Plane Barely Recovering from Spin in Mountains | Hacker News Reader

Plane Barely Recovering from Spin in Mountains

avweb.com

17 pointsasix6621 comments

Lots of comments here about a 172 at these altitudes. Our field is at 7,500’ and has the continental divide with peaks over 14,000’ on one end of the runway.

A 172 can fly up here, but you have to be smart and very picky about the days you fly. We don’t fly with full fuel and take the back seats out in the summer.

If there’s enough wind over the passes, or density altitude is high, we stay in the valley. Mountain flying is an entirely different beast.

It’s N65440, a C152 (two seater, around 40% less horsepower than a C172).

A comment below the video from someone claiming to fly that particular plane regularly said the second seat is removed.

That’s still wild IMO for a 152. Economical trainers they are, but summer mountain flying plane they are not.

Maybe if you ride some thermals…

Oh yikes. Every 152 I’ve flown makes 172s look like Superman. They are anaemic even at sea level in the summer!

In that class of plane, 182s are my personal minimum up here in the summer. I have heard of very experienced pilots having close calls with unexpected downdrafts on otherwise calm days.

Link to the Facebook video (it didn't show up on TFA for me): https://www.facebook.com/1460864974/videos/pcb.1023090920054...

Literally feet away from death. That pilot is incredibly lucky.

If somebody wants to see the video and comment from another pilot why it did happen, go here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcM7O9JYXKU

Blancolirio is worth following, in this fan's opinion.

Interesting that it did not show up on the AV Herald.

Thursday Jul 4th 2024:

Incident United B739 near Chicago on Jul 3rd 2024, cabin pressure problems

Incident France B789 over Atlantic on Jul 3rd 2024, burning odour on board

https://avherald.com

https://avherald.com/h?faq=&opt=0

> The Aviation Herald concentrates on "Air Transport", meaning in general The Aviation Herald will report only about commercial flights or commercial operators involving airplanes with capacity for 19 passenger seats or more.

That seat definitely had to be replaced.

According to the comments, the pilot turned around and flew over a different pass nearby. Didn't think I'd have the nerves to do that after nearly dying.

Have you ever had a serious close call while driving and then continued your trip once the acute danger had passed? I don’t think that it’s that rare for pilots or drivers to continue after a close shave.

The point is not that he merely continued flying, but that he made the same reckless decision to fly over the mountains a second time. Most people who have a close call on the road drive with more care afterward.

Possibly, heading over the pass was the return route to the airfield. (Pure speculation on my part.)

This is the flight: https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/n65440#35fd8c29

He was flying to a different airport from the one he took off from. It's possible he was way past the point of no return and had to make it over the pass or emergency land in the mountains.

Link dead, but on the track I saw earlier he wasn't even close to halfway to the destination when he regrouped for his second attempt.

well, the first attempt was reckless because they didn't have enough altitude. the second attempt was with more altitude, ie. "driving with more caution"

And he made the second pass with 500' to spare. Daaaaang.

Yeah, exactly. That's one wind gust away from disaster. I question that pilot's assessment of risk.

Seat? I would have blown out a whole new access panel in the belly of that flivver with the sheer force of my terror.

The few times I've been in bush flights over terrain, it's always felt like the man upstairs is punching my dance card. When I'm feeling brave I'll sometimes ask pilots about it, and sometimes they're like, yep, feels that way flying too - that's why I love it!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com