Terror at Oshkosh!

This video is a brief analysis on getting very close to a crash at Oshkosh. No finger pointing here. Landing in such an enviroment is unusual and stressful for sure. Check the video first and then ask yourself a few questions.

As the analysis points out, the pilot likely went for full elevator up and this avoided a more critical issue. But was this an attempt to go-around or just to save the landing? Landing at OSH, knowing that thousand of people are looking and operating in non-standard ways is not easy. But is there a reason not to initiate a go-around?

Would you have gone around earlier? Or would you go-around after the bounce to restart from a better situation? I must say that the recovery and following landing show great flying skills.

The question of entering a 30+ degrees bank that close to the ground is also interesting. This kind of manoeuver is arguable and I think it really depends how skilled and familiar with the aircraft the pilot is. In this older post, I show one of my landings with a late-ish base turn. It is by far not comparable but the point is to know what you can do and what you can’t. I would not fly such a turn now, with less currency on the Saratoga.

What would you do in such a situation? Scroll down to comment