Crikey, looks like that Yak's carked it bro!

[Adam the Akrodude]

What a doozy huh bro's! I'm sure many if not all of us have seen this, but it's just too awesome not to post again!

I bet the pilot went to the chilly bin for a cold one now after thet. Might get some fush n chups tonight ay bro!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz07Q5Etyjc

[Graeme H]

Be very interested to read the report about that one

[Cap'n Wannabe]

As we discussed, Adam....what the hell was the cherry-picker doing on an active runway?!?

[BradG]

Surely you give the runway a quick scan while on approach to see if there's anything in the way, like another aircraft or giant bright red piece of machinery?

[Adam the Akrodude]

Surely you give the runway a quick scan while on approach to see if there's anything in the way, like another aircraft or giant bright red piece of machinery?

Good question and yet one with a pretty complex answer - not that I'm capable at all of providing an answer, more so questions here. I think this comes down to just how our brain and eyes work - what we truly see. As I understand it, the brain kind of fills in the gaps between what we actually see which is pretty narrow in vision - like filling in between snap shots. There is a lot we don't know yet with this incident like what kind of approach the Yak flew - curved or straight. I read that the Yak was also part of a formation landing in which case the Yak pilot would have been looking at the leader, but I've not seen any evidence yet of this formation landing. In discussion with the Great Capn Wannabe recently, Damo did rightly point out that we pilots are pretty darn focused on our aim point on the runway threshold/piano keys, whatever point we're aiming for on the runway we intend to land on. So, given how our brains work with the eyes, the pilot may in fact have thought the runway was clear in his mind - and not really noticed that cherry picker given all the focus was on that landing aim point. I can absolutly vouch for the fact that flying something not real easy to land like a Pitts, all of ones brain power is being used to fly that as perfect as possible approach @ 80 knots to nail that what will be a bumpy landing on most occasions - I did nail the odd greaser in a Pitts and was usually shocked when it happened! I have likened landing a Pitts to attempting to drive your car into a car port with the bonnet up and heading for it at 90 mph! One is not looking all around the place - one is 100% fcused on nailing the attitude (thus airspeed) in relation to the landing aim point.

At the end of the day, these fighters are very high performance. Landing speeds are high and they require 100% focus during the landing phase. Visibility is pretty poor directly out the front unless side slipping on approach. Some aircraft do not like to be side slipped with flap out - can be a nice way to flick into a spin at low speed. Who knows - perhaps the pilot came in a little hot and landed a bit long or at least longer than he wanted? It's all going to come out eventually - as Damo suggested in our convo, probably a damn sight faster than it would here (Pel Air inquiry as a example!)! At the end of the day, that cherry picker should not have been placed on the active runway - I reckon the primary cause here. So we have a series of events/human factors cause of this accident. Bet the pilot thanked his lucky stars he was wearing a helmet and was not injured!

[BradG]

I can see your point Adam, I just think a cursory glance at the runway is something all pilots should probably do. I also have to wonder just how long that cherry picker had been there, as in did the pilot take off knowing it was there and was there a pilots brief before display time that might have mentioned this? Call me harsh but I still think most of the onus should be on the pilot to watch where he is going. I used the analogy of driving down the road and hitting a pile of bricks in the middle of the lane; sure the bricks shouldn't have been there, but why wasn't the driver watching where he was going. Perhaps that's a little basic, you get what I mean I'm sure.

[Adam the Akrodude]

I can see your point Adam, I just think a cursory glance at the runway is something all pilots should probably do. I also have to wonder just how long that cherry picker had been there, as in did the pilot take off knowing it was there and was there a pilots brief before display time that might have mentioned this? Call me harsh but I still think most of the onus should be on the pilot to watch where he is going. I used the analogy of driving down the road and hitting a pile of bricks in the middle of the lane; sure the bricks shouldn't have been there, but why wasn't the driver watching where he was going. Perhaps that's a little basic, you get what I mean I'm sure.

Oh we look at the runway most of all - it's just where we look and how one is focusing on that point. Regarding your analogy, yes that is all good, but is the driver driving along with the bonnet up? There is another phenomena I call "dumbing down" in these sorts of events. It happens when the brain is at max computing capacity - too much happening too quickly and that CPU above our shoulders cannot cope with any more data inputs. There is a lot going on mentally short final - particularly in a high performance warbird - focusing so hard on driving that Yak down final with limited vision forward, using peripheral vision to allow for drift (that's what you do when forward vision is lost in a tail dragger) and controlling sink rate in the flare - mentally a lot going on. You've raised some very good points - particularly were the pilots briefed on a cherry picker being on the grass section of the runway, etc.
Btw, I knew a guy who once taxied his Extra 300S into a Subaru at Avalon. Luckily no one injured or killed - just one MT prop disintegrated! The Subaru was stopped on a taxiway and should not have been there. The pilot had absolutely no idea that a car would have been on a taxiway and stopped - no calls from the tower - nothing. Because he assumed there'd be nothing on the taxi way, he didn't bother doing S-turns to clear the nose. See what assuming things can do. This guy was a highly experienced Unlimited aerobatic pilot - shit happens. Anyway, it will be very interesting reading when the accident report comes out.