St. Maarten mishap - discussion

[Piston Paul]

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[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi Paul,

Wow, those are great shots. How did you get the images of the people added? I love the bent prop too.

[Col7777]

I'm used to that sort of thing the way I fly.

Seriously those are great shots.

[Piston Paul]

Thanks Tom and col7777.
The TNCM scenery is add-on from, I think Aerosoft. All surroundings of the airport, including hotels, pools, bars with people, are there!
Especially the famous Maho Beach is well done. You can even look for pretty girls in bikini ;D

The bent prop is not there at all. What you actually see is the radius of the cowling. But on the pic it looks a bit like a bent prop!

The reason the gear collapsed this way is (I think) because of a very hard touch and go the preceding circuit. I was doing a series of touch and go's, and the last one didn't came out that good, so this was the result.
I have reality set at 100 %.

Greets.
Paul

[Maarten]

Hi Paul et all,

The DC-3 mishap reminded me of a landing incident I was involved in over two years ago. The virtual damage was not as bad as the pain I felt when my pride got hurt. I hope this was not an omen for the real aircraft which crashed last year (as N898AT) in Alaska.



Cheers,
Maarten

[Piston Paul]

Ai, ai, ai... So you know the feeling too, Maarten !
Sure you got three greens?
cheers.

[Maarten]

Oh yeah. It was entirely my own fault. The poor girl veered up after a hard touchdown. Then the nosewheel kissed the surface and the gear collapsed (just like e.g. Carvair G-APNH at Le Touquet and G-ASDC at Rotterdam).

Cheers,
Animal

[Piston Paul]

I see... Sounds like the nose wheel construction must have been 'a weak link' on the Carvair? Was that indeed the case, Maarten?

[Maarten]

Not only on the Carvair. The nose wheel construction was the original C-54/DC-4 one (with only a very minor modification) and these aircraft had their share of nosewheel collapses too. (a.o. MAC's PH-MAE)
A complicating factor, though, was that the cockpit was located almost seven feet higher than the original ones, which could cause errors while on finals (coming in slightly too low). In combination with unfavourable conditions like strong crosswind (G-APNH) or very wintry conditions (G-ASDC) this could result in hard landings which could affect the nosewheel gear. In the case of DC the oleo incl. nosewheel broke off and the remainder of the nosewheel strut carved a deep groove into the runway surface.

Cheers,
Maarten

[eddiejez]

Hi Maarten

where did you get the carvair from ?

rgds Edd

[Maarten]

Hey Edd,

You can find the Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair at Avsim.com and Flightsim.com (jwat98.zip). It is made by Jon Walton. The flight dynamics are by FS Aviator. There are some repaints too. For the Carvairs on my hard disc I use the panel of Jens B. Kristensen's DC-4/C-54 V.1.
The Carvair flies as a DC-4 (like it should), but the vision when near/on the ground is clearly different because of the location of the cockpit. In my opinion a great plane. (So is the the real plane as I got confirmed some years ago from several real life Carvair pilots amongst whom one of the original test pilots, the late Captain Robert Langley, DFC).
To make the flight dynamics of Jon Walton's Carvair up to the standard you'll find in JBK's DC-4/C-54 V.21 version, you will need to download the flight model update by FS Aviator (see www.calclassic.com/dc4.htm).

Cheers,
Maarten

[eddiejez]

Hi Maarten

thanks for the info!.I can remember watching them as a small boy I must have been 6 or 7 years old I think it was from lydd airport in kent as I had a great aunt that lived near there spent a few summers there Ive also seen them at Le touquet in channel air bridge colours'

rgds Edd