AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2020 - 20

PROFICIENT PILOT

Who needs wings?

BY BARRY SCHIFF

Unbelievable recoveries from impossible situations

BARRY SCHIFF

has been writing
aviation articles,
books, and
educational
materials since 1959.

A YOUTUBE VIDEO that has been making the rounds on
the internet for several years shows an airplane being
put through an aerobatic routine during which the
entire right wing breaks off and falls to the ground.
Despite being confronted with an impossible set of
control challenges, its pilot miraculously nurses the
airplane to an airport and lands safely. (To see this
video, go to YouTube.com and search for "Pilot lands
plane safely after losing a wing.")
It appears that the pilot has performed an impossible maneuver-impossible because that's exactly what
it is. The video is a hoax. If you stop the video at various points and study individual frames, you will notice
that the film is a composite showing at some points a
real airplane, and at others what appears to be a model
of the airplane with several slight but detectable differences. Other inconsistences prove further that the
video is fake.
Although entertaining, such phony videos tend
to discredit and create doubt about some incredible
events that really did occur. Take, for example, a wing
failure experienced by four-time British aerobatic
champion and retired Royal Air Force test pilot Neil
Williams, whose skills were put to the ultimate test.
On June 3, 1970, Williams was practicing an aerobatic routine near Hullavington, a village in Wiltshire,
England, in a Zlin Z 526A Akrobat, a single-place
Czechoslovakian sport plane. He was preparing for
the forthcoming World Aerobatic Championships.
While executing a 5-G recovery from a vertical
dive at 1,000 feet agl, Williams said he "heard a loud
bang and felt a severe jolt through the airframe." His
airplane immediately began rolling left while the left
wing remained parallel to the horizon. The spar of the
left wing had failed. The rolling could not be arrested
despite applying full right aileron and rudder. Williams
had intended to land as soon as possible but by the time
he had reached 300 feet over the farmland, it became
clear that he was about to lose control.
Acting almost reflexively, the 6,500-hour pilot
rapidly applied left aileron, pitched into a negativeG condition, and rolled inverted. This forced the left
wing to "snap back into position with a loud bang."
He was thankful to discover that the airplane could be
flown somewhat normally while inverted. Remaining
upside down, Williams climbed to 1,000 feet and
headed for the nearby airport while assessing the

20 | AOPA PILOT October 2020

handling characteristics of the damaged airplane. He
knew, however, that the Zlin's inverted fuel system
would keep the engine running for fewer than 8 minutes. Williams later said that if he had had a parachute,
he would have climbed as high as possible and jumped.
Williams said also that he considered four types
of landings: "an inverted ditching, deliberately crashing inverted into trees to take the impact, an inverted
crash landing on the airfield, or an inverted approach
with a last-minute rollout and hope for the best." He
opted for the fourth choice because he felt this offered
his best chance for survival.
He made one wide circuit of the field and then
approached the grass runway while still inverted.
He decided to land with landing gear and flaps
retracted because he did not know what additional
adverse effects might be caused by extending them.
As the threshold of the runway passed "over his head,"
Williams began a slow inverted flare. When the aircraft achieved a level attitude, he rolled the airplane
upright. It landed hard on its belly as the left wing
began to move out of position. Any further delay in
touching down would have rendered the airplane
uncontrollable.
There are very few pilots with enough of the
right stuff to smartly cope with and survive such a
challenging emergency. The queen of England honored Williams with an award for his unbelievable
performance.
Amazingly, though, there is another pilot who literally lost an entire wing and landed without hurting
himself or his navigator. This occurred in 1983 when
Israeli Air Force pilot Ziv Nadivi, flying a McDonnell
Douglas F-15D Eagle, had a midair collision with a
Douglas A-4 Skyhawk over southern Israel. With fuel
streaking and vaporizing so profusely from where his
right wing had been attached, it was impossible for
Nadivi to see that his right wing was gone. So rather
than ejecting, he saw no reason not to attempt a landing. He needed and used so much power that what
remained of the airplane was forced to act like a lifting body. He landed at an Israeli Air Force base with a
touchdown speed of 260 knots.
To see this airplane flying with a missing wing, go
to YouTube.com and search for "F-15 lands with one
wing." This one is no hoax.
AOPA
barryschiff.com

http://www.YouTube.com http://www.YouTube.com http://www.barryschiff.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2020

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