Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by PilotDAR »

but hanging on was definitely not allowed as it was believed it could cause the strut to fail.
Okay, whoever believed that probably has not watched a really large bush pilot stand on the refueling step and not break the strut.
But it may have been also because the lateral cg limit would be exceeded and the ailerons couldn't counteract the roll. But, so long as the weight was on the step, it was all good
Helicopters do have lateral C of G limits, and some fixed wing have maximum fuel imbalance weights. A 180 is not limited this way. Though unpleasant to fly, it can be flown one wing tank full, the other empty, which would be about the same as someone trailing from the strut. From first hand experience, I can state that a 185 is not capable of straight flight at 60 knots, with four jumpers trailing from the strut. It felt more effect of drag that weight though....
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by dogone »

This story may be relevant ; In about 1975 a duster pilot in south sask took a friend for a circuit on his C188. The passenger held onto the strut and of course sat on the wing. The pilot said it was the stupidest thing he had ever done. True story ; I know the passenger is still around.
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by pelmet »

cncpc wrote: Wed Oct 24, 2018 11:13 am
I used to be a half-assed jumper and a jump pilot, jumping in Kamloops and the Okanagan and flying in Ireland. Most jumping was on round chutes back then, and most static line exits were on a step reaching for the strut and then left foot on the step, right foot trailing balancing with both hands on the strut. Stepping off but hanging on was definitely not allowed as it was believed it could cause the strut to fail.

I did plenty of flying in a C180/182/185(and several dual flights in a Beech 18) along withplenty of jumps myself. There was plenty of unusual activities when it came to antics involving the wing strut. One guy was even able to hang from the strut, bring his legs all the way up until he was upside down with the top of his feet curled over the leading edge of the wing, then let go of the strut and hang from the wing upside down, wave to the pilot before falling away. I tried to do it once and couldn't even come close to doing it.

Cessna struts can take a lot of load, I doubt there was any damage from the antics I saw(although there was plenty of damage and interesting stories from other activities, incidents, etc in those days)

Overall, good memories for me.
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by DonutHole »

A 180 is not limited this way. Though unpleasant to fly, it can be flown one wing tank full, the other empty, which would be about the same as someone trailing from the strut. From first hand experience, I can state that a 185 is not capable of straight flight at 60 knots, with four jumpers trailing from the strut. It felt more effect of drag that weight though....
You've accounted for the weight but not the drag
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by TG »

But it may have been also because the lateral cg limit would be exceeded and the ailerons couldn't counteract the roll
Probably the case yes.

I used to flying for a drop zone in the early 90's.
One day a regular jumper came up with the bright idea to wing walk a C-182 before actually jumping from it.
"Just for fun!"
"Sure! why not"
Dumb and happy we were I think!

We did a good brief though! Location, direction, duration of the jump run and how he would manage that.
I can't remember for the life of me how high we were exactly. Just not low for sure, probably around 8 or 9000' which was our standard jump's height at that time.
So a good margin for screw up but less for our C-182's performances.... Euphemism!
He practiced a few times on the ground and said that with the wind blast holding him on the leading edge, it would be much easier anyway.
Ok, sure...

Off we went.
A first group of 3 took the exit, he went right after them on top of the wings.
I could feel his weight moving around very easily. 150lbs top with his parachute's gear!
Then he decided to go in the center box, which wasn't briefed! That sh!t move works well on a twin tail like a B-18 but not on a Cessna.
It totally altered the airflow on the tail, to the point that I was getting worried to loose controls.

He must have felt my hand banging on the ceiling pretty hard, or the 182 going very mushy under him. Either way he started going to the right side. As soon as he moved away from the center I recovered controls. Then, the ailerons hit their stops with him slightly past mid-wing!
I just couldn't hold him anymore (Maybe going a little faster would have helped)

So I banked hard right to flush him away.
That worked, he did his free fall, opened his chute and landed at the DZ with no issues.
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Last edited by TG on Thu Oct 25, 2018 2:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by TG »

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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by 5x5 »

MrWings wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 1:02 pm
5x5 wrote: Tue Oct 23, 2018 12:30 pm but anytime the words stunt and airplane are used in the same sentence there's a strong likelihood no good will come of it. Hard to feel all that sorry for people who take stupid risks so they can video it to impress their friends.
Shut down all the airshows I guess, right?
Reasoning and interpretation aren't your strong suits, right?
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by cncpc »

TG wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 1:55 am
But it may have been also because the lateral cg limit would be exceeded and the ailerons couldn't counteract the roll
Probably the case yes.

I used to flying for a drop zone in the early 90's.
One day a regular jumper came up with the bright idea to wing walk a C-182 before actually jumping from it.
"Just for fun!"
"Sure! why not"
Dumb and happy we were I think!

We did a good brief though! Location, direction, duration of the jump run and how he would manage that.
I can't remember for the life of me how high we were exactly. Just not low for sure, probably around 8 or 9000' which was our standard jump's height at that time.
So a good margin for screw up but less for our C-182's performances.... Euphemism!
He practiced a few times on the ground and said that with the wind blast holding him on the leading edge, it would be much easier anyway.
Ok, sure...

Off we went.
A first group of 3 took the exit, he went right after them on top of the wings.
I could feel his weight moving around very easily. 150lbs top with his parachute's gear!
Then he decided to go in the center box, which wasn't briefed! That sh!t move works well on a twin tail like a B-18 but not on a Cessna.
It totally altered the airflow on the tail, to the point that I was getting worried to loose controls.

He must have felt my hand banging on the ceiling pretty hard, or the 182 going very mushy under him. Either way he started going to the right side. As soon as he moved away from the center I recovered controls. Then, the ailerons hit their stops with him slightly past mid-wing!
I just couldn't hold him anymore (Maybe going a little faster would have helped)

So I banked hard right to flush him away.
That worked, he did his free fall, opened his chute and landed at the DZ with no issues.
How does he get from inside the 182 to the top of the wing?
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by AirFrame »

cncpc wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 11:39 amHow does he get from inside the 182 to the top of the wing?
Climb forward onto strut, grab cowl handle, step one foot up onto the fuselage ahead of the windshield, move hands to top of wing, pull up onto the wing. The air flow pushing you against the leading edge of the wing would help. The large spinny slicy-dicey thing a foot or so away wouldn't be very reassuring.

The photo on social media showing a person standing on the top of the wing on a tricycle gear Cessna seems to have some extra hardware mounted to the top of the wing right at the top of the windshield. Maybe a handhold was added for this? Or maybe it's a hard point that the person can tether to and just lay there on top of the wing starting out on the ground?

If I had to do this stunt myself, my gut reaction is that good holds on the top of the wing and just starting out there would be easier (safer? hard to say) than trying to climb up once in the air.
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by JasonE »

For those who want to try it "safely": http://masonwingwalking.com/index.html
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by GyvAir »

One way of doing it:

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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by GyvAir »

Or a low wing version. Not sure what the plane is:
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by cncpc »

GyvAir wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:35 pm Or a low wing version. Not sure what the plane is:
Looks like a Seneca. Lot of down aileron.
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by TG »

AirFrame wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 12:58 pm
cncpc wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 11:39 amHow does he get from inside the 182 to the top of the wing?
Climb forward onto strut, grab cowl handle, step one foot up onto the fuselage ahead of the windshield, move hands to top of wing, pull up onto the wing. The air flow pushing you against the leading edge of the wing would help. The large spinny slicy-dicey thing a foot or so away wouldn't be very reassuring.
That's exactly how he did it in my case.
And he never stood up, just moved around on his knees, crawling along the leading edge with his hands. Like the video above.
I'm not sure what he was holding on while in the middle. An antenna maybe?

About the rapper guy, when his aircraft stalled, he seems to have clung to his position wayyy too long instead of letting it go right away.
Being already low probably didn't help with his decision making.

Again, in my particular case, I felt loosing ailerons authority with him crawling toward the wingtip.
So before it happen and went into a spin, I "forced" him out by banking hard on his side. He just let it go figuring out that was probably better than ridding the incoming event.


We had a good margin, they didn't.
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by ScottS »

GyvAir wrote: Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:28 pm One way of doing it:

Coincidental that you would choose this video. Rory now owns the Cessna 180 MIA that appears in the rapper's Instagram video. Don't know for sure if he was the pilot.

Interestingly, in September I met the deceased at the field and shot the shit for a bit after they got back from the night that video was shot. Nice guy, and I am sorry for the loss.


While I certainly can't fathom their risk tolerance and decision making or condone what they were doing, they are professional stunt and extreme sport guys as well (one prior to injury and becoming a rapper). There is some method to their madness when they do these things; stunts involving airplanes are not the only seemingly crazy risks things they tackle. While they seem pretty carefree, a random "hold my beer and watch this" approach to what happened is also not likely. But perhaps not as much experience with the risks of wing walking didn't make up for running out of luck that day. :(
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Re: Canadian rapper dies after falling off airplane wing in failed stunt in B.C.

Post by kilo3bravo »

Occurrence No.: A18P0162

C-FZMD, a privately registered Cessna 172K aircraft, was conducting a flight in the vicinity of
Westwold BC, for the purposes of filming a wing walking stunt for a music video, with 1 pilot and 2
skydivers on board. At approximately 7000 feet ASL, one of the skydiving passengers climbed out
of the right hand side of the aircraft and up onto the right wing. Shortly thereafter, the second
skydiving passenger climbed out onto the right hand landing gear to film the first passenger. The
passenger on the right wing laid down parallel to the direction of flight, and began to move slowly
toward the tip of the wing. Suddenly, the aircraft entered a spiral dive, with the right wing low. The
pilot then motioned to the second passenger to release from the aircraft's landing gear, while the
aircraft continued to spiral to the right. C-GAGP, a Cessna 310Q aircraft registered to Eagle Eye
Aviation, was filming the stunt and declared an emergency when the pilot noticed that C-FZMD
was in the spiral dive. After an undetermined amount of revolutions to the right, the pilot of CFZMD
regained control of the aircraft at approximately 1500 feet AGL. It is unknown when the
passenger on the top of the wing departed the wing surface; his parachute failed to open and he
suffered fatal injuries. The second skydiving passenger deployed his parachute and landed without
further incident. The aircraft returned to Vernon, BC (CYVK) and landed without further incident.
The RH Aileron and the top wing surface were found damaged. The RCMP is investigating.
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