Navajo crash.

[oldtimer]

I do not know if this is just an urban legend or did it actually happen. The story goes that the wreckage of a Navajo was found in the B.C. mountains but there was no evidence of the pilot being in the wreckage. It is surmised that the rear door came open so the pilot plugged in the autopilot and went back to close the door and somehow fell out to his death. Has anyone ever heard of this accident?

[dissent]

.

[pelmet]

Twin Otter in YZF maybe

[jakester]

I heard about that Navajo story years ago but never heard any real facts, who, what, when stuff, the other one involving the twin otter yes is true I used to work with that pilot.

[pelmet]

Captain fell out. Some said he was trying to close the aft door. What do you think?

[TheRealMcCoy]

That or sweeping out the plane. Heard there the YZF one from reputable sources. It's the smallest of pins holding that door closed and they can be a pain as the plane gets old and bent.

[pelmet]

That or sweeping out the plane. Heard there the YZF one from reputable sources. It's the smallest of pins holding that door closed and they can be a pain as the plane gets old and bent.

I always checked the pins on the aft doors before departure(along with pogo stick and stairs). You don’t want that rearward opening door to open in Flight. Happened to one crew. Rumour has it that the door was bent and they had to use herc straps on the outside of the airframe to hold it closed to get back to base.

[duCapo]

That would have happened in 84-85 between Williams Lake and Quesnel. It was a Ho doing a bag run> I think it was Navair, but I could be wrong. Scuttlebut at the time was the pilot was trying to close the rear door that was open and took a tumble. He was never found, the aircraft was.

[cncpc]

That would have happened in 84-85 between Williams Lake and Quesnel. It was a Ho doing a bag run> I think it was Navair, but I could be wrong. Scuttlebut at the time was the pilot was trying to close the rear door that was open and took a tumble. He was never found, the aircraft was.

Correct in every detail.

[Bulawrench]

I worked at the next shop over as an apprentice. We herd quickly and that the pilot's name was Mark i think. Door ajar light and crawled over cargo.Got sucked out aircraft carried on autopilot ?
If wasn't there i would say it sounds like urban legend. Flight center Victoria

[shimmydampner]

That twin YZF story has been going around for some time. Seems pretty unbelievable to me no matter how you slice it. I'm not buying it.

[J31]

That twin YZF story has been going around for some time. Seems pretty unbelievable to me no matter how you slice it. I'm not buying it.

It is a sad true story.

http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewtopi ... 3&start=25

[shimmydampner]

Well, if it's on avcanada, it must be true.
Having exited the back of a twin otter taxiing on floats once or twice before, I wonder how much force is required to open the front half of the door any meaningful amount in flight. And even if you can, how smart is it to open the front half of any door that closes over the aft, rearward opening half in flight? Sounds like the work of Darwin.

[goingnowherefast]

Except Navajo doors open vertically. Hinged at the top and bottom.

[pelmet]

Well, if it's on avcanada, it must be true.
Having exited the back of a twin otter taxiing on floats once or twice before, I wonder how much force is required to open the front half of the door any meaningful amount in flight. And even if you can, how smart is it to open the front half of any door that closes over the aft, rearward opening half in flight? Sounds like the work of Darwin.

Perhaps that is why people question whether it was really just an accident. A lot of people don’t like the harsh likelihood.

[J31]

Well, if it's on avcanada, it must be true.
Having exited the back of a twin otter taxiing on floats once or twice before, I wonder how much force is required to open the front half of the door any meaningful amount in flight. And even if you can, how smart is it to open the front half of any door that closes over the aft, rearward opening half in flight? Sounds like the work of Darwin.

Well shimmy if you had taken the time to read that thread you would have noticed that several folks posted first hand knowledge of the incident. I was also in the Territories shortly after the incident and heard the story from reliable sources. Having a few hours in Twin Otter I agree with you that getting the front door open enough to open the rear door could be a challenge.

That fact caused a lot of rumors to swirl around as to what really happened. However one pilot fell to his death and the other one landed airplane in Yellowknife with the rear doors open.

I apologize to hijacking the original post.

[shimmydampner]

Oh I took the time to read it. If that many people actually had "first hand knowledge" of this alleged incident, I might be more inclined to believe it. However, according to the lore, there's only one person who possibly could have actual first hand knowledge. Fact is, there's no one on the record that I can find with any actual knowledge of it, no news reports, nothing. Years ago, when I first heard this tale, I looked for info to no avail. Add to that the high improbability of something like this happening, and I'm a non believer. Sorry. It's nothing personal, so no need to get upset. Call me a natural skeptic. It just sounds like a big pile of codswallop to me. And if it is true that a pilot fell out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft 15 feet away from his station through a door that must first be opened into 140 knots of airflow? Well, that sounds like either natural selection, or an act of god, depending on your preference.

[pelmet]

Oh I took the time to read it. If that many people actually had "first hand knowledge" of this alleged incident, I might be more inclined to believe it. However, according to the lore, there's only one person who possibly could have actual first hand knowledge. Fact is, there's no one on the record that I can find with any actual knowledge of it, no news reports, nothing. Years ago, when I first heard this tale, I looked for info to no avail. Add to that the high improbability of something like this happening, and I'm a non believer. Sorry. It's nothing personal, so no need to get upset. Call me a natural skeptic. It just sounds like a big pile of codswallop to me. And if it is true that a pilot fell out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft 15 feet away from his station through a door that must first be opened into 140 knots of airflow? Well, that sounds like either natural selection, or an act of god, depending on your preference.

Maybe somebody can find a news article of this. There must have been something. What was the name of the pilot?

[cncpc]

Oh I took the time to read it. If that many people actually had "first hand knowledge" of this alleged incident, I might be more inclined to believe it. However, according to the lore, there's only one person who possibly could have actual first hand knowledge. Fact is, there's no one on the record that I can find with any actual knowledge of it, no news reports, nothing. Years ago, when I first heard this tale, I looked for info to no avail. Add to that the high improbability of something like this happening, and I'm a non believer. Sorry. It's nothing personal, so no need to get upset. Call me a natural skeptic. It just sounds like a big pile of codswallop to me. And if it is true that a pilot fell out of a perfectly serviceable aircraft 15 feet away from his station through a door that must first be opened into 140 knots of airflow? Well, that sounds like either natural selection, or an act of god, depending on your preference.

Are you referring to the Navajo incident out of Williams Lake, or some Twin Otter incident?

[cncpc]

Except Navajo doors open vertically. Hinged at the top and bottom.

Correct.

I've had a door pop enough that the light came on on takeoff and just did a circuit and fixed it.

I don't think that it actually is an emergency if the bottom stairs drop out. Depends on the speed, I suppose. There was a Navajo operator at Fredericton back in 08 that had some kind of a run out to sea in a Ho, and on arrival, had to drop stuff to a boat, which involved having the door open. I was told that no issues with the stairs down.

I have had an autopilot on a Chieftain break loose on me when I left the seat and took about three steps back into the cabin. The fastest three steps back I ever took, although there was a second pilot who didn't twig to what had gone on. Some trim force limit was exceeded, and it just shut off. I worked in Quesnel when that happened and I do know that it is a theory that a door opened, or at least the light came on, and he went back to do something with it. I'm not sure what you can do. Maybe try and get the door in enough to slide the latch? I doubt that he would have had to climb over cargo. Quesnel was the end of the run, so the plane would have only have a few bags in it, if that. It may be that walking that far back exceeded the trim limitation, and it broke in the midst of whatever he was trying to do with the door.