Amazing video of RV nose gear collapse shot with GoPro

[Captain Avgas]

The attached video is of the crash of Vans RV6A VH-TJM on the 2nd of January 2017 at a private airstrip in Queensland, Australia. The video was shot with a GoPro camera mounted under the left wing. This video has never been previously released. I asked the pilot and owner of the aircraft, Ian Smith, to give me permission to upload this video to VansAirforce on the basis that it is totally unique and may go a long way in educating other RV pilots to the fact that it is relatively easy to collapse this type of nose gear.

The video is 20 seconds long and captures the aircraft on short final and touchdown. I have probably viewed this video 40 times or more because it is so fascinating. Ian Smith is to be highly commended for releasing it as an educational tool because the crash was highly traumatic for him. His daughter, who was a passenger, was very seriously injured and Ian himself suffered a broken neck which has left him as a quadriplegic.

The incident was the subject of an investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau which has now issued their final report. That report can be viewed here:

https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications...r/ao-2017-001/

The report claims that the aircraft "landed heavily at a high rate of descent". Undoubtedly the landing was extremely flat and there was a bounce. However I would suggest that student pilots flying Cessnas and Pipers frequently make similar landings without this catastrophic outcome. You have probably yourself made a similar flat landing with a small bounce when you were learning to fly. Here's the video.

https://youtu.be/RYfqnSXRFrI

[DeeCee 57]

Tragic accident

Doesn?t look like a hard landing, the bounce is rather small. Like you say, flat attitude, too hi speed. Maybe pre-damaged gear?

Wishing them the best towards recovery!

[Peter Costick]

I have studied this video before having been privy to it via an Aussie aviation organisation.

After many views I drew the idea that the incident occurred due to the second touch down happening while the nose gear leg was oscillating in the fore and aft plane due to the original bounce.

My thought was that the second touch down occurred while the nose gear was at the extreme of the aft part of the fore and aft oscillation . Considering the geometry of the nose gear if the gear is in that position it will contact the ground in a position that allows no further rearward motion, and then a failure might occur.

I am no engineer, and dont pretend to be. But my personal takeaway was 'if you bounce always go around'

FWIW.

[Capt]

To me that was not a hard bounce or a High RoD initially What I think might have happened was when the driver first touched down down on the mains (normal) and the nose wheel contacted the surface the ensuing rumble he would have felt had him pull back abruptly then becoming completely airborne again, it's the second touch down that all 3 wheels hit the same time whilst the nose wheel was still suffering from the first contact, IE Flexing! That report was very inaccurate but typical of our useless investigator! That's the third A model I've seen that ended up like that. One at our local field a few years ago the other at an outback strip, too bloody dangerous for my liking!

[Steve Melton]

The landing doesn't look bad to me. If it was a hard surface then there would not have been an issue, therefore, it must be the sand.

[Peter Costick]

I don't think the A model is a particular problem as long as you land it properly Bob.

And Steve I think it's more complex than just the surface, correct technique and a plan when things dont work out as you expect. For me its a slow, gentle touch down and I always plan to go around if I bounce the nose wheel at all. My mantra on landing is always ' fly it along the runway, go around if you bounce' I say it out loud every landing.

[Finley Atherton]

Originally Posted by Steve Melton

The landing doesn't look bad to me. If it was a hard surface then there would not have been an issue, therefore, it must be the sand.

The landing was fast and heavy. The ATSB report said at first touch down airspeed was 75 kt with a 2 kt tail wind and 700 ft per minute descent.
Viewed at slow speed the nose wheel/strut initially looks OK but soon starts oscillating. Sort of looks like the high rotation speed of the wheel and possibly the soft surface excited the harmonics of the strut??
Fin
9A

[N208ET]

They touch down going to fast and end up flying again, and once they are in the air again, the effort is made to try and force it down. The result is a flat landing and the outcome ensues. Maybe if it had been a different runway, maybe this maybe that.......

Always land with the nosegear off the ground as long as possible. Unfortunately, they didn?t get lucky. Didn?t read the report so I hope nobody was seriously hurt.

Randy
8A

[Malndi]

Originally Posted by Capt

That report was very inaccurate but typical of our useless investigator!

Please share the objective evidence you have that demonstrates where the ATSB report is factually incorrect.

The report quotes recorded data where it says “At 1029:38, the aircraft first contacted the ground, at an airspeed of about 75 kt, with a tailwind of 2 kt and descending at about 700 ft per minute.” This data supports the conclusion of the report.

Are you suggesting the recorded data is wrong?

[emsvitil]

FYI

It's possible to play it back at .25 of normal speed...............

(In case you didn't know, (which I didn't, before this morning know how to do))

Hit the settings icon on bottom right