident. I have little to no faith in the NTSB.
Technology is such a great resource when it comes to weather data but more often than not accidents are caused do to the trust pilots have in technology to show the proper and most current weather. For me personally I never trust the weather forecast and always enter an airspace thinking the weather is wrong. It only takes one mistake to take a life and sometimes that mistake is believing technology has done its job. Happy you are still with us. Thank you for sharing.
I could not agree more! In a massive stroke of irony, one of the primary classes I teach now is Aviation Weather. I find telling this story helps solidify the variability of weather in my student's minds.
The best thing about this video for me was learning that you are a Christian! Congratulations my Brother in Christ. Raise those kids up in the ways of the Lord!!
You can stall an airplane in any attitude, at any altitude, and at any airspeed. That’s what makes understanding aerodynamics so important. In this case, the wind itself, actually got the left wing into a little bit of a stall while the right wing was still producing some lift, causing it to roll very aggressively on me. I am planning on putting out a very in-depth but well explained aerodynamics video on stalls in the next few weeks so make sure to look for that coming out soon!
Always was a 3 point landing at the farm. It was, however, better to set the wheels down a few knots fast in a wheel landing to be able to use brakes instead of eating up the runway trying to slow down in a flare. Because of the 3-point setup on this landing, I was closer to stall speed and, ultimately, the LOC and Terrain impact while attempting a go-around. Hindsight is 20/20, and now I realize it would have been much better to set it down way too fast and brake aggressively into the slope. I probably would have hit the fence at the end but wouldn't have totaled the plane.
I absolutely agree . It appears that 3 point flare is pretty standard in the states ?? , we all fly on here in Oz and use brake and pitch authority to full effect . All my flying has been short field/ undulating etc . Aeroplanes need to be flown all the way to the hanger . Glad you survived and posted the lessons to be learned . Legend !
It really depends on the situation and aircraft. Some planes are much more receptive to wheel landings, while others (like the Maule) hated them. The M7s were feasible, but the M5s I’ve flown are finicky to wheel land.
We had a Maule Rocket , it wheeled on O.K. , but very different technique to say a 180 , and certainly different to say a Piper Pawnee . All that said , I m not a big Maule fan as a GA aircraft , I ve seen them bounce down runways like a rabbit . . My family are 3 generations in aviation , all instructors , uncle Ben was one of the most respected pilots in the world . Two rules we have here re taildraggers . Fly it all the way to the hanger . If you cant fly it on , dont fly it . This is not a crticism . Its a safety consideration . All that aside , swiss cheese annology is a real thing . Some times all the hoples line up and its gonna hurt , no matter what . Cheers !
Just in closing on this , I dont mean to say we dont 3 point taildraggers , however , the ability to do so when unexpected conditions dictate such is a requirement . Cheers , Dr J
@@The_Flying_Mechanic Unlike many other tandem bush planes, the 8GCBC Scout is still a production model and has robust Factory support @ ACA in Rochester, WI. It is tough, hauls a lot including 70 gal fuel, and is a great traveling machine as it is much faster than the Cubs. Lyc O-360 - 180 HP and some examples can be found that are IFR (ours is) or VFR units can be converted to full IFR. I'll be in TN the latter part of June through early July and will have it along...happy to swing over to Lebanon if you'd like to take a peek. I need to stop through there anyway to see my friend's new hanger they just put up.
Wait till you fly into a dust devil on rotation and you leave the runway 90 degrees to the runway. That will make you pee your pants! I was done flying after that.
Maybe it's my lack of experience, but I just don't see how you can safely use that strip as a home field given the geometry of the approach, mountainous terrain all around, and the length of the strip. Sure, a proficient backcountry pilot can land on a dime 10 times out of 10 and stop in 50 feet or whatever, but I would never use such strip as my home strip where I need to make thousands of landings, and there's always pressure to land on my way back in. All it takes is a gust of wind at the exact wrong time in the exact wrong direction, just one time - and you're dead. That's basically your accident. You can theorize around it all you want, and sure things aligned, but they will always be aligning when there is so much stuff that can go wrong and you must be 100% on top of everything every time. There are just certain risks a family man shouldn't be taking in my opinion. You can counteract this with excessively conservative personal minima I guess, but then might just fly out of a real airport.
I have more time landing at grass strips than I do paved runways and I completely understand where you are coming from. I do not allow public operators to land at my strip and only 3 people have ever flown into it including myself. I've canceled flights when winds were as light as 6 knots since that accident. Just have to know your limits and respect them.
Hmm you put yourself in that position you had a ticket to fly no sir you didn't you had a lisence to learn and you did not learn that was all on you always have a way out and by the looks of it your in the same spot so good luck with that am sure the 140 is not a maul
This is true but my mins have become stricter and more tangible. I have more than once canceled a flight now because of density altitude, winds, or just a bad gut feeling... We are all (hopefully) growing and learning every day.
@@The_Flying_Mechanic You never explained why you crashed. There are two type of crashes - You're pushing the A/C beyond its limits or You're pushing yourself beyond your personal limits. You simply gave some convoluted opinion of what happened or may have happened. - An accident is when a moose runs out in front of you. Not everybody will become a good pilot. Some people need to stay on the ground. Good luck to you.
sorry, i didnt watch all this mess, this video is a guy in denial seeking to blame everything but the pilot in command, me, i dont rely on all this tech weather stuff, he even admits he knew not to fly but did anyhow, landed with a tailwind, oh well. you f'd up, the ntsb got it right. all the editing an music and references to someone elses powerpoint wont bring your plane back or vindicate you for doing something dumb.
I think I used words like failure and mistakes in reference to myself more than anything else. I see my response to this accident as one of two options: Quietly wait and dust it under the rug or expose my failures and explain what the chain of events was leading to my accident. Unfortunately a lot of folks prescribe to bad pilots have accidents when that isn’t true logically. I completely respect your view point, just think sharing failures can show everyone is capable of having an accident if they get too lax. Thank you
The classical god idea, invisible mean man that kills everything on the planet after becoming angry is just the most ridiculous idea man has come up with. The god idea makes people act quite strange and alters their thinking. There are two models of reality, the faith based model and the evidence based model. The god idea cannot overcome the most basic child objections to it. I know, at 7 the great flood story didn't add up. I know some of my pilot friends will introduce magic to over come the problems with the stories. Until magic is demonstrated, like the god character, it doesn't exist. The golden rule existed well before the Yahweh character was invented. We don't need the god idea and it is quite ridiculous in all the forms humans have presented it.
