MIKE PATEY CRASHED DRACO!!

[n2otoofast4u]

I know there are a few pilots on here who know about the Flying Cowboys.

Mike crashed Draco on takeoff with his wife and his friend on board. All 3 are ok, the plane is a total loss. Mike is an incredible pilot, and also an incredible aircraft builder! I was really looking forward to seeing the plane in person at High Sierra. Guess not now! Mike admits full fault, and it just goes to show that even the best make mistakes! Fly safe everyone!

 

[Cobalt232]

Just saw that. Looked like a ground loop on takeoff roll.

 

[ElAzul]

Damn that was an awesome one off plane with soooo much custom one off hand built parts. Glad they are ok tho

 

[Ziggy]

Tell you what....my wife would not have taken it the way his did. She made light of just a broken finger nail. Mine probably would have hung me by my nails.

 

[HCP3]

At 13:37 he talks about how suceptable the Wilga is to ground loops.

 

[Blackmagic94]

Ground looped on high winds. He is ok and I have a feeling that isn’t the end of Draco

 

[Q4mtxUS]

Oh mike....I’m so glad you, and your crew are ALIVE. You have been saved by an angel, I truly believe...

I witnessed an event very similar to what you describe. I was a mechanic for an FBO in early 80’s and the squalls moving thru southern Idaho were causing the wind sock to spin in circles. An older couple just had to get back home to Cd’A Idaho in the nasty, blackness of the worst weather. My boss whom owned the FBO advised against going anywhere but the old (70’s age) pilot just had to get home before night as it was about a 4 hr flight due north. The couple got in their 172, taxied to departure end of runway with a quartering crosswind to full on crosswind to tailwind, and just shit conditions. Most dangerous. The aircraft accelerated “slowly” down the runway then rotated and was hit suddenly and hard by a left gust, picked up the left wing and the airplane just rolled over and slammed back to earth. No way were there gonna be survivors we thought. This was gonna be ugly, we thought.

We were able to follow CFR across the runway almost instantly after the crash and as we approach the aircraft, the two wings were folded together and slammed through the fuselage, between the two front seats and then, to my amazement, as well everybody else, two occupants were crawling out of the wreckage with only a scratch. The first words outta the ol’ boy’s mouth were, “I shoulda listened to your advise” his wife only had a scratch on her arm but both were struggling to process what had happened. I was so happy they were alive.

 

[JDKRXW]

Humble guy. No blame anywhere except on himself.
I was shocked that he'd risk that t.o. after seeing the vid just before he hit the throttle.....he said he knew the leeward suspension was bottomed out.

 

[TPC]

One of the most interesting people on YouTube.

 

[phuggit]

Glad he walked away. His hangar video was amazing. I've been following the budget build hes working on now.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

That wasn't a ground loop... Glad he is OK.

 

[n2otoofast4u]

Just saw that. Looked like a ground loop on takeoff roll.

I wouldn’t consider that a ground loop. Something similar happened to me when I crashed my Cessna.

 

[paradise]

Wow, what a bummer. All the more reason to finish scrappy I guess

 

[rrrr]

He was too caught up in his own persona to ask for a different runway. 'It's Draco, crosswinds don't matter'.

Always remember you're the PIC, and "unable" is an acceptable choice.

 

[MeCasa16]

He will be a better pilot for it tomorrow, but he should definitely know better to take those risks with passengers on board. I was cringing while listening to him describe his thought process on taking off with the wind conditions..

 

[spectras only]

Similar crash happened last year at the Abbotsford airshow with flying club members going for a ride at the end of the show. There were strong crosswind on the runway they tried taking off. I don't get it why the pilot wasn't advised by the tower to cancel this flight. It will take a long time to fix that plane.

I took the two pictures a couple of hours before the crash happened.

 

[aka619er]

Couldn't believe when it happened yesterday. One of my favorite aircraft.

Amazing guy and I'm sure he will build one even better.

Glad him and his wife and friend were ok.

RIP Draco.

 

[530RL]

The basics can sometimes actually matter.....

 

[mudpuppy]

I spent the week at Reno and left about 2 hrs before this happened. Weather was looking real crappy when I left. He could have used the other runway and been just fine. Sometimes the ego gets in the way.

 

[renodaytona]

Should have waited till today. No wind and the weather is perfect.

 

[rrrr]

Similar crash happened last year at the Abbotsford airshow with flying club members going for a ride at the end of the show. There were strong crosswind on the runway they tried taking off. I don't get it why the pilot wasn't advised by the tower to cancel this flight. It will take a long time to fix that plane.

I took the two pictures a couple of hours before the crash happened.
View attachment 799022 View attachment 799024

That's a deHavilland Dragon Rapide, one of the first aircraft QANTAS used for passenger service.

Fun fact: QANTAS is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territories Air Service.

And spectras, it ain't up to the tower to tell you not to fly. Yer sposed to use that thing between your ears.

 

[spectras only]

That's a deHavilland Dragon Rapide, one of the first aircraft QANTAS used for passenger service.

Fun fact: QANTAS is an acronym for Queensland and Northern Territories Air Service.

And spectras, it ain't up to the tower to tell you not to fly. Yer sposed to use that thing between your ears.

They could have advised him to use the alternate runway, just like the Havilland guy who used the wrong one too

 

[rrrr]

Like I said above, if the tower directs you to a runway that places you and your aircraft in hazard, "unable" is easy to say.

 

[530RL]

You don't HAVE to do what the controller says if it puts you in danger, and the controller doesn't HAVE to let you go where you want if it screws up his/her flow. That goes for taxi, takeoff and landing. The controller’s job is to use the facility in a way that would safely and efficiently be most conducive to the largest possible number of aircraft that regularly use the airport facility.

For example, you are given a clearance to land on runway 9, landing east, but you want to land on runway 18, landing south. So you ask for 18 and see if you get it. The controller decides whether it will cramp his/her day and says yes or no (probably yes 99% of the time). If no, your choices are to either land on 9, go elsewhere, or declare an emergency, in which case the decks are cleared for you but you may have to justify yourself later.

In this case, different aircraft have different capabilities and that decision is left to the PIC as it is not the job of a controller to know the characteristics and capabilities of every aircraft and the pilot sitting in it. As the PIC admitted, he made a bad decision with a crosswind component that exceeded his aircrafts and/or the pilots performance capabilities.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

What'll be interesting is if he asked for that runway or not. If the original clearance was for the N/S runway and he requested the E/W because of reasons and then crashed the airplane... talk about poor decision making.

 

[530RL]

 

[Sleek-Jet]

Based on the video he used 26 where 14 would have been a better choice. But that is just based on very limited information we have.

 

[rightytighty]

Draco takes off in like 100 ft. I wouldn’t have thought it could crash that fast... lol

 

[zhandfull]

This will be great!

 

[Loo Dog]

Holy hell, just wait for Draco X! He got off easy, and the lessons learned will undoubtedly result in something even more mind blowing.