General Aviation Accident: How Glynn Falcon Survived a Crash in a Piper Arrow with its Ailerons Connected in Reverse

Aviation News Talk podcast

Glass Cockpit Publishing

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4.8 • 730 Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 2017

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In July 2017, Glynn Falcon had a crash while taking off in his Piper Arrow at the Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose, CA. His plane was there for maintenance, and he was planning to fly it back to his home airport in Marina, CA. Immediately after rotation, he observed that the aircraft made an uncommanded roll to the left. Realizing he was unable to control the aircraft, he pulled the power, and the plane was destroyed in the crash. Glynn survived with minor injuries. In this episode, he describes the factors that led to the crash, and what he learned from his first flight instructor that helped him avoid what is often a fatal accident type. Here’s what I teach my students from day one. When you’re checking the controls, take ahold of the yoke and stick and stick your thumb straight up. Then when you move the yoke or stick, your thumb will be pointing at the aileron that is supposed to be up. If you do that religiously, every time you do a run up, you’ll avoid ever taking off with the controls connected backwards. And this is a mistake that even test pilots make. In 2006, the sole prototype of the Spectrum 33, which was a $3.6 million business jet, crashed on takeoff, killing both pilots. Witnesses reported that the plane entered a right roll and immediately cartwheeled when the right wing hit the ground. According to the NTSB, the ailerons were linked in a manner that reversed the roll control, such that the left roll input from the stick would have deflected the ailerons to produce right roll of the airplane, and vice versa. Prior to the accident, the aircraft had undergone extensive maintenance, including removal of the main landing gear, which required disconnection of a portion of the linkage control systems. Click here for the listener survey. Tell us what flight planning tools you use when planning a longer flight. Please visit my new Patreon page and make a contribution to help me with my goal of improving the AviationNewsTalk.com website. You can Dictate a listener question from your phone and I’ll try to answer it on a future show, or send an email.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, I've always liked Bob Hoover and his advice about flying the airplane as far into the crash as possible.
0:08.6	And, you know, somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I heated that advice.
0:14.7	Hello, and thank you for joining us on Aviation News Talk for a Newsmaker's edition, where we talk to people who are making the news.
0:21.1	Now, this is not the way you want to make the news, because this week we're talking with
0:24.7	a survivor of a rare but often deadly type of aircraft accident that could happen to anyone.
0:30.3	But it's also an accident type that's almost 100% preventable through proper checks before
0:35.6	takeoff.
0:36.4	This accident happened just a month ago at the Reed Hillview Airport in San Jose, California.
0:42.1	And in a moment, we'll be sitting down with Glenn Falcon, who will share his experience and talk about how he survived this accident.
0:49.1	So fasten your seatbelts, because this Newsmaker edition starts now.
1:08.5	Thank you. your seatbelts because this Newsmaker edition starts now. Welcome to Aviation News Talk, where we talk about everything related to general aviation.
1:13.0	I'm Max Prescott, and if you're new to the show, you'll want to check out last week's episode on how to fly a stabilized approach and the price that some people have paid for flying unstable approaches.
1:23.1	Now, there are many elements to flying a stabilized approach, and it's not as simple as it sounds,
1:27.8	so please listen to last week's show.
1:30.1	And you'll definitely want to tune in on Labor Day for the Emin R joke hour.
1:34.6	I'm M, and of course R is the inimitable Rob Mark, friend of the show, and senior editor of
1:39.4	Flying Magazine.
1:40.5	Should be a good time, so please check out that show on Labor Day.
1:45.5	Now let's get started by letting me tell you a little bit about Glenn Falcon.
1:49.4	He attended the San Jose State University and graduated with a degree in aviation operations.
1:54.4	While attending college, he was president of SGSU's Flying 20s Flight Club and was a flight instructor for the club for many years.
2:02.2	Later, he attended the Golden Gate University School of Law, and he has been a California
	...

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