Max talks with listener Jim about his prop strike incident what occurred while landing his Cessna 182. The interview provides an in-depth look into his flying background, the circumstances leading up to the incident, and his reflections on what might have gone wrong, along with considerations on how to prevent such an event from happening again.
Jim began his aviation journey in January 2012, when he took an introductory flight that ignited his passion for flying. By 2013, he had earned his private pilot’s license and accumulated around 760 flight hours, primarily in Cessna 172s. He also had some experience flying the Cessna 182, including retractable-gear versions, at his flight school in Memphis, Tennessee. In 2021, he obtained his instrument rating and soon after relocated to New Mexico. With no convenient rental options nearby, Jim joined a flying club in Las Cruces, about two hours away from his home, where he continued to maintain his currency in flying.
In August 2022, Jim purchased his own aircraft—a 1969 Cessna 182—largely because it matched the year and model of the plane he had flown at the flying club. He upgraded the plane’s instrument panel with a Garmin G3X system and other modern avionics, and by the time of the incident, he had been flying this aircraft for about four months, accumulating around 300 hours in various Cessna 182s.
The flight in question was a return trip from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, where Jim and his wife had celebrated her birthday with a relaxing spa day. They departed for Silver City, their home airport, in the afternoon. The weather was slightly challenging, with some showers and turbulence over the mountainous terrain. Jim, mindful of his wife’s discomfort with turbulence, took a longer, less direct route to avoid the roughest air.
As they approached their home airport, the conditions seemed favorable. The winds were mild, and Jim planned a straightforward landing on runway 26. He recalls that the winds were reported as 310° at 6 to 8 knots, which aligned well with his intended landing direction. However, what began as a routine landing quickly turned problematic.
Jim had been using the autopilot (a Garmin GFC 500) for much of the flight but had disconnected it before entering the pattern to hand-fly the landing. He admits that he had been struggling with slightly flat landings in recent months and was particularly focused on making this landing as smooth as possible. To ensure a stabilized approach, he flew a long downwind leg before turning onto final.
During the final approach, Jim followed his usual procedure: maintaining 94 miles per hour on the downwind leg and reducing speed to around 78-80 miles per hour on final. He applied 30 degrees of flaps for the landing, which was standard for him at this airport, given the long runway.
As Jim neared the runway, everything seemed under control. He was lined up with the runway and descending steadily. However, just before touchdown, the situation deteriorated rapidly. Jim describes feeling a sudden yaw to the left and a significant bank to the right, followed by a pitch down. Although he managed to get the plane on the ground, it was immediately clear that something had gone wrong—the propeller struck the ground.
The Garmin G3X recorded the data from the incident, and Max uploaded the flight data to Flysto.net. He and Jim then watched a replay of Jim’s aircraft in the traffic pattern. Max noted that the aircraft was unstable with a 1200 foot descent rate at 500 feet AGL, but that by 300 feet, the aircraft was stable. Later, Max identifies some incorrect control inputs, which are revealed in the podcast episode, that led to the prop strike. Max comments that using Flysto, they were able to definitively identify the issue that led to the prop strike. Without the data recorded by the G3X, they would have been only able to speculate on several potential issues that might have caused the prop strike.
Jim also talks about the aftermath, which includes getting the aircraft repaired, and getting some additional flight training while the aircraft is down for maintenance, which is expected to take at least four months. There are also some surprising insurance ramifications that Jim talks about.
Despite the incident, Jim remains committed to flying and views this experience as an opportunity to become a better and safer pilot. The interview ends with Jim encouraging other pilots to share their experiences, both good and bad, as a means of learning and growing within the aviation community.
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