A student pilot escaped unhurt after landing a plane that had lost a wheel shortly after take-off.

I was training in the same aircraft over in Melbourne, Florida

Amazing to see how the plane i have flown so much coped with that side load on landing!

http://news.sky.com/story/1035337/st...lot-crash-lands-after-losing-wheel

Wow, that must have been something for him ... did a great job ... Wonder if he's done ...

It looked like (and sounded like) he left the engine with some power still on as he touched down. I think if he had switched off the engine upon touchdown the aircraft wouldn't have bounced around so much as it did.

Good landing though.

Circled for five hours...think he can log cross country time? And does this count as a landing?  

Every landing you can walk away from...

There is mention of an instructor and 120 hours of experience, so are we talking about IFR rating or something like that ?

I remember when I was at that level of training, 5 hours of PIC was great! I wonder if he had to pay for it!  

What I find curious is why it veered to the left. It should have veered to the right. Looking at the nose-wheel, he was steering to the right. The only thing I can think of, is that he was applying a bootful of brake, (and why would he?), and with only one brake ....

Quoting longhauler (Reply 5):

Thats an interesting point, maybe he thought it would stop the aircraft in the heat of the moment....

Quoting longhauler (Reply 5): What I find curious is why it veered to the left.

He probably applied full left-braking to compensate for what he thought would be a sharp pull to the right upon the right wing making contact with the runway. Apparently the pull was nowhere near what he anticipated.

Quoting pilotanthony (Thread starter): I was training in the same aircraft over in Melbourne, Florida

You sure about that? The aircraft has been in Oz since 1990. This incident took place at Mangalore, north of Melbourne - Australia.

Quoting longhauler (Reply 5): What I find curious is why it veered to the left. It should have veered to the right. Looking at the nose-wheel, he was steering to the right. The only thing I can think of, is that he was applying a bootful of brake, (and why would he?), and with only one brake ....

Because as soon as the left main contacts there is a lot of friction on the Left Main and Zero Friction on the Right side. The rotation appears to accelerate as the airplane slows down because of the loss of rudder effectiveness as the airplane loses airspeed. Couple that with the fact that he has close full Left Aileron in to keep the right wing off the ground and the airplane goes Left.

[Edited 2013-01-09 20:48:01]

Quoting PassedV1 (Reply 9): Because as soon as the left main contacts there is a lot of friction on the Left Main and Zero Friction on the Right side.

From the brake. Unless the wheel were damaged or there was bearing friction, there would have been little other drag.

The aerodynamic drag would have been virtually nil by the time the aircraft veered, as it only veered during its last few seconds of roll, and speed looked to be less than about 20 knots by that time.

Quoting longhauler (Reply 10): From the brake. Unless the wheel were damaged or there was bearing friction, there would have been little other drag. The aerodynamic drag would have been virtually nil by the time the aircraft veered, as it only veered during its last few seconds of roll, and speed looked to be less than about 20 knots by that time.

After watching the video again, I think it is very plausible that he touched the brake at the end. I would expect him to go left holding the wing off as long as he did whether or not he touched the brake. There is friction from the wheel that is increasing as the wheel rotation decreases. How much isn't as important as the fact that there is a difference in drag between the left and the right. The nosewheel is probably skiding and not providing any turning force whatsoever. The rudder being held full right to counteract the full left aileron is losing effectiveness adding to the nose left tendency. If it were JUST this though, I would expect to be a more linear/gradual process than what is seen at the end of the video. So probably he touched the brake.

So what happened if someone who is in training has an accident? Is he not allowed to get his license?

Quoting PHX787 (Reply 12): So what happened if someone who is in training has an accident? Is he not allowed to get his license?

I doubt they'll be pinning this on "pilot error." From what I understand, the wheel fell off when the pilot took off -- he then burned fuel for five hours and performed a good emergency landing.

I think the pilot will be fine ... I'm fairly sure the same won't be able to be said about the last mechanic who worked on the wheel assembly.

Quoting Mothguy (Reply 8):

I never said, I trained in that exact aircraft did I? I trained in the Warrior  

Quoting pilotanthony (Thread starter): I was training in the same aircraft over in Melbourne, Florida

Well you have to admit that what you said would make people think you trained in that exact aircraft....

Quoting pilotanthony (Thread starter): I was training in the same aircraft over in Melbourne, Florida

Quoting pilotanthony (Reply 14): I never said, I trained in that exact aircraft did I? I trained in the Warrior

Seems I don't understand English  

i can see how people get confused, but never been to Australia in my life!

Quoting pilotanthony (Thread starter): I was training in the same aircraft over in Melbourne, Florida

Adding the word "type", training in the same type aircraft, would have eliminated confusion. Training "in the same aircraft" means to me the same airframe--that and only that very airplane.

Anyway, turned out to be a good landing.

Quoting Aesma (Reply 4): Every landing you can walk away from...

Hmmm, come to think of it, do the regs say "Successful" landings. I don't recall seeing that in the US regs anyway. No time to check right now either.