Three seriously injured as private plane makes emergency landing near Bangkok

[webfact]

Three seriously injured as private plane makes emergency landing near Bangkok

By Coconuts Bangkok 

 

File photo of a Pilatus PC-12 aircraft. Photo: Jetfly Aviation/ Wikimedia Commons

 

NAKHON PATHOM: -- Five people were injured, with three in serious condition, after a private plane made an emergency landing in an area in Nakhon Pathom province.

 

A rented Pilatus PC 12 aircraft flew from Kolkata, India, and was scheduled to land at Don Mueang Airport last night. However, due to an engine failure, the pilot attempted to make an emergency landing at Kamphaeng Saen Airport.

 

However, the plane disappeared from the radar at 7:16pm. It was discovered near Kamphaeng Saen Airport an hour and a half later.

 

Full story: https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/three-seriously-injured-private-plane-makes-emergency-landing-near-bangkok/

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2017-03-06

[Ocicat]

You don't ask to make an emergency landing----- you advise that you are doing so with an engine failure. How stupid can a report get!!!  "permission denied--go crash somewhere else".

[darksidedog]

Everyone on board was injured, with three in serious condition. That sounds more like a crash landing than an emergency one.

[TheFishman1]

Any landing you walk away from I had two emergency landing one the planes wing it a fence stopped the plane I walked away not a scratch TIT

[natway09]

I do not see where he "asked to land? " 

You just declare you are & attempt to do it

[Jimbo in Thailand]

I feel for 'em and glad they survived.  Many years ago I had an engine quit on takeoff (single engine aircraft).  I had two choices.  I had just enough runway left ahead to immediately pitch the nose down, flare, touchdown and try not to ram the perimeter fence just past the end of the runway.  The other option was to try to extend my glide over the fence and land in a large and inviting open pasture.

 

Decisions decisions...

 

Low and slow I opted for the rapidly disappearing runway as didn't think I'd clear the tall chain-link fence.  Barely made it but the brakes got a workout.  Thankfully they stopped me in time.   What a pucker factor!  No injuries and no damage, though.  I can tell you I had a stiff Bacardi and Coke when I got home!

Edited March 6, 2017 by Jimbo in Thailand

[Belzybob]

50 Bht that it turns out to be a fuel problem, i.e. they didn't have enough.

[ableguy]

5 hours ago, Jimbo in Thailand said:

I feel for 'em and glad they survived.  Many years ago I had an engine quit on takeoff (single engine aircraft).  I had two choices.  I had just enough runway left ahead to immediately pitch the nose down, flare, touchdown and try not to ram the perimeter fence just past the end of the runway.  The other option was to try to extend my glide over the fence and land in a large and inviting open pasture.

 

Decisions decisions...

 

Low and slow I opted for the rapidly disappearing runway as didn't think I'd clear the tall chain-link fence.  Barely made it but the brakes got a workout.  Thankfully they stopped me in time.   What a pucker factor!  No injuries and no damage, though.  I can tell you I had a stiff Bacardi and Coke when I got home!

I suspect most of us ex pilots can tell a similar story, I will not bore you with details but had a couple of white knuckelers. 

[Jimbo in Thailand]

12 hours ago, ableguy said:

I suspect most of us ex pilots can tell a similar story, I will not bore you with details but had a couple of white knuckelers. 

AMEN brother!  I've got (at least) a few more "white knuckelers" myself, but no regrets at all as I've always loved flying, and all things aviation related, and always will.

 

I will share one more story though.  It's a bit long so please bear with me.  This is a Thai pilot white knuckeler that I partially witnessed.  This sad episode definitely reveals the difference in critical thinking, problem solving skills -- especially common sense and logical reasoning -- between Thai versus 'fuhlang'.  It goes like this...

 

One day, a few years ago, while perusing the Internet at home I heard a small single-engine airplane approaching my house on the outskirts of Selaphum, near Bung Dohn (lake).  My first thought was this is really odd because it was mostly overcast with extremely gusty winds.   My second thought was WOW an airplane!  Rural small town Selaphum RARELY has any air traffic at all.

 

The aircraft, a white Piper low-wing, was flying just under the cloud base, maybe 500 feet altitude.  It circled the lake then headed towards Selaphum downtown area then was gone.  I was shaking my head thinking it had to be some goofy fuhlang pilot that wasn't using good judgment flying in such horrendous conditions, for a light aircraft such as the Piper.  After a minute or two I could no longer hear anything so figured the pilot was just sightseeing, or showing off to his Thai friends, and that was that.

 

But wait... the plot 'sickens' as my California buddy used to say.

 

Suddenly, about 15-20 minutes later I heard the Piper again.  I immediately went outside and watched as it circled the lake again.  Once again it made a pass over town.  In a few more minutes there it was circling the lake again.  By then I knew the pilot was in trouble as It was obvious he was lost.  For another few minutes I could occasionally hear his engine as he was coming and going.  Suddenly he was gone and that was that... or was it?

 

As it happened, not long after that, someone listening to a local radio station said the pilot had called asking for directions to Roi Et.  I don't remember if this was by radio or phone.  Of course, being Thailand, and a small town, the story spread like wildfire.  I was thinking he must be low on fuel by now and must land somewhere, and soon.  Did he do that, you ask?

 

Nope!

 

Instead the idiotic pilot continued buzzing the area until fuel starvation kicked in and the engine quit.  He crash landed in a rice paddy and severely damaged his plane.  In fact, it was headline news the next day on TV and in the newspapers, complete with a photo of him—a Royal Thai Air Force FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR—and his Royal Thai Air Force student pilot, both standing beside the bent up airplane in the watery rice paddy.

 

All I can say is WHAT THE ****!!!  So much wrong here I don't even know where to begin.  Not only should they never have taken off in those conditions, but logic, reasoning, and basic emergency procedures as well as any NAVIGATION skills were ALL completely MIA throughout this fiasco.  Hwy 23 runs through Selaphum and it is at least 6-lanes wide all the way through the small town.  You could nearly land a freakin' 747 airliner on that stretch of boulevard.  Not only that, there are plenty of paved 2-lane rural roads in the area that any semi-decent pilot could safely land the small Piper on.  Even the dirt road along the south side of Bung Dohn, where he circled many times, is straight enough and wide enough to land a small airplane on safely.

 

Again... this wasn't an inexperienced civilian pilot, it was a Royal Thai Air Force FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR that was pilot in command!  He broke or ignored every common sense rule in the book.

 

I don't know about you, but this purely avoidable accident really cleared up a lot of confusion I had about why some Thais do the unbelievably bizarre things that they do.  It simply confirms that logic, reasoning, and critical thinking are in short supply here.  I don't blame the Thais as they are lovely and intelligent people.  Instead I blame the Thai education system for this MASSIVE nationwide failure. 

 

Cheers!

Edited March 7, 2017 by Jimbo in Thailand
clarity

[DipStick]

I am probably showing my ignorance here, but was it a sensible decision to use a single aircraft such as this one, with five pax onboard for such a long journey, especially for a period over water ?

[Jimbo in Thailand]

1 hour ago, DipStick said:

I am probably showing my ignorance here, but was it a sensible decision to use a single aircraft such as this one, with five pax onboard for such a long journey, especially for a period over water ?

Not ignorant at all DipStick.  In fact, a very good question.  Over water, a multi-engine is indeed a better/safer choice, thanks to engine/related-system redundancy, but a single engine aircraft, in this case the Pilatus PC-12, featuring a turbine engine driving a propeller, i.e., a turboshaft engine, is also extremely reliable.  Unlike piston engines, which are in effect, always trying to self destruct, due to their reciprocating nature, turbine engines' smooth rotary motion ensures much less stress, hence more reliability... as long as it doesn't starve for fuel.

 

Cheers!

[bangkokorbust]

I am probably showing my ignorance here, but was it a sensible decision to use a single aircraft such as this one, with five pax onboard for such a long journey, especially for a period over water ?

Yes it's normal. They are used a lot in Alaska due to its ruggedness and STOL Capability and the turbo props are very reliable.. Usually

There is and old saying, twin engines are fine but then again twice as many things can go wrong

[PETERTHEEATER]

The engine of the PC-12 is the much used and very reliable Pratt & Whitney PT-6A. Engine failures in-flight are rare but when I worked on training fleet aircraft with PT6As we had three incidents which became known as 'Un-commanded Rollback' which became a contentious issue with P&W. So a transient software problem is possible but in my opinion a fuel problem most likely.

[ikke]

In another site they state it was an air ambulance that caught fire and crashed, Pilot died and two doctor serious injured.