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17 Comments
- FrankRizzo69, on 07/11/2009, -2/+12As a pilot I can personally attest mountain wave and downdrafts are no joke. They can cause massive losses of altitude especially with a relatively low powered plane like the Decathlon and it was a warm day with very high density altitude. You cannot see downdrafts until you hit one but in mountainous terrain you should always expect to run into it. As it states in the report at his altitude and temps 300 feet per min clim at full power was possible but I have routinely seen +500fpm drops in a similarly powered plane at full throttle. You would need lots of excess power to fly yourself out of a good drop unless you have left yourself another option.
- grovest4life, on 07/11/2009, -1/+5Density altitude and air breathing engines the plane has a service ceiling of 15000 feet and although at sea level the airplane will climb at 1200 feet per minute at the crash altitude he would have only been able to climb at 300 feet per a minute at the density altitude of 12700 feet. Less oxygen means considerably less power from the engine same as humans and mountain climbing.
- zombiedog, on 07/11/2009, -0/+4A sad ending to a daredevil explorer.
We have a saying in aviation: There are old pilots and bold pilots, but a severe shortage of old, bold pilots. - toejamz, on 07/11/2009, -1/+4Downdrafts can crunch a 747 if they happen during the landing sequence, even at full power. Planes need air to provide lift, and the air can drop as fast as it goes sideways. Since speeds of > 100 MPH have been recorded, show me a plane (any plane) that can climb anywhere near 100 MPH.
Downdrafts are real, even if rare.
Want perfect safety? Don't drive. Your car is roughly as likely to kill you in a mile of driving as Steve's little plane is likely to kill a passenger in a mile of flying. Life is a bit dangerous - so have run and take reasonable risks! - daveal, on 07/11/2009, -0/+2That's why experienced mountain pilots cross ridges at an angle ( <= 45) so you can quickly turn away from a potential downdraft. You never try to climb out of it. Only noobs do that.
- Napiertt, on 07/11/2009, -0/+2I don't know if that's enough evidence to speculate on the cause. It could as well have been some medical issue. Cardiac arrest etc.
- phrawgh, on 07/10/2009, -4/+6Yeah and gravity does not escape notice either.
- DeskFlyer, on 07/10/2009, -2/+3I'm surprised that a Super Decathlon was brought down by a strong downdraft; it's a pretty light aircraft with plenty of power and a blast to fly in. You can see Greg Koontz flying one here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxo9PgAGPE0 - asgardshill, on 07/10/2009, -1/+2Especially with Steve Fossett, the badass airman's badass, at the controls. I wonder if he was flathatting and just got surprised by a strong downdraft.
- Ghostwo, on 07/11/2009, -1/+24 am here...
- grovest4life, on 07/11/2009, -2/+2Wrong this is an aerobatic plane designed to fly upside down look at the wing it has a semi semi symmetric airfoil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Champion_Dec ... - turboner, on 07/11/2009, -2/+2People digging at 1 in the morning!!!! PST of course...
- wakeup82, on 07/11/2009, -4/+2Wasn't there talk of him being shot down near a U.S. military base?
- iirrkk, on 07/11/2009, -5/+3٩(̾●̮̮̃̾•̃̾)۶ __̴ı̴̴̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡ ̡͌l̡*̡̡ ̴̡ı̴̴̡ ̡̡͡|̲̲̲͡͡͡ ̲▫̲͡ ̲̲̲͡͡π̲̲͡͡ ̲̲͡▫̲̲͡͡ ̲|̡̡̡ ̡ ̴̡ı̴̡̡ ̡͌l̡̡̡̡.
- inactive, on 07/11/2009, -5/+3Sudden gust of gravity.
- Ghostwo, on 07/11/2009, -6/+2"NTSB blames Steve Fossett for downdrafts"
- dbisping, on 07/11/2009, -10/+2how did this make it to #1?
the event happened almost 2 years ago and the guy was flying in an airplane that was designed in the early 1970s and was meant to fly upside-down.
i've actually been following this story and it is dumb.
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