Pilot Learns Costly Lessons In Beach Crash

-RV-6A landed on beach out of gas

-takeoff attempt on muddy sand flat failed

An RV-6A pilot’s apparent attempt to dodge a helicopter recovery bill for his stranded but undamaged airplane was upended last week with an ill-considered takeoff attempt from a muddy tidal estuary on Vancouver Island. He still ended up paying for the lift from the chopper but it hoisted a badly broken airplane. Canadian authorities are also now involved after video of the chain of events appeared a few days after the mishap. “We have been made aware of the incident … and we are collecting information,” the Vancouver Sun quoted a statement from the Transportation Safety Board as saying. “We have not deployed to the site of the occurrence, but we have been in contact with the pilot.”

The pilot, who has not been formally identified, put the homebuilt down on a flat expanse of wet sand near Comox, British Columbia, after running out of gas on July 1. After refuelling the plane with a jerry can, he tried to take off but never got the airspeed he needed and the nose wheel dug into the progressively wetter surface, briefly standing the homebuilt on its nose before it settled back on its gear. Bystanders helped him push it away from the incoming tide and a helicopter plucked it off the sand the next day. Local police said there were no injuries, no environmental damage and no charges pending. The TSB also said there were likely no aviation safety lessons to be learned from the mishap and has filed the incident in its archives.