Alioth's Journal: More bad news

Well, today we were out flying gliders as we do every Sunday.

Now the Auster, which we were towing the gliders with, is a tailwheel plane with rather poor forward visibility. There's a gigantic blind spot for the pilot, when taxiing (i.e. on the ground), on the right hand side of the aircraft.

Well, one of my syndicate partners was taxiing the plane to get refuelled. Parked, just in this blind spot, was a car. In the battle between an aluminium prop and steel car, there are no winners... the prop sliced through the front of the car a couple of times, then smashed the windscreen. The prop is of course now bent.

The prop sliced through the bonnet (tr. US: hood) of the car, right down to the wheel arch, going through coolant lines, since the car proceeded to leak all its coolant onto the ground.

Bugger.

At least I wasn't flying it, knowing my recent luck, I'd have run my own car down with it. So now the painful process of having to deal with the insurance and get everything fixed.

Yikes

[BWJones]

Wow.... who's car was it? Any other damage to the plane other than the prop? Pictures?

Re:

[Alioth]

I didn't have my camera, so no pictures....

The car belonged to another club member. Actually, it belongs to his mother and now he has to explain why it looks like a loaf of sliced bread! Makes a difference from the usual teenager's incident with a car. "Mum, you know the car? Umm..."

You know...

[TinaMarie]

The only rational way to deal with a week like this is to go home, pull the covers over your head, and not come out for a week.

182 v Lamborghini

[Shadow Wrought]

Something similar happened recently in these parts. Only it was a 182 and a Lamborghini, both approaching an intersection at an uncontrolled airfield (so the taxiways were dual use car and plane). Neither yielded. The driver of the Lamborghini was unhurt, but he did get to watch the prop chew up the front of his car. While I don't know the details of the case, my gut reaction is that the driver of the car should have yielded, since cars are more at home on the ground. In fairness, the airplane should h