AIRCRAFT FORCED TO DITCH IN THE SURF DUE TO ENGINE FAILURE OFF PATRICK SPACE FORCE BASE

The Valiant Air Command pulled the World War II era TBM Avenger out of the water that was forced to ditch in the surf due to engine failure off Patrick Space Force Base Saturday while performing at the Cocoa Beach Air Show.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Valiant Air Command pulled the World War II era TBM Avenger out of the water that was forced to ditch in the surf due to engine failure off Patrick Space Force Base Saturday while performing at the Cocoa Beach Air Show.

The Valiant Air Command said the stricken aircraft was craned out of the ocean on Sunday and released the following statement:

“Most of you know that our TBM Avenger was forced to land due to engine failure. The good news is that the pilot is fine. The not so good news is that it may take several years to rebuild the Avenger.

This morning (Sunday), we have help from U.S. Coast Guard, the Brevard County Sherriff’s Office, Patrick Space Force Base Operations, Sea Tow Inc., Rice Towing, and various members from the museum, including Tom Reilly, Joe Cross, Leigh Lewis, Tracey Bohrmann, Tom Etter, Richard Jones, and many other members of the Valiant Air Command’s volunteer team.

We have had several questions regarding the museum’s TBM Avenger and her mishap during Cocoa Beach Airshow.

“The pilot performed the safest ditch maneuver possible, and landed the plane just offshore from Patrick Space Force Base. He was taken to the hospital after walking away from the incident, and he has been released with no injuries.”

“The Valiant Air Command, Inc. thanks you all for your kind thoughts and prayers.

“We are thankful that our pilot walked away unscathed from the incident. We are also thankful for all of your comments of support you have sent us this day.

The Valiant Air Command pulled the World War II era TBM Avenger out of the water that was forced to ditch in the surf due to engine failure off Patrick Space Force Base Saturday while performing at the Cocoa Beach Air Show.

The Valiant Air Command salvaged the World War II era TBM Avenger that was forced to ditch in the surf due to engine failure off Patrick Space Force Base Saturday while performing at the Cocoa Beach Air Show.

The Valiant Air Command salvaged the World War II era TBM Avenger that was forced to ditch in the surf due to engine failure off Patrick Space Force Base Saturday while performing at the Cocoa Beach Air Show.

BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA BEACH, FLORIDA – Airshow fans got more than they expected on Saturday afternoon about 1:15 p.m. when a World War II era TBM Avenger was forced to ditch off Cocoa Beach due to mechanical issues.

According to reports, no one was injured in the incident, as crews rescued the pilot who was participating in the “Warbird Parade” when the accident happened.


https://spacecoastdaily.com/20...t-pulled-from-ocean/

Beautiful airplane sorry to see it crash. Glad no one was hurt. Trying to save the plane by landing it close to the beech is understandable. Deciding to put it down that close to the beech seems risky considering all the people in the water? The video shows dots in the water I assume are people and the plane flew over with just feet to spare. They appear to be people just in front of the aircraft when it splashes down. Seems like ditching done pretty well by the pilot? Was this too risky? Or was this just great piloting landing it between swimmers on the beech? Just seems if he had ditched further off the beech it would have been safer for the beach crowds? Curious what our pilots think...

The pilot wasn't trying to save the airplane. He was doing the one thing he could do under those circumstances: make a forced landing. Ditching will do extensive damage to the airframe; it will require a complete tear down and rebuild, due to corrosion. The engine will be ruined. Instrumentation and every other part of the aircraft will be damaged or destroyed.

The aircraft executed a very nice ditching.

The pilot had the best view of who was in the water and where, of anyone. No better seat in the house, no better place to judge the best location to put the aircraft down.

It's clear that there are very few people on the beach, or in the water.

The pilot put it down close to shore to enable him to get out; it is his best chance at survival. It's harder to do, close to the shore, where the waves are tallest. He does stand the best chance of getting out if the aircraft floods or is swamped, vs. ditching in deeper water, so long as the water is deep enough to draft him while ditching.

All things considered, he did an excellent job.

You are asking for tea leaves. On the one hand it was a textbook ditch. Minimal damage to plane and pilot easily got out. Nothing else you can do better. As to not hitting swimmers, he just plane (get it) got lucky. He could easily have hit someone.

Pilots try very hard not to armchair qb other pilots because it could have been us and you do the best you can with what you got. Watching that video I think he ditched in shallow water to save the airframe. If someone had died under a TBM Avenger just so it could be rebuilt would be a tough pill to swallow.

I’m glad it worked out on both counts.

Edit. I just read guppy’s response. I disagree. He ditched exactly where swimmers on a crowded beach swim. He could easily have side stepped to the ocean side where there is ZERO chance of hitting anyone. That plane took 18 years of restoration, it’s very possible that was on his mind. Ditching it further out would mean it would sink. At that point maybe you can and maybe you can’t recover it.

He seemed to be conscious of where the swimmers were. People weren't running for their lives, so they didn't seem alarmed. It also put him near shore, which minimized his risk.

I am no expert, but it seemed reasonable to me.

I took my checkride for my commercial pilot certificate in a seaplane. A long time ago.

Given the choice between ditching in the open ocean, or close to shore, I'm picking the place where I have the best chance of standing up, and where people are closest.

It doesn't take long to drown, especially if unconscious.

In lieu of that, I'll put it down close to a boat if I can.

The pilot has a clear view of where the surf is breaking, and where objects are in the water, and where they're not. Cocoa Beach has an area that is busy, and and area that is not, and it's a cutoff point, near the cape and near Patrick AFB.

I suspect that he didn't have a lot of altitude or time. Had he either, he could have put the airplane down on land, preferably on the runway. Ditching generally occurs when one has little other choice.

Seawater flooding in all parts, unless there's source for parts to build an entire plane and expertise to do an entire tear-down, she's likely destined to be a static display....provided salvage efforts don't damage her beyond what's already been done.

I'm wondering if this is going to turn out to be case of shoddy maintenance, ala the Collings Foundation and their crashed B-17.

Valiant Air Command has been around since the 70's and have a heck of an operation, They don't do fly n ride shows aka Collins, it's a restoration and museum facility...


shame that plane had an engine failure. Lucky the pilot did an amazing job of setting it down and walking away.
here's a link they have fly in shows, museum, restoration, if you are ever in the Cape area, it's worth a visit.

https://www.valiantaircommand.com/

If you facebook they have more on the TBM Avenger saga there...

https://www.facebook.com/VACwarbirdairshow/

The plane was painted in the scheme of Flight 19 the missing flight group of 5 TBMS the disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in 1945, and this one goes down in the same ocean...

Here she is being lifted on to a flatbed..

Even blowing the video up to full screen, it is still sideways on and difficult to judge relative position of swimmers. It does look like he balloons up and puts off touchdown. Maybe he was close to folks and pulled up for that, maybe he pulled up to get a better wave to land on, maybe he pulled up to scrub off a little more energy, maybe it is just an optical illusion.

He didn’t hit anybody. He gets points for that. Would the people near the shore have been safer if he went straight offshore, then dove the airplane straight down into the ocean, creating the smallest possible impact zone as far from those people as possible? Probably, but that would be suicidal and likely preclude any restoration of the airplane. Not that the airplane is more important than a person, but pilot lives matter too, whatever color they are.

I’m going to go with not enough information to judge.

The other thing folks have to think about is when your single engine quits you make the best plan you can at that time, then make the best of it. Sometimes by the time you get low enough to see all the obstructions it is too late to change your mind and go elsewhere so you make whatever small adjustments you can and suck it up. Having actually made a dead stick landing or two can change one’s perspective. The “Okay, field made, add power and go around.” common in private pilot training is a little different than taking all the way to the ground on a surface you don’t know.

Looked proper to me, I wouldn't have done it any differently. Glad the pilot got out safely and was uninjured; the TBM driver did it right.

I've been involved twice in GA single engine off-airport landings due to the engine going Tango Uniform. Flown lots of single engine over deep water, and trained for ditchings. Not something I want to do again, but am as prepared as I can be if/when it happens again.

We saw this plane 2 weeks ago at the Valiant Air Command

The pilot picked from what options he observed at altitude when power failed.

Salt water immersion is a very bad outcome for the plane.

Apparently there were no good dry land options.

Are there methods to landing in the water. I assume you still want to go into the wind to slow down as much as possible? Does ocean current and waves plan I how one ditches their aircraft? Is Ditching something students train for? Just curious I guess. Must be a mother fucker of a thing to have to do. I have been wondering these things since Sully did it years ago. Thanks guys for taking the time to answer my questions!

quote:

Originally posted by Expert308:
I'm wondering if this is going to turn out to be case of shoddy maintenance, ala the Collings Foundation and their crashed B-17.

Collings was bad maintenance, on multiple levels...but a whole lot more than that. Collings was always a shoddy operation, on every level.

Valiant not the same.

Radial engines have a lot of places for things to go wrong. A LOT. The majority of my engine failures, and I've had more than a few, have been on large radials.

One thing about ditching; it's a spot landing. Once you touch down, you don't go very far. Unlike a forced landing on land, there's no long roll-out and careening into stuff. Pick a point and put it down, and there it stays. Especially with a big hydroscoop on the front of that airplane.

quote:

Originally posted by gw3971:
Are there methods to landing in the water. I assume you still want to go into the wind to slow down as much as possible? Does ocean current and waves plan I how one ditches their aircraft? Is Ditching something students train for? Just curious I guess. Must be a mother fucker of a thing to have to do. I have been wondering these things since Sully did it years ago. Thanks guys for taking the time to answer my questions!

Ditching isn't something students train for. Unless one is doing a seaplane rating where one lands on the water regularly, there's no way to train for it. There are no ditching simulators in civilian flight schools, and only one or two available to any civilians at all. About all most people get is a little book explanation about landing into the wind, and landing parallel to the swells, and perhaps a paragraph on reading windspeed based on waves. Unless they're seaplane rated, most general aviation pilots, and nearly all airline and corporate pilots, couldn't tell you any more than what's in those few paragraphs. That includes Sully and Skyles...they did ditching that was as simple as keeping it off as long as they could, and dragging it into the water, and they did it well.

Current doesn't play a big part of ditching; it's hard to read, especially on a one-shot power-off emergency. One tries to land into the wind, but swells make the difference, and it's far better to land on the back side of a swell, than into a swell, and to take a crosswind in the process.

More important is ensuring that doors are opened prior to impact, that one knows how to egress blind, if needed, and how to find "up" without seeing, knowing, and after having been disoriented by impact and inversion.

The most dangerous part of a ditching isn't on water with swells or wind; it's a glassy water landing, when there's no depth perception.

You guys missed my point. He overflow swimmers where he ditched. He could easily, I mean easily, sidestep 50 yards farther from beach and no swimmers would have ever been endangered. I’m glad of the outcome. To watch that video and not breath a slight prayer of thanks that he didn’t hit anybody was tough. It worked out great.

Any airplane driver knows he could have done the exact same thing slightly further away from the public. If you think he didn’t have the smash to sidestep you don’t know flying.

It worked out. Kudos. The OP asked if the swimmers were ever in danger. Of course they were. Doesn’t take away from an outstanding effort on that guys part.

Those old radial engines were fussy when new, let alone now being 75 or more years old. If they bore the cylinders any more they'll wind up with a stack of giant washers.

When my father worked for California Division of Forestry, I recall his station at Fresno Air Terminal (now Fresno-Yosemite Int'l Airport), circa 1973 or '74. They were using a TBM and a B-17 as tankers. They were ~30 years old then. Imagine them now. This was also next door to a California Air National Guard base. When the fighters (I remember them having delta wings, so probably F-102s or F106s) kicked in afterburners, the noise was almost deafening.

quote:

posted April 19, 2021 07:07 PM Hide Post
You guys missed my point. He overflow swimmers where he ditched. He could easily, I mean easily, sidestep 50 yards farther from beach and no swimmers would have ever been endangered. I’m glad of the outcome. To watch that video and not breath a slight prayer of thanks that he didn’t hit anybody was tough. It worked out great.

That is exactly what I was wondering? 50 yards more out to sea would not doubt have fewer humans swimming in that location.

I didn’t miss that point. I just can’t definitively see it in the video. Now if he had a go pro showing what he saw, I might be more willing to question. Things really do look different from different perspectives and that video shows only one and it was not the perspective that the pilot saw.

I’m not a pilot, but having been around planes and pilots my whole life...I get a bit offended when folks Monday morning quarterback and speculate the pilot willingly put lives at risk. This was not a hot dog pilot trying to save a piece of hardware. He lost his engine, quickly figured out a plan and put his plane down. All within a relatively short period of time. If he makes the wrong call, he likely kills himself and others on the ground. He tried to pick a clear spot and ditch - when he got closer maybe not as clear as he thought but at that point committed. He balloons the aircraft close to stall to give himself some distance from someone in the water. He then spot lands it pretty much as sn3 outlined.

Let’s hold the darts, lets get some facts and then pilots and the aviation will learn from this - and better for the knowledge. Please.

Not sure why he lost engine power but I'm sure that will be a key question. It was clear from the video he had no power as he came in and the propeller was windmilling. Everything behind/attached to that propeller is spinning/moving too, that is likely the noise you hear. I'll hazard a guess that even if he put it on a runway the engine would need a complete overhaul.

At the point the video started he was out of options. Gravity was going to win that fight. I'll guess he was probably using ground effect/ wind to stay aloft and keep his approach shallow. If I remember the TBM Avenger didn't have the greatest glide characteristics.

Had he tried for the beach he could have stuck it, flipping it over and likely the last thing he'd ever do. I'm pretty sure he bent the aircraft in many places and the seawater ruined a lot of internal components. But he swam away and they recovered it looking similar to what it did when it took off. Better than a ball of aluminum containing what was left of the pilot and a trailer of miscellaneous loose parts.