Airplanes with BAD Reputations

sometimes good airplanes can earn bad reputations for example in the airline world the dc-10 had some early design flaws which eventually led to some high-profile accidents and even after improving the design and increasing its safety it still lost to public trust and i'm sure you've heard of the boeing 737 max which in my opinion is a good airplane but it just needed a software update and also better training for the pilots but what about general aviation you know the small private airplanes well these can have bad reputations as well so today we're going to be taking a look at five good airplanes that have bad reputations let's get into it what happens when you survey 10 000 flight instructors on what would make the perfect trainer while you get the piper pa-38 tomahawk piper set out to build an airplane which would have all the characteristics of a good trainer you know great visibility two doors simple fuel system heavier controls and also a plane that could be used for spin training the tomahawk accomplished all of this but it was its spin characteristics that led to controversy the tomahawk will enter a fully developed spin and it actually requires proper spin training to exit and on the other hand a cessna 150 will exit a spin pretty much on its own once in a spin the tomahawk needs full opposite rudder neutral ailerons and some down elevator to exit and after inputting those controls the plane will momentarily spin faster before exiting in a fully nose down angle now this exit can easily lead to over speeding the airplane and then pulling an excessive amount of gs in the recovery its spin characteristics while flying mostly in the training market led to a high accident rate thus the plane was given the nicknames trauma hawk and terror hawk but despite this it's actually a great little airplane that just needs proper training to fly safely it'll cruise at 115 miles per hour has a range of 500 miles and it burns only around 6 gallons per hour the tomahawk was produced between 1978 and 1982 and about 2 400 were built this next airplane comes from the legendary designer jim beatty the aa-1 yankee stems from the bd1 which was originally designed to be a kit-built airplane the design was then certified to be a factory-built personal traveler and was produced by american aviation and eventually grumman and then gulfstream with its side-by-side seating tricycle landing gear and sliding canopy the yankee drew the attention of many flight schools however this would be an issue because the plane wasn't engineered to be a trainer it had touchy controls low useful load and intense stall characteristics and the faa originally certified the yankee for spins but many reported that after a third turn it would be very difficult to exit so five years after production started the fa actually rolled back its spin certification and required a spins prohibited placard in the cockpit the yankee ended up having a poor safety record in its early years with many accidents due to spin training fuel starvation and also hitting obstacles on takeoff the yankee went through some design modifications which increased its safety and performance and it actually started to become a pretty successful airplane in pilots who flew the yankee enjoyed its sporty controls 110 knot crews cabin comfort and sliding canopy around 1800 were produced between 1968 through 1978 and many can be found for sale today at very modest prices the next plane on the list has a few reputations one of which is how loud it is the mitsubishi mu2 was designed in japan to be both a military and civilian airplane the mu2 comes in a short and extended fuselage and it's one of the fastest turboprop twins cruising in at 370 miles per hour when it first came to the market the mu-2 was modestly priced which drew the attention of many pilots and with its small size and light airframe pilots could legally fly the mu2 with a standard twin engine rating and an instructor sign off but its handling is closer to that of a small jet and many pilots found themselves ill-equipped to fly the airplane in the u.s the accident rate started to rise an faa investigations were conducted into the safety of the airplane many started referring to the plane as the mitsubishi widowmaker however the conclusion of the faa investigation was that it was a safe airplane when operated by a properly trained pilot the majority of the accidents in the mu2 were due to pilot error and eventually the faa required a special federal air regulation to fly the airplane this increased training led to a much better safety record but its original reputation still stuck with many in the flying community about 700 were built between 1963 and 1986 and with proper training and a full wallet you can have a great performing airplane today the next plane on the list is one that attempts to check all the boxes for pilots and aircraft owners the piper malibu was the next step up in airplane ownership and many wanted to fly higher and faster than their previous single-engine airplane at first the airplane was highly regarded but with its pressurization and air conditioning system the malibu saw increased engine failures then about nine years after it was introduced a pattern of in-flight breakups started to shed light and in just two years there were seven in-flight airframe breakups the faa conducted a thorough investigation into the design of the airplane and its autopilot system and yet a single cause for the breakups was never found the fa then prohibited flying the airplane in instrument weather conditions which dismayed many owners because well they bought the plane to fly above and around weather the fa eventually rolled back that decision and came to a similar conclusion as with the previous airplanes on this list it's a safe airplane when a safe pilot is at the controls today the malibu is still being produced by piper under the model name m350 and it cruises at 213 knots and can fly at 25 000 feet the m350 is currently the only pressurized single engine certified airplane on the market [Music] if you're familiar with airplane nicknames then you probably know the moniker for the beachcraft v-tail bonanza after a pattern of high-profile crashes in the bonanza the public named it the forked tail doctor killer oof that's a rough one back in the late 1940s the bonanza was one of the first civilian airplanes to have a retractable landing gear and it was pretty fast for its time it appealed to a market of people who had the money to afford one oftentimes doctors or lawyers owners of bonanzas didn't always have the proper training to fly one and a similar cause of accidents started to happen first a non-instrument rated pilot would fly into the clouds and quickly become disoriented they would start to descend in a deep spiral and once they exited the clouds and saw the ground coming up they would abruptly pull up on the elevator this would cause so much force on that v-tail that in many cases they completely flattened it crazy later on the fa even required reinforcements to be added to the tail the demographic of pilots in these crashes was often a doctor so the name dr killer just stuck sadly the famous artist buddy holly richie valens and the big bopper died in a bonanza crash in 1959 and this became known as the day the music died despite the bonanza earning one of the harshest reputations in general aviation the airplane remains one of the most successful of all time it started production in 1947 and remains in production today as the bonanza g36 if you go up to any group of pilots and you refer to an airplane as the doctor killer they're gonna know exactly which airplane you're talking about and some might even reply and say that they think doctors are bonanza killers well i hope you all enjoyed the video remember to like and subscribe and until then blue skies and i'll see you in the next video [Music] you

Channel: FloridaFlying

Views: 770,073

Keywords: Dangerous, fast, airplane, crash, accident, deadly, unsafe, aircraft, Beechcraft, bonanza, piper, tomahawk, Malibu, mirage, Mitsubishi, Grumman, single, engine, twin, turboprop, jet, takeoff, landing, training, spin, aerobatics, homebuilt, experimental

Id: MDFtkWNX_MY

Length: 8min 25sec (505 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 19 2020