Take the "I Crashed My Plane" Landing "Challenge"!

SkipTalbot · January 9, 2022, 1:48am

Maybe you’ve seen this gem:

In the video, the “pilot” claims, due to terrain, he has no choice but to immediately bail out after an engine out at 10,000 feet. Thankfully he always wears a parachute. Now I won’t get into the debate about whether or not this was a staged stunt (…ahem), but this does provide a great opportunity for flight simmers.

Here’s the Landing “Challenge”: Dead stick land the plane from the same location without bailing out!

Simply plug these coordinates into the World Map search bar: 34.818160, -119.973255

You’re starting about 30 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, California

Pick a similar type like the Savage Cub. You’ll want to start with full fuel because that’s not what killed the engine, and make sure you add several pounds to the pilot weight to account for the skydiving rig, 8-12 gopro cameras, and selfie stick.

Once loaded, slew the aircraft up to an altitude of 9,000 to 10,000 feet by pressing ‘Y’ and then holding ‘F4’. Kill your engine and off you go!

Once you pick a landing location and run your engine out checklist, you’ll have lots of time to admire the scenery over the Los Padres National Forest.

I thought a sand bar on that dry river bed immediately beneath the aircraft would make a good spot:

Instead of enduring a 6-8 hour hike without supplies over rough terrain, I managed to land without destroying the plane, 700 feet from shelter, and a trail leading to populated areas about a half mile away.

For more of a challenge, see if you can put it down intact in a more exotic location.

Spoilers: For an easier challenge, you can actually make it over the ridgeline to the south and into the open fields.

TidalPopcorn618 · January 9, 2022, 1:55am

I was expecting when this aviation gem lands here in the forums! I really hope FAA pulls his license…

ZKd0s · January 9, 2022, 1:59am

Before you posted this thread, I also found the co-ordinates for this stunt from YouTube and tried this exact same thing in MSFS. I managed to set the Cub down into the same riverbed as yourself no worries.

Trent Palmer gives a very good analysis of the original video, which in my opinion as a RW pilot with 15 years experience, is clearly staged:

HXArdito · January 9, 2022, 2:59am

This guy did this challenge in a real plane
He landed at the airport in idle…

SkipTalbot · January 9, 2022, 3:37am

Wow, an impressive glide. I tried to make KIZA and came up well short. It looks like he’s a couple miles south-southwest of where Trevor’s incident started, but he still had plenty of altitude to overfly the airport and do a normal pattern even.

HXArdito · January 9, 2022, 3:53am

Yeah, but idle still might produce some power so idle/cutoff might not exactly be the same, even if the two planes seem comparable. Wind makes also quite the difference i would guess.

MarioH99 · January 9, 2022, 7:55pm

This should be a group flight event, lol.

Terrylawdinn · January 9, 2022, 9:58pm

IRL there’s quite a difference in glide performance between engine idling (prop rotating therefore extra wind resistance) and prop stopped (minimum resistance).
Had a flight instructor who liked to demonstrate this - but only to licenced pilots and not in club training aircraft! It was always from overhead the airfield to a full deadstick landing.
He made a very good point though - if the engine is dead then try stopping the prop. We did it by quickly reducing the airspeed to just above the stall - important not to dally at stall speed as that is the highest rate of descent, which is precisely what you DON’T want!

DroneFinder · January 11, 2022, 2:34am

It was fairly easy to do a safe landing in an open area so I’m going to try a glide in to KIZA similar to the 3rd video. Take off from KLPC Runway 07, mid morning (based on airport, shadows and sun position on first video) and use same date. I’m also going to set weather to clear sky and add in the wind speed and position based on the wunderground history for 24NOV2021. Looks like 10 knots and gusts to 15 out of the NE should work. Will use the XCUB full tanks of gas and 250 Lb pilot weight to include the parachute. Level off at a legal VFR altitude of 9500 feet. Shut off engine at point of bailout and see if I can make it.

SkipTalbot · January 11, 2022, 5:18am

I tried a couple more times to make KIZA in different configurations, an aft CG XCub, and a lightened Shock Ultra, and even with a 10 knot tail wind, I still couldn’t make it. Made it pretty far though.

Seven7Tango · January 11, 2022, 5:43am

This guy is a complete kook. “Gnarly brah.” Yea… King Kook.

HXArdito · January 11, 2022, 8:42am

Yes, i think that why the video i posted is not really an indication, as you say, theres a difference between idle/dead engine. I mean, you can easily modify on your own plane how much Power idle produces, it is just a little screw you turn to get more idle power. So, we dont know what his idle power is set to in his experimmental, he could easily fake it, if he want. Not saying he did, but its not an accurate proof, and he mentiones that in his video.

But could you elaborate why one should try to stop the prop with a dead engine? I dont really understand the advantage of it, less drag than a windmilling one probably?

Raynen · January 11, 2022, 1:50pm

That’s exactly why, still can be risky depending on the aircraft, due to how slow you need to get to stop the prop.

HXArdito · January 11, 2022, 2:42pm

Yes, that was my concern aswell. I think if you encounter a lost engine mid air, you really dont want to slow your plane down till the prop stops. I think there are more important priorities at this moment.

In my PPL we have not ever talked about trying to stop the prop from rotating in an engine loss.

kohanson · January 11, 2022, 2:55pm

Thanks for sharing! I recreated this flight too in the zlin aviation savage cub and landed safely, lol.

Seven7Tango · January 11, 2022, 4:41pm

This has created quite a stir on California’s Central Coast. I’ll refrain from repeating much of what I’ve overheard, but I’d be surprised if this Kook gets to keep his PPL. There are people out to do what they can to hold Trevor Jacobs accountable and responsible for his reckless little publicity stunt. (Note there is no N-number visible on the airframe. A helicopter was apparently hired to fly in with a crew and remove the wreckage from Los Padres National Forest land.)

That said, however, to play around in MSFS is fun and harmless; I did a “dead stick” into KKIC over the weekend flying the Kodiak, after a USB glitch killed the powerplant on the way to Santa Rosa. ( Don’t connect or disconnect any USB device while flying… >grin< ) I took it as a challenge and managed a nice landing, keeping enough momentum to roll right into a parking spot! The A&P on site fixed me right up (rebooted) and I continued on to KSTS with a cool story to tell in the Pilot’s Lounge.

SkipTalbot · January 11, 2022, 5:43pm

Same. Although it’s a non-issue in the small single engines we fly in the Midwest where you can land pretty much anywhere.

As far as I can tell, you can’t stop the prop on any of the default Flight Simulator cub variants. It slowly spins below stall speed, and spins faster as soon as you recover. I also remember seeing some debate on this forum about whether the wind milling prop drag was even modeled.

HXArdito · January 11, 2022, 5:47pm

No, prop drag is not yet modelled at all in MSFS. But it should be coming as they said in one of the later Dev q and a videos.

Fartoolong3532 · January 11, 2022, 10:11pm

OP you might like this thread-

ArcanePython931 · January 11, 2022, 10:37pm

Believe me or not, I always do that when I’m landing the Blériot Gnome. It has very smooth control while gliding down to a landing. With the Blériot engine is on, it is quite difficult to get it down.

Started at 4500 Ft, at 10000 the Gnome will take ages to land