According to the pilot, during the takeoff roll, a vehicle entered the runway at the airport in The Dalles, Oregon, and he immediately pulled back on the yoke in his Aero Commander 500B to climb and avoid the vehicle.
As the airplane began to rotate, he simultaneously retracted the landing gear, and he felt a “bump” before the airplane lifted off of the runway.
The airplane ascended over the vehicle and the pilot avoided a collision.
He reported that during the post-flight inspection, he checked the landing gear to inspect for damage and he did not find any deficiencies.
However, during a subsequent preflight inspection by another crew, it was noticed that the lower aft fuselage was damaged. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the bottom aft fuselage longerons and stringers.
Probable cause: A motor vehicle’s runway incursion, causing the premature rotation of the departing airplane, which resulted in a tail strike.
NTSB Identification: GAA15CA262
This August 2015 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
I can only hope the driver of the vehicle got to cough up for the repair?
I think there is more to the story, no credit given especially in light of his post flight missing tail strike damage.
My compliments to this pilot. He did everything possible to avoid hitting the incursing vehicle, including retracting his landing gear. Had he not done so he would have most likely hooked into the vehicle with a much worse outcome and possibly decapitation of the driver and post crash fires and several dead people.
Jim, you need to calm down and learn from this accident and do the same as this pilot did if this ever happens to you. I’m pretty sure he knew about the aerodynamics you so aptly described but I’m equally sure not even you would have enough time to think about it in that situation.
“As the airplane began to rotate, he simultaneously retracted the landing gear, and he felt a “bump” before the airplane lifted off of the runway.”
Huh? The drag increases when the AC500-690 series gear is retracting since te wheels turn sideways. Pilot over-rotated to get a tail strike. He avoided a collision with a ground vehicle,; good. He didn’t understand te aerodynamics of te landing gear or the pitch attitude.
Who cares whether the drag increases? By retracting the gear he likely avoided hitting the vehicle. I’m sure he didn’t have time to get his calculator out and figure the aerodynamics to avoid the tail strike. Kudos to this pilot for his artful flying to avoid a disaster.
I concur.
Not knowing the distance to the automobile, and not knowing the climb numbers for this aircraft, if one were that close to hitting that automobile, getting that gear up may have just saved the day. If the body of the plane were to strike the body of the car, that probably would have been “recoverable”, but not if the gear hit a window and lodged.
A similar thing happened to a C172(?) at Northwest (52F). On landing it hit an SUV on short final and left one of the main gear in that SUV and then ran into the runway a few hundred feet later and everyone walked away.
Given placement of the mains, had either main gone into a window, that 500 would have pivoted and probably pitched down so hard that the nose would have hit the runway and possibly a wing tip. I doubt that things would have gone as well as the collision between the SUV/Cessna.
Agree!!!
This was about clearing the car with the gear not best climb. Take a pill.