This was not a full size airliner towbar. The towbar involved in the incident was a "2 piece coupled towbar" that is used by hand. None the less, still should not have happened, but in this case theyre lucky it went up with the landing gear without jamming and caused less interference than it could have.
Because it was such a short hop, I suspect they just flew it dirty, and the gear warning lights were never in play. Just one more of a million reasons to do your pre-check!
Actually no…this made our news…it was 4ft long and was dragging behind the front gear. It is common that planes leaving Caldwell for Boise leave their gear down so he didn’t put it up… Also…there is video from the Boise crash truck showing the bar attached to the plane… Anyone wanting the video can contact the city of boise
I fly a retractable gear airplane. After my preflight I leave the keys in the open baggage door until I climb into the pilot seat. The last thing I do is pull the plane out, take off the tow bar, put it in the baggage and lock the door. I hate when other people want to "help" by locking my storage and handing me the keys. When you break routines is when things like this happen!
So true. I travel with an RV trailer. Same risk. I never let anyone “help” me disconnect/hookup. External setup and tear down is a one-person task or you will end up not latching the hitch, pulling up a jack, removing an electrical cable, etc.
Yeah my friends / family get the "I know you want to help but please do not interrupt my routine" speech. I know I'm giving it at the right cadence when they roll their eyes at me.
Yup easy mistake, I once went for a bike ride and didn't notice for an hour that I had the bike rack attached to the wheels, happens to the best of us mate 👍
If you miss a bloody towbar when doing your walkaround / checklist, a streamer isn;t going to help you. Unless you make it long enough to get sucked into the jet intake 😁
I was working at Atlantic PSP and a 172 taxied from the T hangers with his hand tie bar still on the nose gear. 🤦♂️ I don't understand. I don't get it.
Kind of like when people drive away with the nozzle still attached to their car after pumping gas 😆 You can put a red tag on everything in life which government tries to do and you still won't fix stupid
Many years ago I belonged to an 8-member club that owned a Cessna 172. One of our members left the tow bar on one day and did three touch-an-goes before the bar finally bounced up and got into the prop.
@@kCI251No, easy to explain." I forgot and took off with the towbar still attached." Followed by a room full of people laughing and shaking their heads.
This reminds me of the woman that took her husbands ski boat out with her friends one Saturday while he was out on a round of golf with his colleagues. She called him 30 minutes later saying the boat wouldn't build any speed and she was concerned that there was an engine problem. He called to the local marina and asked if there was anyone there that could assist her. He received a call back 10 minutes later from the marina owner who was laughing uncontrollably after discovering that the boat trailer was still attached to the boat !!!
I actually did that. Drove across a lake with the trailer still under the boat. But I have an excuse. I was transporting the trailer to a property with no road access to store the boat for the winter there. Worked well, just very slow.
@@tomrogers9467 guessing you get a few strong folks to pull it out afterwards or did they have a winch/another vehicle moved by a larger boat there to help?
@@filanfyretracker Cable winches and a smooth rock shoreline worked well. Had to store the boat at the cottage for a few years I was living high rise between houses.
Being that I’m in airport ops myself, I really appreciate when the ops agent said he was closing the runway, how the controller didn’t throw a hissy fit. That must be nice.
True. Its not like you want to close the runway and prevent operations. You have a job to do and its an inspection that could save lots of money if something is wrong.
Memories ... In 1974, I had just received taxi clearance at El Paso International Airport (home base at the time) when I heard ground control ask the pilot of a Cessna 210 if he was hearing a thumping noise from the plane. The pilot said "how do you know that". GC said because your tow bar is still attached to the nose gear. SO ... there were two things I couldn't believe. The 1st, that the pilot had missed the tow bar, and the 2nd, that the prop didn't hit the tow bar as it bumped against the expansion joints in the pavement. This was only exceeded by my friend in Flint, Michigan retelling a story of how a Lear 25 had taken off but only climbed about 20' before striking trees about 400 yards from the end of the runway. The pilot / co-pilot had forgotten to remove the control lock from the yoke. Guys with years and thousands of flight hours.
@WheelerRickTHETIEGUY The answer is it could not have ,and it would have made a horrible racket when he raised the gear and he would have had a nose gear light all throughout the entire flight at the very least
I just looked it up. Most likely it was a towbar Head attachment specific to several aircraft types. Its measurements are 20.5"L x 13.2" W x 4"H. 20lbs. Pretty good size chunk of metal to not have been noticed/heard during taxi and roll out. They got lucky this time.
I read an article years ago that the tower called a plane taxing for takeoff that he was dragging something from the tail. Turned out it was a 5 gallon pail of concrete used for a tie down. Lucky he didn't takeoff with that.
I think it's pretty safe to say that the pilot didn't do a walk around the aircraft before taking off, unless that thing somehow got stuck to the plane during the flight.
At an airport I work at in Australia, some years back one of my co workers saw a Metroliner taxi with its tail jack stand still attached. It was stopped prior to take off.
I know of a pilot who was practicing short field landings at a 1600 foot strip with his 172. He realized during the landing that he was going too fast /high to land. He must have hesitated too long in his decision to abort the landing because he hit a section of chain link fence at the end of the runway. You'd think the story ends there in a horrific crash. Not this time! He managed to take the top section of tubing from the fence and continued to climb out with it! He was able to fly to the nearest large airport and land with the section of fence hanging off the nose wheel! Upon landing, the whole thing came off the front of the plane. It's a miracle that the fence tubing didn't hit the prop. I was working as an A&P apprentice at the time. My mentor mechanic went to inspect the plane at the field where it had landed. Turns out this was no small section of tubing. It had folded around the nose strut and part of it was long enough to reach back to the horizontal stab (about 24 feet or so...)! We ended up replacing the whole horizontal stabilizer before the plane could fly again. As far as I know, there was no further damage to the plane but I suspect the nose strut must have taken quite a beating! As a side note... the pilot was the owner of the FBO I was working for!
@@dermick --- The gear would always be retracted, short flight or not. The bar probably got pinched in the "up" position, and when the gear was lowered the bar came down to level or below level. That's all I can think of. That's a tough one to miss, but I bet he pre-flighted while the tug crew was still messing around. I always try to be the last guy to look at the plane before I depart because I've heard all kinds of crazy stuff over the years...
Never abbreviate a preflight! Late to return school's 172 I did a fast preflight without examining the prop. Plane vibrated under full power but it went away reducing for cruise. Day before I taxied onto grass as the only tie downs were cables & hooks in the grass. There was a drop going onto the grass, the nose dipped, I heard a slight "ping" but didn't investigate as I was in a hurry. Back at school next day, our mechanic walked me to the 172 & showed me 1/4 inch shaved off of a prop blade! I had hit that cable or a hook the night before taxiing off that drop to the grass! That was the "ping" I heard & dismissed. It took me a minute to put all this together. Mechanic scolded me that I could've vibrated the engine off the engine mount! I don't hurry pre flights anymore!
Yea, he probably just never pulled the gear up for that flight. My question is how did no one at the departure airport see it before or during takeoff?
quote someone else: "This was not a full size airliner towbar. The towbar involved in the incident was a "2 piece coupled towbar" that is used by hand. None the less, still should not have happened, but in this case they're lucky it went up with the landing gear without jamming and caused less interference than it could have."
I flew into a small airport with a restaurant here in Illinois. I just got seated and here comes a 172 taxing up to the restaurant with a tow bar still on. The pilot took off and landed without the bar hitting the prop. The pilot was young and when I went out and told her. Her eyes got big and I bet she will never forget the tow bar again.
Many years ago, I taxied out on an IFR (raining) day for a company flight and noticed a long time friend in number one position about to take off. He was about to take the active in the twin he was flying but I saw that the tow bar was still attached. This was an uncontrolled airport (no tower). I alerted him on unicom. Now , he was a WWII fighter pilot so what did he do? He had his clearance to go. The right engine stopped , he popped out , removed the tow bar , tossed it in the grass, got back in , started the right engine, took off and contacted center. Both of us , being x Air Force pilots never brought it up ever !
How do you taxi from pushback through multiple turns, through line up and waits, to cleared, to take off roll, through rotate without thinking.. hmm. This feels off somehow?
He flew out of a small airport just north of Boise. There's no push backs or line up and wait and probably no ground crew. This is a small jet typically operated by the pilot/owner. He made a mistake.
Generally you don't park on the runway, so he had to have taxied to the departure runway. The OP is questioning how he did so without noticing something was dragging. 🤦
@@eat_a_dick_trudeau Nice user name! Anyway, he was probably pushing the small tow bar when he taxied out and didn't notice. Once in flight or upon landing the tow bar may have flung around to the aft dragging side of the nose gear and it may have caused a little damage making it noticeable as he was decelerating on the runway at Boise.
@@TheMopangbend Pitot cover happens alot! I forgot to unchain the tail one time. I was on a private jet where the pilots forgot to unchock the nose wheel and they had to jump out to move it (embarrassing). One of the best I've heard of is a seaplane took off with the giant triangular tow bar used to move them on the ground. He had to land with a large audience watching. Not only is that thing heavy but it could have flipped the plane over. Nothing happened!
This is my home airport. For those who are not familiar with it, the reference to "city side" and "guard side" during one transmission is because the Idaho Air National Guard controls a portion of the south side of the airport. The city of Boise controls the rest. Each has fire trucks. So the comment was that trucks from both sides were responding. The really scary thing is that the Eclipse would have flown right over my place of employment on the way in -- I'm glad that tow bar stayed put.
As an instructor I always stressed to my primary students that the handle of the tow bar is NEVER allowed to touch the ground unless the plane is back in the hangar. No exceptions. I also used to own a maintenance facility and incoming prop strikes were not uncommon.
I find it kinda funny. I know a guy that was taxing out in a Champ with a towbar still on the tail wheel. some one noticed it and got on the radio to tell him before he took off. I flew with him several times in the Champ to practice tailwheel flying.
I'm sorry but something sounds way off about this. Wouldn't there be some kind of indication of a serious situation before he took off? I would have thought there would have been some kind of indicator just taxiing maybe like a dragging noise, banging on the airplane, wonky steering, gear not retracting after take off?
I'm a former "hanger rat" (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer unqualified). It was a hanging offence to leave a tow bar connected to an aircraft for two reasons. Firstly, for the reason that you see in this video. Secondly, they're a tripping hazard. Always remove the tow bar and place it either behind the nose wheel of the aircraft or better than that, somewhere else altogether. Even if you're planning on moving the plane in 5 minutes, remove the tow bar.
A hanger neighbor left his towbar on and had the prop totaled when coming back in to land and it bounced up. It's a good thing that it didn't happen in flight
Had this situation happen to a customer of ours several years ago. One-aircraft flight department, local small business. New Line Dept guy got distracted and left the tow bar on the nose, and the pilot relied on previous history and didn’t check himself. When the aircraft landed at my FBO, the flight department was done and the pilot had to find a new ride.
There's a bit of erroneous captions going on here. I tried to correct them but wonder if anyone is hearing different? It's not easy to always understand what they're saying! 2:30 - "You can use Bravo 2 there if you'd like, as well." 3:31 - "... the Eclipse jet that turned off bravo 2 onto Bravo by the A-10s" (there's an ANG at Boise with A-10's lined up on the South) 4:17 - "Boise ground, roger, say your position" 4:24 - "Smokey 7, say your position" 5:09 - "7, roger, just verifying all your Smokey vehicles are done, vehicles are done crossing 10L." 6:21 - "19, yeah, we just closed by ATIS..." Pretty good otherwise! What a crazy incident.
1. How did he not hear it while taxing for take off? 2. How did he not hear it on take off? 3. How did he manage to retract his gear once airborne? 4. If he couldn't retract his gear, why didn't he call an IFE right then? 5. If he didn't retract his gear how did he not hear it in flight? I'd love to see some photos of this.
Don't the pilot is suppose to walk around the airplane and do a visual inspaction \and also check for water in the fuel tank and the fuel level before each flight.
This is why you do a 360 whenever someone touches your aircraft after your preflight. I’ve had to land a helicopter 13nm after takeoff because the baggage door light came on. One of the ground crew thought the door wasn’t properly latched after I had started up. My mechanic had to go verify after landing just to make sure. Luckily it was the pressure switch playing tricks. It had to be replaced later.
I found a 2 foot long tow bar sticking out of the ground in our orchard. Took it round to the local flying club. The paint markings allowed them to ID the person who took of with it attached. I believe he was due for a stiff talking to.
Usually happens with prop airplanes, except that the tow bar eventually hits the prop at some point. Comes as a real shocker. Lesson is never walk away from an attached tow bar.
Have actually seen this one before at my home airport. It was a Cessna with boots, the boot was the only reason there wasn’t a major accident, held the towbar up for the whole flight/landing
Meanwhile, at the Caldwell Airport, there was a shout from the hangar. "Hey John! Do you have any idea where our towbar is?" John...."um, I don't see it anywhere. It's not where we usually put it. I don't know".
On my solo we were at a grass strip. A Cessna was taxing to the end with a towbar attached. My instructor got out and started running after the plane. I taxied to it and blocked him in. He didn’t have his radio on initially and I could see him cussing me out from his cabin. When he finally turned on his radio to tell me off he got really embarrassed and quiet when I told him why I was there.
Please tell me there is a video or picture of this tow bar attached to the plane. I worked at the local airport and have seen Cessnas take off and land with tow bars attached more than once. How they did not end up in the prop was amazing. Never seen it on a retract...
The very first thing that my CFI told me, as we were walking out to the plane, was "towbars are for towing. If you or the Towmotor isn't on one end of it, there has better not be a plane on the other end of it!"
I took off on a grass strip with my towbar attached on my Grumman Traveler.A friend radioed me from the ground , so I went back immediately and landed without incident.I felt like a complete idiot for being so careless!!
This is why that before we close the door one of us always do a one last walk around to see if there's anything obvious, like service panels open, chocks, etc.
So the towbar was able to stay attached to the nose gear and the gear lights all extinguished when the gear retracted and the doors closed? I can't understand how any of this can even happen unless, it's the same aircrew that tried to take off with the park brake engaged and blew four main tires at Perryville, MO in 2003.
News of the extra towbar didn't phase ground control at all: "Uh, yeah. So he must have departed with that." Like he encounters this level of ineptitude all the time.
Jet: Ground, I am going to need a tow over here Ground: They'll have to find a proper tow bar first, this might take a while Jet: Ground, tell them no need....I got that covered!
I can't find an image of an aircraft towbar that's shorter than my arm. How the hell did that towbar clear both the inside of the wheel well and the gear doors to permit three green on retract?
I am astounded there was no awareness that something was wrong after departing Caldwell, unless he never tried to raise the gear. Does the Eclipse have gear doors for the nose wheel? Wow!
I think we have a defective PILOT here !! How in the HELL could this have happened. I mean at the very least didnt he know something was wrong when he tried to raise the landing gear ? It will be an interesting chat with the ground crew back in Caldwell, ID.
@@SquawkCode I've flown in and out of EUL many times and there's no such thing there as ground crew. It does bring back some memories from many years ago when I was doing touch and goes at Caldwell but on the way back to Boise, I had a total electrical failure. The gear dropped out but didn't fall hard enough to lock and I had no lights to tell. This was at night. I also landed on 10R. It would have been a beautiful touchdown if the gear hadn't folded.
Flying club I was in kept the pin for the towbar attached to the keychain with the actual keys. Small precaution but also genius because it prevents embarrassing moments like this lol
This makes no sense. The tow bar for the 767 I fly is about 12 feet long with tires. I understand that the Eclipse is a small airplane, but how in the hell do you manage to take off with something like that still attached? A picture of what they found would be worth a thousand words.... Great video!
I have some right seat experience in the EA500. The POH cites the nose gear has a up lock sensor, but nothing for the integrated doors, so the tow bar probably just hung there. Had the gear not locked up, the CAS messaging on that plane is explicit, and the config alarm LOUD. And since the Eclipse is pressurized, I'm guessing he never heard the bar being pushed during takeoff. Since it was hanging down on landing, it probably folded/flipped during derotation, making the greater noise and sensation.
I am trying to comprehend how he completed all his checks, was able to taxi for takeoff and takeoff without realizing he had a tow bar attached to his aircraft?
Be nice to see a visual clarifying how a towbar could possibly have retracted along with the nose gear enough to have not produced a “gear not up” warning.
This was not a full size airliner towbar. The towbar involved in the incident was a "2 piece coupled towbar" that is used by hand. None the less, still should not have happened, but in this case theyre lucky it went up with the landing gear without jamming and caused less interference than it could have.
Wondering if he had a gear unsafe warning the entire flight or he never brought it up at all.
At least damaged the doors and maybe the well.
Wut? No pre-flight?
Because it was such a short hop, I suspect they just flew it dirty, and the gear warning lights were never in play.
Just one more of a million reasons to do your pre-check!
WAIT, they have retractable gear, ouch.
Just looked up the eclipse, that could have gone so much worse!
Actually no…this made our news…it was 4ft long and was dragging behind the front gear.
It is common that planes leaving Caldwell for Boise leave their gear down so he didn’t put it up…
Also…there is video from the Boise crash truck showing the bar attached to the plane…
Anyone wanting the video can contact the city of boise
ATC:
"It's not your fault."
OPS:
"Towbar attached."
ATC:
"Uh, correction, it is your fault."
😃
Heh! Was thinking the same thing!
ATC had his beer goggle on again...
Both the pilot and the line technician too I assuming
I fly a retractable gear airplane. After my preflight I leave the keys in the open baggage door until I climb into the pilot seat. The last thing I do is pull the plane out, take off the tow bar, put it in the baggage and lock the door. I hate when other people want to "help" by locking my storage and handing me the keys. When you break routines is when things like this happen!
Some people just shouldn't fly.
So true. I travel with an RV trailer. Same risk. I never let anyone “help” me disconnect/hookup. External setup and tear down is a one-person task or you will end up not latching the hitch, pulling up a jack, removing an electrical cable, etc.
A lovely system that doesn't work with normal humans around.
The older I get, the more important my routines are to me. Although I am in my 60's, sometimes I just want to act like I am still 6...
Yeah my friends / family get the "I know you want to help but please do not interrupt my routine" speech. I know I'm giving it at the right cadence when they roll their eyes at me.
Good news he already has a tow bar attached for the tow.
so, there's not gonna be an extra fee for that, right?
The bad news is he already has a tow bar attached for the tow too.
This comment put a smile on my face. Thank you. 😁
What's left of it...
Might be just a bit hot to the touch. Leather gloves is advisable.
It can happen. I once went for a drive, drove about ten miles before I noticed that I'd taken my garage with me.
Yup easy mistake, I once went for a bike ride and didn't notice for an hour that I had the bike rack attached to the wheels, happens to the best of us mate 👍
Happens all the time, just last week I went to work without pants. It sure was cold that morning.
@@bryana7163 AHH mate, I feel your pain, nobody likes that shrivelled feeling 🙏
@@tonyf9076 ha ha, I seriously started to head out, but I noticed as I went to put on my shoes.😂
@@bryana7163 does help to have that last look down at yourself before leaving the house 😂
Meanwhile, at the origin airport, someone is saying “How could someone misplace a tow bar?? They’re huge! It HAS to be around here SOMEWHERE!”
A bit like launching your speedboat and finding it rather slow, because you forgot to remove the trailer.
Actually a legitimate way of travelling with your boat trailer if you are moving to an Island! lol.
@@nickmaclachlan5178 Very fair, you earn points
I have seen UA-cam videos on this. The looks you get!@@nickmaclachlan5178
If you read a few comments down from yours, someone said his wife literally did just that.
So now every towbar needs a red "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT" streamer🤨?
If you miss a bloody towbar when doing your walkaround / checklist, a streamer isn;t going to help you. Unless you make it long enough to get sucked into the jet intake 😁
Apparently. Your point? 🤪
Exceedingly few jets that can actually be moved with a traditional hand towbar...the Eclipse is probably one of the few 😉
I was working at Atlantic PSP and a 172 taxied from the T hangers with his hand tie bar still on the nose gear. 🤦♂️ I don't understand. I don't get it.
Kind of like when people drive away with the nozzle still attached to their car after pumping gas 😆 You can put a red tag on everything in life which government tries to do and you still won't fix stupid
Many years ago I belonged to an 8-member club that owned a Cessna 172. One of our members left the tow bar on one day and did three touch-an-goes before the bar finally bounced up and got into the prop.
Ummm... what happened when the poop, I mean prop, hit the fan?
@@redcapote4760funny, but technically the prop IS the fan.
Wow, that must have been hard to explain.
@@kCI251No, easy to explain." I forgot and took off with the towbar still attached." Followed by a room full of people laughing and shaking their heads.
@@MrTruckerfand 7 pissed people
This reminds me of the woman that took her husbands ski boat out with her friends one Saturday while he was out on a round of golf with his colleagues. She called him 30 minutes later saying the boat wouldn't build any speed and she was concerned that there was an engine problem. He called to the local marina and asked if there was anyone there that could assist her. He received a call back 10 minutes later from the marina owner who was laughing uncontrollably after discovering that the boat trailer was still attached to the boat !!!
Words fail me
I actually did that. Drove across a lake with the trailer still under the boat. But I have an excuse. I was transporting the trailer to a property with no road access to store the boat for the winter there. Worked well, just very slow.
@@tomrogers9467 guessing you get a few strong folks to pull it out afterwards or did they have a winch/another vehicle moved by a larger boat there to help?
@@filanfyretracker Cable winches and a smooth rock shoreline worked well. Had to store the boat at the cottage for a few years I was living high rise between houses.
To add insult to injury, the departure FBO charged him for the towbar
Being that I’m in airport ops myself, I really appreciate when the ops agent said he was closing the runway, how the controller didn’t throw a hissy fit. That must be nice.
True. Its not like you want to close the runway and prevent operations. You have a job to do and its an inspection that could save lots of money if something is wrong.
And lives! think of the concorde crash. @@Pigeoncraft
A good preflight cannot be underestimated! Also, this speaks for great integrity of that towbar!
Most amazing mishap of the day. BAR none!
We all see what you did there.
Funny! .....but actually it's bar ONE.
Sounds like they have two new records. Fastest Pre flight of an Eclipse 500, and Worlds Quickest Tow Bar
Memories ... In 1974, I had just received taxi clearance at El Paso International Airport (home base at the time) when I heard ground control ask the pilot of a Cessna 210 if he was hearing a thumping noise from the plane. The pilot said "how do you know that". GC said because your tow bar is still attached to the nose gear. SO ... there were two things I couldn't believe. The 1st, that the pilot had missed the tow bar, and the 2nd, that the prop didn't hit the tow bar as it bumped against the expansion joints in the pavement.
This was only exceeded by my friend in Flint, Michigan retelling a story of how a Lear 25 had taken off but only climbed about 20' before striking trees about 400 yards from the end of the runway. The pilot / co-pilot had forgotten to remove the control lock from the yoke. Guys with years and thousands of flight hours.
I guess the moral of the story is that anybody can make a mistake and never get complacent, no matter how much experience you have. Wow.
Checklist, checklist, checklist. Pilots treat them like they’re bad, when in fact they’re are best friends.
Controls free and correct.
The control lock being engaged was the cause of the crash that killed Dale “Snort” Snodgrass.
@@Bill3558 One of the easiest & most important checks to make.
How’d he not hear it on take off…if he’s hearing it so distinctly on landing? Crazy!
Take off, climb, cruise, decent, and landing!!!
The question is how did the nose gear retract
@@nightflight1454 right 👍👍👍
@@nightflight1454 I don't see how it is possible?!
@WheelerRickTHETIEGUY The answer is it could not have ,and it would have made a horrible racket when he raised the gear and he would have had a nose gear light all throughout the entire flight at the very least
I just looked it up. Most likely it was a towbar Head attachment specific to several aircraft types. Its measurements are 20.5"L x 13.2" W x 4"H. 20lbs. Pretty good size chunk of metal to not have been noticed/heard during taxi and roll out. They got lucky this time.
**sweats nervously in ground crew**
Could have even been the pilots that moved it out themselves.
Probably no ground crew for that unit. All fingers are pointing in one direction on this one. ;-)
Walks out of bathroom with TP following on his shoe
OMG .....LMAO...
Boise tower niner niner Charlie If you would relay a message to the ground crew that they will not be needing a tow bar.😊
😅
I read an article years ago that the tower called a plane taxing for takeoff that he was dragging something from the tail. Turned out it was a 5 gallon pail of concrete used for a tie down. Lucky he didn't takeoff with that.
I’m embarrassed for that pilot. Holy cow!
why? he shouldn't be the one who is responsible for removing it. but glad it worked out ok
@@mikenguyen9683 Captain is responsible for everything.
@@mikenguyen9683the PIC is solely responsible for the safe operation of the aircraft.
Just when you think you’ve heard it all. How’s the runway he departed from?
Came here to see if this was answered.
I think it's pretty safe to say that the pilot didn't do a walk around the aircraft before taking off, unless that thing somehow got stuck to the plane during the flight.
Did his walk around before the tow?
At an airport I work at in Australia, some years back one of my co workers saw a Metroliner taxi with its tail jack stand still attached. It was stopped prior to take off.
Legend has it, same guy later landed gear up , and only found out when it required full power on both engines to get to the ramp….
Nearly spat my drink!!
I know of a pilot who was practicing short field landings at a 1600 foot strip with his 172. He realized during the landing that he was going too fast /high to land. He must have hesitated too long in his decision to abort the landing because he hit a section of chain link fence at the end of the runway. You'd think the story ends there in a horrific crash. Not this time! He managed to take the top section of tubing from the fence and continued to climb out with it! He was able to fly to the nearest large airport and land with the section of fence hanging off the nose wheel! Upon landing, the whole thing came off the front of the plane. It's a miracle that the fence tubing didn't hit the prop.
I was working as an A&P apprentice at the time. My mentor mechanic went to inspect the plane at the field where it had landed. Turns out this was no small section of tubing. It had folded around the nose strut and part of it was long enough to reach back to the horizontal stab (about 24 feet or so...)! We ended up replacing the whole horizontal stabilizer before the plane could fly again. As far as I know, there was no further damage to the plane but I suspect the nose strut must have taken quite a beating! As a side note... the pilot was the owner of the FBO I was working for!
And that airplane is now enjoying its new life as a tail-dragger? 😂
Didn’t they retract the landing gear upon takeoff?
Great question - perhaps since it was such a short flight they didn't bother? Really embarrassing for someone...
@@dermick --- The gear would always be retracted, short flight or not. The bar probably got pinched in the "up" position, and when the gear was lowered the bar came down to level or below level. That's all I can think of. That's a tough one to miss, but I bet he pre-flighted while the tug crew was still messing around. I always try to be the last guy to look at the plane before I depart because I've heard all kinds of crazy stuff over the years...
@@dermickit was a 2inch bar, it fit into the well
@@smartysmarty1714He was flying from Caldwell to Boise. As soon as you pop up from Caldwell you're on final for Boise
@@smartysmarty1714 No tug crew for a jet this small. Aircraft make short hops keeping the gear down all the time. Gear is not "always" retracted.
Never abbreviate a preflight! Late to return school's 172 I did a fast preflight without examining the prop. Plane vibrated under full power but it went away reducing for cruise. Day before I taxied onto grass as the only tie downs were cables & hooks in the grass. There was a drop going onto the grass, the nose dipped, I heard a slight "ping" but didn't investigate as I was in a hurry. Back at school next day, our mechanic walked me to the 172 & showed me 1/4 inch shaved off of a prop blade! I had hit that cable or a hook the night before taxiing off that drop to the grass! That was the "ping" I heard & dismissed. It took me a minute to put all this together. Mechanic scolded me that I could've vibrated the engine off the engine mount! I don't hurry pre flights anymore!
How did the nose gear retract with the tow bar attached and couldn't they notice/feel the drag when flying ?
Not a pilot, but the flight took 7 minutes.
Yea, he probably just never pulled the gear up for that flight. My question is how did no one at the departure airport see it before or during takeoff?
@@Darthvader-oc5tp little tiny airport, might not have been anyone else near him.
@@maurice7413 not a small airport, but it is one with no control tower so yea that makes sense.
For now on this aircraft needs to have a permanent placard with in bold letters REMOVE TOWBAR BEFORE FLIGHT
How did he retract the nose gear with a tow bar attached?
What are the odds that this pilot's next trick will include a towbar AND tug!?
AND a GPU.
Best Tugs are working on it
Who said there was no tug attached during take off? All we know is there was no tug during landing.
How do you not notice that as a pilot?! This makes my brain hurt.
can't see unless outside jet, probably felt super draggy but no way to tell really
quote someone else: "This was not a full size airliner towbar. The towbar involved in the incident was a "2 piece coupled towbar" that is used by hand. None the less, still should not have happened, but in this case they're lucky it went up with the landing gear without jamming and caused less interference than it could have."
I guess they didn’t do a walk around
@@neilkurzman4907 i'd be more concerned if a pilot was doing a walkaround after pushback, tbh 😅
@@peregrinedevelopments3730 precisely this. Only way for pilot to catch was after ground crew pushed back
I flew into a small airport with a restaurant here in Illinois. I just got seated and here comes a 172 taxing up to the restaurant with a tow bar still on. The pilot took off and landed without the bar hitting the prop. The pilot was young and when I went out and told her. Her eyes got big and I bet she will never forget the tow bar again.
So much for the pre-trip inspection.
Sounds like a trucker you mean a pre flight inspection. 😂 Don’t worry I’m both a trucker and a pilot.
great guy brings his own tow gear along 😅
amazing that they were able to take off with it attached and it not getting jammed up in the wheel well doors
So much for the preflight walkaround!
Not a pilot, I've only ridden in them, but wouldn't a walk around of the air craft have reveled a tow bar?
You would think.
That is for sissies.
Many years ago, I taxied out on an IFR (raining) day for a company flight and noticed a long time friend in number one position about to take off. He was about to take the active in the twin he was flying but I saw that the tow bar was still attached. This was an uncontrolled airport (no tower). I alerted him on unicom. Now , he was a WWII fighter pilot so what did he do? He had his clearance to go. The right engine stopped , he popped out , removed the tow bar , tossed it in the grass, got back in , started the right engine, took off and contacted center. Both of us , being x Air Force pilots never brought it up ever !
With my group I’m afraid he would be known as Towbar forever.
How in the world did he take off?
How in the world did they not hear the grinding noise on taxi out for take off?
with the tow bar attached apparently
Apply full power and pull back. Takeoff initiated
This whole thing is kinda funny, everyone involved seemed really cool and professional.
How do you taxi from pushback through multiple turns, through line up and waits, to cleared, to take off roll, through rotate without thinking.. hmm. This feels off somehow?
He flew out of a small airport just north of Boise. There's no push backs or line up and wait and probably no ground crew. This is a small jet typically operated by the pilot/owner. He made a mistake.
Generally you don't park on the runway, so he had to have taxied to the departure runway. The OP is questioning how he did so without noticing something was dragging.
🤦
pitot tube cover here, but he has me beat. it happened
@@eat_a_dick_trudeau Nice user name! Anyway, he was probably pushing the small tow bar when he taxied out and didn't notice. Once in flight or upon landing the tow bar may have flung around to the aft dragging side of the nose gear and it may have caused a little damage making it noticeable as he was decelerating on the runway at Boise.
@@TheMopangbend Pitot cover happens alot! I forgot to unchain the tail one time. I was on a private jet where the pilots forgot to unchock the nose wheel and they had to jump out to move it (embarrassing). One of the best I've heard of is a seaplane took off with the giant triangular tow bar used to move them on the ground. He had to land with a large audience watching. Not only is that thing heavy but it could have flipped the plane over. Nothing happened!
This is my home airport. For those who are not familiar with it, the reference to "city side" and "guard side" during one transmission is because the Idaho Air National Guard controls a portion of the south side of the airport. The city of Boise controls the rest. Each has fire trucks. So the comment was that trucks from both sides were responding.
The really scary thing is that the Eclipse would have flown right over my place of employment on the way in -- I'm glad that tow bar stayed put.
As an instructor I always stressed to my primary students that the handle of the tow bar is NEVER allowed to touch the ground unless the plane is back in the hangar. No exceptions. I also used to own a maintenance facility and incoming prop strikes were not uncommon.
I find it kinda funny. I know a guy that was taxing out in a Champ with a towbar still on the tail wheel. some one noticed it and got on the radio to tell him before he took off. I flew with him several times in the Champ to practice tailwheel flying.
I'm sorry but something sounds way off about this. Wouldn't there be some kind of indication of a serious situation before he took off? I would have thought there would have been some kind of indicator just taxiing maybe like a dragging noise, banging on the airplane, wonky steering, gear not retracting after take off?
It was a 2inch bar contrary to what the thumbnail would have you think
I'm a former "hanger rat" (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer unqualified). It was a hanging offence to leave a tow bar connected to an aircraft for two reasons. Firstly, for the reason that you see in this video. Secondly, they're a tripping hazard. Always remove the tow bar and place it either behind the nose wheel of the aircraft or better than that, somewhere else altogether. Even if you're planning on moving the plane in 5 minutes, remove the tow bar.
I always tell my students, that's what the final walk around is so important with the tow bar in hand.
A hanger neighbor left his towbar on and had the prop totaled when coming back in to land and it bounced up. It's a good thing that it didn't happen in flight
Had this situation happen to a customer of ours several years ago. One-aircraft flight department, local small business. New Line Dept guy got distracted and left the tow bar on the nose, and the pilot relied on previous history and didn’t check himself. When the aircraft landed at my FBO, the flight department was done and the pilot had to find a new ride.
There's a bit of erroneous captions going on here. I tried to correct them but wonder if anyone is hearing different? It's not easy to always understand what they're saying!
2:30 - "You can use Bravo 2 there if you'd like, as well."
3:31 - "... the Eclipse jet that turned off bravo 2 onto Bravo by the A-10s" (there's an ANG at Boise with A-10's lined up on the South)
4:17 - "Boise ground, roger, say your position"
4:24 - "Smokey 7, say your position"
5:09 - "7, roger, just verifying all your Smokey vehicles are done, vehicles are done crossing 10L."
6:21 - "19, yeah, we just closed by ATIS..."
Pretty good otherwise! What a crazy incident.
Prob was tight on fuel and thought they might need a tow.
1. How did he not hear it while taxing for take off? 2. How did he not hear it on take off? 3. How did he manage to retract his gear once airborne? 4. If he couldn't retract his gear, why didn't he call an IFE right then? 5. If he didn't retract his gear how did he not hear it in flight? I'd love to see some photos of this.
This is a very lucky pilot. It could been tragic situation.
It would have eclipsed an otherwise ordinary day.
A lot of trim up on that leg. Is that why he landed so soon after departing 20 miles up the road?
@@Plutogalaxy I read 25lbs and on the nose.
Don't the pilot is suppose to walk around the airplane and do a visual inspaction
\and also check for water in the fuel tank and the fuel level before each flight.
This is why you do a 360 whenever someone touches your aircraft after your preflight. I’ve had to land a helicopter 13nm after takeoff because the baggage door light came on. One of the ground crew thought the door wasn’t properly latched after I had started up. My mechanic had to go verify after landing just to make sure. Luckily it was the pressure switch playing tricks. It had to be replaced later.
WOW! We left an exhaust hose attached to a car once, but it fell off. Good thing they landed safely.
I found a 2 foot long tow bar sticking out of the ground in our orchard. Took it round to the local flying club. The paint markings allowed them to ID the person who took of with it attached. I believe he was due for a stiff talking to.
Usually happens with prop airplanes, except that the tow bar eventually hits the prop at some point. Comes as a real shocker. Lesson is never walk away from an attached tow bar.
He brought his own towbar 😃😃
Have actually seen this one before at my home airport. It was a Cessna with boots, the boot was the only reason there wasn’t a major accident, held the towbar up for the whole flight/landing
ATC: "Yeah N449CC, you still have a fuel truck attached by the hose and the fuel guy is looking pretty pissed".
Meanwhile, at the Caldwell Airport, there was a shout from the hangar. "Hey John! Do you have any idea where our towbar is?" John...."um, I don't see it anywhere. It's not where we usually put it. I don't know".
"He must have departed with that." I think you may have dismissed too quickly the possibility it was attached mid-flight.
"I'm gonna need some kind of assistance for a tow"
"429CC do you mean for a towbar?"
"Yes confirm, I have my own towbar pre-installed"
It wasn't too much of a problem for them until they discovered that the person who'd been pulling the towbar was still attached to it.
On my solo we were at a grass strip. A Cessna was taxing to the end with a towbar attached. My instructor got out and started running after the plane. I taxied to it and blocked him in. He didn’t have his radio on initially and I could see him cussing me out from his cabin. When he finally turned on his radio to tell me off he got really embarrassed and quiet when I told him why I was there.
Please tell me there is a video or picture of this tow bar attached to the plane.
I worked at the local airport and have seen Cessnas take off and land with tow bars attached more than once. How they did not end up in the prop was amazing. Never seen it on a retract...
The very first thing that my CFI told me, as we were walking out to the plane, was "towbars are for towing. If you or the Towmotor isn't on one end of it, there has better not be a plane on the other end of it!"
I took off on a grass strip with my towbar attached on my Grumman Traveler.A friend radioed me from the ground , so I went back immediately and landed without incident.I felt like a complete idiot for being so careless!!
This is why that before we close the door one of us always do a one last walk around to see if there's anything obvious, like service panels open, chocks, etc.
So the towbar was able to stay attached to the nose gear and the gear lights all extinguished when the gear retracted and the doors closed? I can't understand how any of this can even happen unless, it's the same aircrew that tried to take off with the park brake engaged and blew four main tires at Perryville, MO in 2003.
News of the extra towbar didn't phase ground control at all: "Uh, yeah. So he must have departed with that." Like he encounters this level of ineptitude all the time.
Local pilot here did that. Destroyed the prop and gearbox, took months to repair. 1 year later, same plane, different pilot, same problem.
Gesh that is embarrassing, everyone in the control tower was laughing their ass off.
Aww, the plane was bringing his crush a Valentine's gift!
Jet: Ground, I am going to need a tow over here
Ground: They'll have to find a proper tow bar first, this might take a while
Jet: Ground, tell them no need....I got that covered!
I can't find an image of an aircraft towbar that's shorter than my arm. How the hell did that towbar clear both the inside of the wheel well and the gear doors to permit three green on retract?
Guys familiar with that area are saying in other comments that the flight is so short, it's common to fly it gear-down.
@@pyme495 Yeah, checking a map that makes sense, cheers.
Sounds like a rather hefty bill might be en route somewhere.....
Tow bar rental over the mileage limit?
I am astounded there was no awareness that something was wrong after departing Caldwell, unless he never tried to raise the gear. Does the Eclipse have gear doors for the nose wheel? Wow!
Good thing they designed those things to not detach in flight... No one needs a tow bar hitching a ride through a windshield
I think we have a defective PILOT here !! How in the HELL could this have happened. I mean at the very least didnt he know something was wrong when he tried to raise the landing gear ? It will be an interesting chat with the ground crew back in Caldwell, ID.
It was a 2inch bar.
Its a very short hop from Caldwell to Boise and the pilot was probably his own ground crew.
@@SquawkCode I've flown in and out of EUL many times and there's no such thing there as ground crew. It does bring back some memories from many years ago when I was doing touch and goes at Caldwell but on the way back to Boise, I had a total electrical failure. The gear dropped out but didn't fall hard enough to lock and I had no lights to tell. This was at night. I also landed on 10R. It would have been a beautiful touchdown if the gear hadn't folded.
We a had a doctor who lost his tow bar on Runway 26 R at Shy Harbor PHX while taking off.
Flying club I was in kept the pin for the towbar attached to the keychain with the actual keys. Small precaution but also genius because it prevents embarrassing moments like this lol
This makes no sense. The tow bar for the 767 I fly is about 12 feet long with tires. I understand that the Eclipse is a small airplane, but how in the hell do you manage to take off with something like that still attached? A picture of what they found would be worth a thousand words....
Great video!
Surely the pilot had some type of fault indication the nose gear hadn’t retracted normally?
I wonder why tower didn't use binoculars to check and let the Eclipse know what's going on.
I have some right seat experience in the EA500. The POH cites the nose gear has a up lock sensor, but nothing for the integrated doors, so the tow bar probably just hung there. Had the gear not locked up, the CAS messaging on that plane is explicit, and the config alarm LOUD. And since the Eclipse is pressurized, I'm guessing he never heard the bar being pushed during takeoff. Since it was hanging down on landing, it probably folded/flipped during derotation, making the greater noise and sensation.
This is what they mean by “nose heavy can fly with effort, tail heavy will not fly at all
the fact that the plane flew with a towbar on and had an normalish landing, bruhh aerodynamics???
So much for the pre flight inspection
This is like that Aggie joke: Q. How did the Aggie pilot know he landed with his wheels up? A. It took him full power to taxi to the hanger...
I heard it was a teasip.
I get a kick out of these flight videos with everyone wanting everyone else to think they are the smartest on here.
I am trying to comprehend how he completed all his checks, was able to taxi for takeoff and takeoff without realizing he had a tow bar attached to his aircraft?
Be nice to see a visual clarifying how a towbar could possibly have retracted along with the nose gear enough to have not produced a “gear not up” warning.
Guys familiar with that area are saying in other comments that the flight is so short, it's common to just fly it gear-down.
This owner just bought the airplane In January of this year.
Incredible! How did he retract the landing gear after takeoff?
The last thing I did before getting up front was a walk around to check for pins. Lucky pilot this time