I was covering a fly-in aviation safety airshow for a local rag in South Africa when I caught these guys on film doing a seriously stupid stunt - or rather, attempting it and nearly getting themselves done in in the process!
In fact, their stunt actually worked, for about 30 seconds...
The official air traffic controller had just left after the formal part of the fly-in aviation safety air show program had been concluded. The guys displaying their homebuilt ultralight aircraft had started packing up for the day, and some of the visitors had left.
I recall that a beautiful Piper J-3 Cub had just taken off with a departing dip of the wing, when these local guys started pulling their plane stunts.
One of the local farmers had roped in his cropsprayer (on the pics it looks like a Piper Pawnee PA-25) to show off for the benefit of the crowd. Meanwhile a couple of parachutists were in need of a hike up to the right level for jumping, so some arrangement was made to accommodate them on one of the cropsprayer's trips. Judging by what was to follow, I suppose the pilot of the Piper Pawnee was confident that he had sufficient flight insurance to cover his airplane financing!
Presumably it was quickly established that the Piper aircraft had only one seat in the cockpit - that of the pilot, and the only place to put these guys was on the wings. So they dutifully clambered on top of each wing, sitting facing forwards, and holding onto the wing support strut above each wing.
Above, after a loooong roll: We're getting there at last... up, up and, well not quite away...!
|
Now maybe the pilot of the Piper pawnee - and his advisors - had some idea that these bulky parachutists in full paraphernalia would present a bit of a weight-and-drag problem, even for the powerful engine of the cropsprayer, so the would-be jumpers were prevailed upon to sit close to the fuselage and to present as small a profile as possible.
Then came take-off time.
I was unaware of what was coming - it was an unofficial item and so it wasn't announced in the fly-in aviation safety airshow program - and was positioned at the far end of the runway. Then this flying contraption came into my viewfinder as it trundled somewhat slowly down the grass runway in my direction. It was gathering speed, slowly but surely, but, well, obviously too slowly, and at the last moment the pilot abandoned the take-off.
My first thought was: 'Did this guy buy a flight plan DVD or where did he get this mind-boggling notion?'. And thinking about the astronomical costs involved in aircraft financing and flight insurance, I was absolutely amazed that any pilot would be willing to take this kind of risk with a plane.
I think everyone was greatly relieved - apart from those who had hoped for something spectacular to happen - when the defeated flyers started taxiing back in the Piper PA-25 Pawnee.
Hang in there, fellows... still a while till we get to parachuting height! (Maybe jumping at this stage would have been safer...?)
|
The relief was short-lived. Within minutes the powerful roar of the cropsprayer was heard again - and once more it came toward us carrying its non-standard load on the wings.
Even now I still find it hard to believe that - after that first abortive attempt - the pilot and his hitch-hiking team somehow thought they had a better chance the second time around. How small can a fully grown adult make himself sitting on top of a Piper Pawnee wing, and hanging on for dear life?
Anyway, down the runway they came, and after an endless take-off run - with most spectators probably hoping for another abort before the game went to far - the wheels slowly, painfully slowly began to rise. The Piper plane was already very near the end of the runway, so now there was no turning back.
We all knew something unplanned was about to happen, because, at the incremental rate the struggling aircraft was climbing, there was no way they were going to get to jumping height, in order for the pilot to get rid of the burden breaking the flow over his wings.
Within seconds it became obvious they were actually struggling to clear the border fence of the airfield. And looming just a 100 meters or so further, I could see the 10-foot fence of the adjoining game park.
Is it a grashopper? Is it a lawnmower? Now how do we get it back across that 10-foot fence...?
|
To make matters worse, a couple of meters beyond the game park fence ran a telephone line.
I think the Piper Pawnee pilot had no time to think. After barely clearing the airfield fence, and still climbing only marginally, it took all the luck in the world to squeeze over the game park fence, and in what was probably pure reflex coordination for an experienced cropsprayer-pilot, he managed to drop down just below the approaching telephone line, and make a sort of landing-cum-slide to a stop in the low underbrush of the reserve.
Somehow everyone - including the Piper aircraft - survived without a scratch, no thanks to any planning in executing what was probably the silliest and dangerous stunt of the year...
Ahhh... the freedom of getting out of ground-effect for a change...!
|
The most damage was sustained afterwards by the game park fence, which had to be flattened to get the plane out and onto a nearby dirt road.
The final picture shows a happy ending, with the Piper cropdusting aircraft taking off from the dirt road, and heading back to the airfield - this time with the only passengers probably being a couple of hapless beetles or grasshoppers swept along by the undercarriage...
Detailed flight planning? Probably not. This (h)airy adventure was very nearly immortalized in one those shaky airshow crash videos... Did the pilot regret his stunt? Well, I never got to speak to him, but maybe soon after there was a Pawnee Piper airplane for sale in the local newspaper...
