HOW AN UNLUCKY STRIKE REVEALED THE HEART OF THE RAAUS COMMUNITY
When confronted with a full-bellied pelican hitting your Jabiru J160 while travelling at 100 knots, not many would expect to walk away unscathed. Fortunately, that’s exactly what Richard Mudge and his father Frank did.
“At the first bang, I thought we were going to die, but then all the emergency flight training my CFI drummed into me just kicked in.” Richard said.
The father and son’s flight along the picturesque Murray River in Renmark, SA started like any other morning. The adventurous duo had regularly embarked on similar scenic flights over the previous six months. A Renmark local, Richard had purchased the Jabiru J160 after gaining his RPC just six months earlier with local CFI Tim Laidler.
Thirty minutes into the flight, while following the bends of the Murray River as they had done many times before, disaster struck.
“Bang! It was so noisy. The wind was roaring and thumping in my face, the whole airframe just shook.” Richard recalled. “I reduced power to best glide to prepare for an emergency landing, found a paddock and landed. Luckily the pelican missed all the control surfaces, and the engine was fine.”
Richard landed in a farmer’s paddock, 1.8km from incident to landing. Other than a few rocks, he described the landing as uneventful.
On seeing the damage, it was clear the pelican had hit the Jabiru from above, impacting the top lefthand side of the windscreen and roof. The stinking contents of the bird’s full belly had exploded into the cockpit on impact, showering Richard and Frank with whole fish, feathers, and Perspex-like projectiles.
“We’re bloody lucky it missed the prop! Things could have gone very differently if the pelican had been just an inch or two lower.” Richard said.
Upon reflection, Richard said he didn’t have time to think, he was just so grateful for his training that kicked straight in. He was able to refer to all the emergency procedures and practice glide approaches his CFI Tim Laider had included in his training.
THE AVIATION COMMUNITY TO THE RESCUE
The biggest takeaway from the incident for Richard and Frank was the incredible support shown by the local RAAus aviation community.
After their emergency paddock landing, Richard called CFI Tim Laidler. The call went something like this:
Richard: “Hi Tim. Ah, we’ve had a bit of a problem.”
Tim: “Do you need a hand mate?”
Within the hour, the Renmark RAAus aviation community had rallied to the rescue.
Tim called local L2 Peter Humphries and between the two of them they organised a trailer, tools, straps, empty fuel containers and padding, then hit the road.
In the meantime, Richard and Frank – still stinking of fish – had found their way into the home of the local farmer whose paddock they’d landed in. A few cups of tea later, their nerves finally began to settle.
It was a sad sight to see “Little Jay” wingless and loaded up on the trailer.
The four aviators were all very fond of this special little Jabiru. She had a long history teaching thousands of students to fly in her previous life with CFI Cliff Banks.
The word started to spread amongst the RAAus community, including to one previous owner; the author of this article. I must admit, after the initial relief that Richard and Frank were okay, I did shed a tear for this magnificent aircraft that took me on so many adventures.
IT TAKES A COMMUNITY
There are many take home lessons from this incident. Yes, we can discuss the safety factors of flying over rivers and the importance of ‘watch, see and avoid’. For this story though, I believe the biggest take home is the local RAAus community’s response.
Everyone involved in this incident dropped everything to help without question. The rescue and retrieval took over 10 hours and a 500km round trip. It was hot and from all accounts a very smelly rescue, but everyone was just thankful that their friends were okay.
We are all thankful that Little Jay – despite the vibration caused from the loss of a windscreen – could still fly and was such a strong aircraft. We are also thankful that Richard’s response to the emergency was so calm and well managed, and that the training he received from his CFI was so ingrained in him. He didn’t have to think about what to do in an emergency, it just came naturally.
THE REPAIRS
Luckily for Richard and Frank, the damage has been deemed quite repairable in the hands of a skilled maintainer, Scott Taylor, RAAus Composite Repair Specialist, who has joined the recovery team.
Scott has fond memories of this very same Jabiru J160. He completed many hours of his own training in it, even completing his navigation endorsement with CFI Cliff Banks many years ago.
Scott said the windscreen replacement and the specialist composite repairs would only take a few days to complete. He said he was impressed with how this aircraft had held up to such an impact. “This is a testament to how tough Jabiru aircraft are.” he said.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
No matter what you fly, it’s challenging events such as this that make it clear we’re all part of the same community. We fly for fun, we are all kindred spirits, and there’s no denying that when the proverbial pelican hits the plane – and luckily not the fan – our incredible RAAus community do rally the call.
