Amazing video of RV nose gear collapse shot with GoPro

[SkipperBJW]

First, thanks to Mr. Smith for sharing this video.

As a potential buyer of a -6A, -7A, or -9A, this certainly concerns me. I know the report says the nose strut was appropriately designed/built, but I have bounced a few in on occasion. It seems on a grass field there is not much room for error and pilots are human and do make mistakes.

For all you experienced -XA flyers, would Anti Splat Aero's "Nose Job" mod have prevented this event?

[rv8ch]

Looking at each frame is possible in case you were not aware - you can pause with the mouse or spacebar, and then move forward and back with the , and . keys.

Thanks to Ian for sharing this.

[Pilot135pd]

Originally Posted by SkipperBJW

First, thanks to Mr. Smith for sharing this video.

As a potential buyer of a -6A, -7A, or -9A, this certainly concerns me. I know the report says the nose strut was appropriately designed/built, but I have bounced a few in on occasion. It seems on a grass field there is not much room for error and pilots are human and do make mistakes.

For all you experienced -XA flyers, would Anti Splat Aero's "Nose Job" mod have prevented this event?

I don't think the grass runway had anything to do with it, specially when it didn't have any grass and looked smooth. Having said that when I was looking for my RV I wanted an RV-8a but since I live on a grass runway airport I decided to be more cautious and in the end what worked out for me was a RV-8.

Very sad for the pilot and his daughter.

[N941WR]

Watching how the nosewheel reacts on the second touchdown is most interesting.

At first it is rolling (probably very little weight on it)
Then it seems to hit a hole and starts oscillating fore and aft
Next the nosewheel digs in and bends the landing gear under.
The airplane seems to slide on the bent nose gear for a little bit, until the prop blade impacts the dirt, causing the gear to collapse the rest of the way, and flipping the plane over.

Originally Posted by SkipperBJW

First, thanks to Mr. Smith for sharing this video.

As a potential buyer of a -6A, -7A, or -9A, this certainly concerns me. I know the report says the nose strut was appropriately designed/built, but I have bounced a few in on occasion. It seems on a grass field there is not much room for error and pilots are human and do make mistakes.

For all you experienced -XA flyers, would Anti Splat Aero's "Nose Job" mod have prevented this event?

I'm not an A Flier but I do recall at least one picture of an A with a collapsed nose gear that was supporting the Anti-Splat brace.
At the very least, I recommend changing the front wheel bearing, which helps eliminate the fore and aft oscillation.

[Tankerpilot75]

I just reviewed this video at the .25 slower speed. It appears to me the first time the nose gear touched down it was okay until it hit a disturbance on the runway and then it started oscillating forward and aft. The second time it touched down the oscillation was aft and it quickly collapsed.

My first question is did the RV have installed the Antisplat nose gear bracket? I ask this because two summers ago coming back from Oshkosh I landed with an extreme aft cg and bounced mains to nose excessively (porpoise) and did an immediate go around. I then repeated the porpoise/go around experience several times until application of full forward nose down trim. This helped enough to offset the worse effects of an aft cg condition. (I wrote up my experience and lessons learned in VAF at the time).

Later on I checked my nose gear and discovered significant scrapping on the bottom forward section of the fairing; which I strongly suspect was caused by that landing. I state this as a testament to the value of the Antisplat nose gear bracket.

I also have a personal limitation that I don’t do non-paved runway excursions from another poor experience (resulted in replacement of my nose wheel skirt). Before people get upset with this personal restriction I realize others operate on non paved runways all the time without problems. For tail wheel aircraft I say “no problem” but for my “A” model its a “personal” restriction just like I always try to land with at least five gallons in each tank to always be sure I’m not close to an aft cg condition at lighter landing weights. This restriction also helps with bladder concerns ��.

We should all have personal limitations based on our own analysis of our aircraft and individual skills. I’m also a firm believer in the Antisplat nose gear bracket. This video just confirms my personal restriction of “no soft field landings” is correct for me and my RV7A.

I will stay with this personal restriction until I decide to upgrade to the new Vans nose wheel mount. Tail draggers have the advantage here!

[Warrior's Lance]

Is there any chance that the nose wheel bearings are seized?

[flion]

Originally Posted by Kyle Boatright

An RV-9A coming in at 75 knots? No wonder it touched on the nose wheel after the initial bounce. It was 20+ knots too fast.

The goal with any of the -A models is to land on the mains and hold the nose off as long as possible. That's not what happened here.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. Having suffered a collapse on my -6A, I have learned. Proper technique is to keep that nosewheel up, which means airspeed control on final. I noticed that the landing in the video of the AOPA sweepstakes RV-10 was also very fast and flat, with the nosewheel on pavement much too quickly. I'm not sure why this is so common; even in my case I'm not sure where I picked up that habit. But it is something that every A model and -10 driver should consciously strive to correct. You don't want to learn the hard way, like I did.

By the way, I've been on sand, gravel, and rocks since then without problems. As long as you protect that nosewheel, the RV is good on any reasonable surface.

[jeffkersey]

Originally Posted by Warrior's Lance

Is there any chance that the nose wheel bearings are seized?

You are thinking what I am thinking. I think the nosewheel quit turning freely and bound up...

[AlexPeterson]

Originally Posted by Warrior's Lance

Is there any chance that the nose wheel bearings are seized?

It certainly could be a factor. Here's a photo of an RV10's nose wheel which locked on landing, staying locked until the plane came to a complete stop. Then the plane taxied back to the hangar, with no apparent bearing friction. A tire was heard to be chirping on the takeoff roll (I think this was a first flight!), so the pilot was warned that a main might have a hanging brake. There was a video of this landing, but I can't find it just now.

[abwaldal@gmail.com]

Now I speak with complete honesty here. I own a drive an RV-6A and have had way worse landings than what the video shows. I've bounced the my plane, porpoised it, skidded sideways, floated and had three landings in one.
Live on a grass strip that has a bump at the wrong place just before the uphill section and I always seem land just before it and get a little lift off Kinda sorta before it settles down. Oh ya have tall trees also on one side so we get some screwy wind action if it's blownin. This video kinda wanna scare the bejeebers out of me. Gonna have try be more careful in the future.
Maybe I've been lucky, but I try to be very smooth on the controls making very small adjustments at anytime.j And remembering Mike Seager's advice on checkout. NO fast control movements. Yes my plane is still flyable.
But all that said, I seen the video and everything on that landing looked GOOD except for a little bounce. WOW
Yes I did put on the Anti Splat nose mod just for the possible help it will give.
Keep the controls light Art