Tankerpilot75
Well Known Member
On Sunday the 24th after holding for two and ahalf hours I was cleared to land on Rwy 27 - green dot. As I approached the green dot tower said: “ extend, extend.” I extended past the green dot then was told “land immediately and get on the brakes hard.” I immediately slammed on the runway, bounced a little and quickly got control of the aircraft. As I was slowing down tower said to “exit the runway immediately .” I asked: “which way - left or right” and the response I got was “it doesn’t matter just exit the runway.” I chose right - should have chosen left!
After clearing the runway onto the grass I picked up what appeared to be a marshaller who passed me off to another person with wands who directed me forward across the grass. It was soft grass from the previous night’s rain so I carried a little more speed than normal. Unfortunately there was a one foot unmarked concrete square with a steel topin the grass which I hit hard with the nose wheel. The aircraft pitched forward with the nose pointed down and the propeller digging an 8” to 10” trench in the grass. I pulled back my mixture, killed the engine and the airplane settled back to a normal three point stance. I sat there while people immediately drove up and gathered my composure.
The EAA representative said, “I’ve been doing this for 25 years and never seen that concrete square you found with your RV!” Just my luck!
Long story shortened, Myers Aviation towed my aircraft to their facility and my damage estimate is over $46K. Ouch! New CS Prop - installed $17.5+K, Engine removal, tear down inspection and governor overhaul $19.2K, repair/replace damage nose gear $3+K, repaint damage areas $1.4K, and reinstall engine another $3.6K.
Thank goodness for Global Aerospace Insurance through AOPA! Both their adjuster and Myers have been super to work with. My biggest headache so far is the loss of the aircraft for 4 to 5 months.
In a way this could be a blessing. I’m thinking about getting Popular Grove (tear down and inspection shop) to replace my Slick Mags with dual E-Mags since the cost difference to me will be reasonable and I’m also going to have them check my valve guides since the engine has over 500 hours since new and it’s relatively cheap to do it now during a tear down inspection.
I could really be upset about this but frankly everyone has been so great to deal with that it’s hard to be angry. Sometimes poop happens and you just have to deal with it.
I will say one thing, this will be the last time I try to fly into AirVenture on the weekend before the show. Last year was a similar zoo experience with having to re-enter the Endeavor Bridge point multiple times south of Portage before being cleared down track and this year involved 2.5 hours holding with AirVenture not talking to aircraft outside Endevor nor giving any guidance, aircraft not flying a minimum of 90 KIAS when past Endevor Bridge, aircraft cutting in front of you, and folks cluttering up the radio frequency.
From now on (if I go again) it will be arrive NLT the Friday before or fly into Appleton or Fond du Lac. The weekend arrival to OSH is getting just too dangerous!
After clearing the runway onto the grass I picked up what appeared to be a marshaller who passed me off to another person with wands who directed me forward across the grass. It was soft grass from the previous night’s rain so I carried a little more speed than normal. Unfortunately there was a one foot unmarked concrete square with a steel topin the grass which I hit hard with the nose wheel. The aircraft pitched forward with the nose pointed down and the propeller digging an 8” to 10” trench in the grass. I pulled back my mixture, killed the engine and the airplane settled back to a normal three point stance. I sat there while people immediately drove up and gathered my composure.
The EAA representative said, “I’ve been doing this for 25 years and never seen that concrete square you found with your RV!” Just my luck!
Long story shortened, Myers Aviation towed my aircraft to their facility and my damage estimate is over $46K. Ouch! New CS Prop - installed $17.5+K, Engine removal, tear down inspection and governor overhaul $19.2K, repair/replace damage nose gear $3+K, repaint damage areas $1.4K, and reinstall engine another $3.6K.
Thank goodness for Global Aerospace Insurance through AOPA! Both their adjuster and Myers have been super to work with. My biggest headache so far is the loss of the aircraft for 4 to 5 months.
In a way this could be a blessing. I’m thinking about getting Popular Grove (tear down and inspection shop) to replace my Slick Mags with dual E-Mags since the cost difference to me will be reasonable and I’m also going to have them check my valve guides since the engine has over 500 hours since new and it’s relatively cheap to do it now during a tear down inspection.
I could really be upset about this but frankly everyone has been so great to deal with that it’s hard to be angry. Sometimes poop happens and you just have to deal with it.
I will say one thing, this will be the last time I try to fly into AirVenture on the weekend before the show. Last year was a similar zoo experience with having to re-enter the Endeavor Bridge point multiple times south of Portage before being cleared down track and this year involved 2.5 hours holding with AirVenture not talking to aircraft outside Endevor nor giving any guidance, aircraft not flying a minimum of 90 KIAS when past Endevor Bridge, aircraft cutting in front of you, and folks cluttering up the radio frequency.
From now on (if I go again) it will be arrive NLT the Friday before or fly into Appleton or Fond du Lac. The weekend arrival to OSH is getting just too dangerous!