From NTSB:
On December 5, 2014, about 1435 central standard time, a Cirrus SR20 airplane, N407ND, impacted terrain during approach at the Fort Collins-Loveland Municipal Airport (FNL), near Fort Collins, Colorado. The solo student pilot was seriously injured and the aircraft was substantially damaged. The aircraft was registered to and operated by Cirrus LLC under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 as an instructional flight. Day visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the local flight, which departed without a flight plan.
The student pilot stated that he entered the traffic pattern at FNL for a full stop landing on Runway 33. He observed a Sikorsky UH-60 helicopter on downwind and delayed his turn to base until the helicopter was on final, abeam his position. While on final, the student pilot adjusted his aim point to land long, as he was concerned with wake turbulence and wanted to land beyond the helicopter’s touchdown point. Just prior to landing, he encountered turbulent air and attempted to go around. The airplane subsequently impacted terrain and cartwheeled, which resulted in damage to the fuselage and wings.
An airport surveillance camera at FNL captured the accident airplane approaching the runway about 30 seconds in trail of the UH-60 helicopter.
At 1435 the weather observation station at FNL reported the following conditions: wind 110 degrees at 3 knots, visibility 10 miles, clear sky, temperature 14 degrees Celsius (C), dew point 4 degrees C, altimeter setting 30.22 inches of mercury.
From here:
The pilot in this video was not hurt critically; he had some scrapes and bruises, was shook up, but basically came out of it in good condition. I spoke with him yesterday and he was happy to share his experience for the good of safety. This event took place at a non-controlled airport.
In the video, you can see that a Cirrus SR-20G2 aircraft was flipped on final by a Blackhawk helicopter’s downwash. The pilot of the Cirrus said that as soon as he realized that he was in turbulence he went to full power with ailerons and rudder full right, but to no avail, the turbulence forced him over and the wing tip struck the runway.
The Cirrus was on left downwind, heading South and about to turn base for a full stop landing, the helicopter was on the numbers. The helicopter pilot departed to the North, he also side-stepped to the parallel taxiway to get out of the fix-wing’s way. The winds were about 3kts at the time. What is truly remarkable is that the event happened ~28 seconds after the helicopter departed (the turbulence was still there).
While speaking with the pilot of the Cirrus he said that there was another similar incident a few years ago here in Colorado, he is sending me info on that and I will pass it on as well. In that situation a very high timed Air Force Instructor pilot departed in a Diamond 20 and encountered the same issue, only it was ~75 seconds after the Blackhawk had departed and was at 40ft on departure. Even tho the diamond crashed, I believe both pilots in the Diamond were ok then as well.
And here is a training video on the same topic:
{something wrong here – Peter, can you edit?)
[ yes something is broken, so till it gets fixed, I have put in a tinyurl version which you click on – Peter ]
the student pilot adjusted his aim point to land long, as he was concerned with wake turbulence and wanted to land beyond the helicopter’s touchdown pointQuote
Ooops, that was the error. He chose to be airborne through the area suspected of having turbulent air, rather than on the ground, or airborne well away. The power of vortecies is immense. I was once following a friend in his 150, while flying mine. I entered his wake foolishly, and was set on my wingtip, until it spit me out. You cannot expect to maintain control in the vortex.
Think of it this way, the Blackhawk, weighs 12 tons. So in flight, it is displacing 12 tons of air at all times, 6 tones along each side. If you’re flying a one ton plane into six tons of moving air, the air is going to win.
Important lesson here….
Ooops, that was the error. He chose to be airborne through the area suspected of having turbulent air, rather than on the ground, or airborne well away. The power of vortecies is immense. I was once following a friend in his 150, while flying mine. I entered his wake foolishly, and was set on my wingtip, until it spit me out. You cannot expect to maintain control in the vortex.
When following a heavier aircraft suspected of generating dangerous amount of wake turbulence, you are taught to rotate before, or touch down after, the preceding traffic as the vortices will sink.
Do you mean that helicopter vortices behave differently or that the vortices from the air taxi following the helicopter’s landing was the real concern?
or touch down after, the preceding traffic as the vortices will sink.
No way! You touch down BEFORE the rotation point of the preceding a/c! Otherwise you do exactly what this hapless Cirrus pilot did – fly straight into the vortices.
Have to say, though, this is very instructive. I also wouldn’t have worried about the helo downwash after 30 secs. We never cease learning……
I’m not saying it didn’t happen the way the pilot described it…
… but in the video there are two parked three-bladed helicopters and no blade shows more than the barest movement as the large helicopter transitions out.
I know the parked helicopters were a little upwind* of the transition, but for the vortices to have blown back onto the runway at 3kts 30 seconds later, they must have moved approx 2-3km upwind initially, no?
Note(*) 11003KT and Rwy33.you are taught to rotate before, or touch down after, the preceding traffic as the vortices will sink.Quote
I was not taught that, I was taught to be sure that I did not fly through vorticies. To me that will mean landing short of a lift off point, so I’m firmly on the ground, if I encounter the sinking ones. Unless you’re flying a plane with phenomenal climb performance, I would not want to just get airborne before the lift off point, and then encounter the vorticies, which I could not out climb.
Generally though, unless I can take off, and fly far to the upwind side of the departure path of the preceding aircraft, I’ll wait the three minutes holding short. A lot less stress and risk! Similarly, If I don’t believe that a crosswind has blown the vorticies to the downwind side of the runway, I’ll wait minutes to land.
I’m wondering how that is being handled when landing from the ILS at a large airport with airliners and the weather is bad. The ILS leads everybody to the same point.
I’m wondering how that is being handled when landing from the ILS at a large airport with airliners and the weather is bad. The ILS leads everybody to the same point. Quote
Ah, the forth dimension – time! Wake turbulence separation….
Yes. Obviously.
However, me in a small plane is different than another airliner after the first airliner that created the wake. So I guess the necessary spacing will reduce capacity and ATC needs to take it into account.
I’m supposed to touch down before the airliner but that might be difficult to achieve in bad weather. Will ATC provide enough time separation? I feel my wellbeing will be in the ATCOs hand – no?
