Posted on 02/22/2017 5:51:16 AM PST by RummyChick
Harrison Ford's taxiway landing last Monday was caught on video, and it promises to be the centerpiece of the FAA investigation. The video was captured by cameras trained on the runways at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. It shows Ford's approach which came dangerously close to an American Airlines 737, which was on the taxiway when the actor's plane passed overhead. A man in the terminal who took a picture of the landing told us Ford had misjudged the runway and banked sharply before landing on the taxiway, but that is not reflected in this video.
Wanna bet he was cursing out the airliner..(if he ever saw it)
Harrison damn near pulled a John Denver.
Chewie’s Fault!
He was in a very simple aircraft. There was nothing to distract him including the weather.
Time to clip grampa’s wings
Didn’t this guy crash within the last couple years? Maybe he should hang it up.
“I’m not really a pilot. But I played one in the movies. Ever see Star Wars. Yep. That was me.”
The foreshortened depth of view from the side shot makes it look worse than when you see the same sequence from 90 degrees off-angle.
Fake news.
I heard the audio tape the other day between Ford and the tower. He sounded a little confused, and at first, reported that he was flying a helicopter, then quickly corrected himself. It may be time for him to hand in his pilot’s licence .
John Denver just wasn’t yet familiar enough with his brand new plane to change fuel tanks safely:
“[John Denver] died on Oct. 12, 1997, when his small experimental plane plunged into the Pacific Ocean just off Pacific Grove, Calif. According to investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board, the crash was the culmination of a series of small mistakes. But the key factor seems to have been the decision by the plane’s builder to place a fuel valve switch in a hard-to-get-at location behind the pilot.
Denver’s final act apparently was to reach behind his left shoulder to switch the plane’s engine from one fuel tank to another. The uncomfortable stretch caused his right foot to press against the right rudder, according to a final board report. The aircraft — a single-engine Long-EZ — pitched up, rolled to the right and slammed into the ocean.
George Petterson, the board’s investigator-in-charge for the Denver crash, appeared in a board video showing what it would be like to turn the fuel switch in the cramped cockpit. His pretzel-like pose, coupled with the involuntary movement of his right foot, proved persuasive to the five-member board.”
http://seiz2day.com/sbmerk/JDenverCrash.html
If you a pilot..listen to the audio
http://www.tmz.com/2017/02/17/harrison-ford-plane-radio-communication-mistakes-taxiway/
Harrison Ford didn’t sound like a seasoned pilot of more than 20 years when he stammered through radio calls to the tower ... minutes before his screwed up landing on a taxiway.
TMZ has obtained audio of Harrison’s convo with air traffic control as he took off from Santa Monica Airport at 11:49 AM on Feb. 13, and he sounds confused.
The SMO tower sends him off with his tail number — “Husky Niner Hotel Uniform” — and gives him a personal code (squawk) of 0214 ... his identifying code for air traffic control. All good up to that point.
The trouble starts when Harrison radios back saying he’s in a helicopter. He stutters a few times trying to correct his mistake and then throws out his tail number. The bigger problem is he’s still talking to SMO tower, which had already turned over to another tower.
The controller tells Harrison he’s on the wrong frequency, and reminds him he should be communicating with the other tower.
Our pilot sources say, on their own, these mistakes would be no big deal. But the FAA might be interested in these because of how his landing went roughly 18 minutes later in Orange County.
Nice landing, wrong runway (taxiway).
Dementia
There have been rumors that Ford is starting to have some issues. Its probably time for him to stop flying, and perhaps even driving.
Possibly his driver’s license, too.
Later that week he flew a jet..but he had a co -captain.
His wife needs to put a co-captain in with him to protect him and their assets in case he harms someone.
Ya... Husky is STOL, and he is high up. Landing on the Taxi-way is a no no even though the Husky can, and picking it as the runway instead of the runway makes you go hummm...
The original builder made the modification to move the fuel tank selector to that un-ergonomic location, and this isn't to point a finger at him. The point is sometimes design changes in homebuilts are well, something to really consider...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.