Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
NZ Warbirds
Text
Consider reviewing their procedures for stream landing with Harvard aircraft so that such events are carried out on grass vectors wherever practicable.
Reply Text
Stream landings of Harvard aircraft are carried out on various surfaces throughout New Zealand from time to time. Most runway landings are actually completed at our home base of Ardmore because of restrictions on the use of grass due to wetness, width and length. Perhaps 80 - 90% of all Harvard landings at Ardmore are, by necessity, carried out on sealed runway surfaces.
These "facts of life" for the Ardmore based Warbirds Harvard operator result in a higher than normal skill level and a certain confidence in runway operations. This is also why we must train our Harvard pilots on the use of hard surfaces at an early stage or for much of the year they would be grounded. Considering the number of landings, the incident rate for mishaps is extremely low.
However, Warbirds Harvard operators will be encouraged to use grass vectors when practicable and this finding of the Commission will be widely distributed.
These "facts of life" for the Ardmore based Warbirds Harvard operator result in a higher than normal skill level and a certain confidence in runway operations. This is also why we must train our Harvard pilots on the use of hard surfaces at an early stage or for much of the year they would be grounded. Considering the number of landings, the incident rate for mishaps is extremely low.
However, Warbirds Harvard operators will be encouraged to use grass vectors when practicable and this finding of the Commission will be widely distributed.
Related Investigation(s)