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Has Anyone Splatted an Anti-Splat?

StuBob

Well Known Member
I know Jesse S. bent a nose gear in a way that really validates the Anti-Splat Nose Job. I've seen plenty of photos and video of pretzel-ed nose gear legs, but I've never seen the aftermath of a serious excursion into the weeds that resulted in a pole vault in a nosewheel RV that had the Nose Job installed.

So, has anyone else impaled the nose gear with a Nose Job installed? Got photos?

Thanks in advance.
 
I don’t think I have pictures, but I am aware of at least 2 cases where the nose job was not sufficient to prevent a nose over. If you try hard enough you can break anything.
 
I don?t think I have pictures, but I am aware of at least 2 cases where the nose job was not sufficient to prevent a nose over. If you try hard enough you can break anything.

I know of at least three cases where equipped airplanes went over, but like Jesse, I don?t have pictures. Just proves what they say about ?if you make something foolproof....?

Always be careful with your nosewheel!
 
I have had a nose over with the antisplat nose job. I really believe in my case if I had not had the Nose Job I might not had went upside down. Will I ever know, no never, but my rational is the brace broke at the attach points, maybe it kept the nose from bending more, but if it bent more it may have "curled" under more therefore not catching the gear in the dirt and causing the eventual nose over.
I came out thankfully unscathed. I contacted the folks at Antisplat after the nose over, they looked at the pictures and said it did it's job.
But I would not put one on another plane. But each situation is different and maybe it might save an airplane in another time. Each builder has to make that decision. Blessings
Dave
 
I'm sure someone could break one, trying hard enough. Just wondered what the failures looked like.

I don't want to incite a nosewheel vs tailwheel riot, but it seems to me that an Anti-Splatted nosewheel would have a very different type of failure than the stock nosewheel, and the new type failure would likely be safer in some situations, more dangerous in others. Meanwhile, there are other situations that flip taildraggers over on their backs....

Dave, if I understand your description, it sounds to me like a curling-up stock nose gear would've flipped you, too. Glad you weren't hurt.
 
I do not have pictures with me at the moment as I am in sunny Florida. I would be glad to share them later.
I believe if the gear had curled up further, but the Antisplat would not allow it to curl as much, it kept the gear more straight, the gear would not have been able to dig into the ground as much and thereby flipped the plane in the end. If I had been able to land on hard surface, I think that I would have not flipped the plane, providing I had been able to keep it on the runway straight.

But would've could've should've will always be the debate.
The real deal is to NOT land the plane on the nose. I really did not try to do that, but the results are the same.
Dave
 
I think that it is the faring hanging off. The AntiSpat attaches in the center of the gear leg.
Had an RV8A flip at KAPA recently. No AntiSplat. Here's the NTSB report. Hopeful we can all learn from this:
The pilot reported that, during the landing flare in gusting crosswind conditions, he realized that the descent rate was a ?little fast/ heavy,? so power and smooth out [the] flare.? He further reported that he mistakenly grabbed the ?red knob? (the mixture control), instead of the throttle, Subsequently, the airplane continued to descend, bounced hard on the runway, and became airborne again. When the airplane settled back landing gear collapsed, the propeller struck the runway, and the airplane veered off the runway to the left and nosed over.
The fuselage and vertical stabilizer sustained substantial damage.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
An automated weather observation station at the accident airport recorded that, about the time of the accident, wind was from 360? at 8 knots, reported that the landing was on runway 28.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot's improper landing flare and inadvertent selection of the mixture control, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing during gusting conditions.
 
Nothing can prevent a nose-over if the conditions are right, but the nose job give an extra margin of safety.
 
I think that it is the faring hanging off. The AntiSpat attaches in the center of the gear leg.
Had an RV8A flip at KAPA recently. No AntiSplat. Here's the NTSB report. Hopeful we can all learn from this:
The pilot reported that, during the landing flare in gusting crosswind conditions, he realized that the descent rate was a ?little fast/ heavy,? so power and smooth out [the] flare.? He further reported that he mistakenly grabbed the ?red knob? (the mixture control), instead of the throttle, Subsequently, the airplane continued to descend, bounced hard on the runway, and became airborne again. When the airplane settled back landing gear collapsed, the propeller struck the runway, and the airplane veered off the runway to the left and nosed over.
The fuselage and vertical stabilizer sustained substantial damage.
The pilot reported that there were no preaccident mechanical malfunctions or failures with the airplane that would have precluded normal operation.
An automated weather observation station at the accident airport recorded that, about the time of the accident, wind was from 360? at 8 knots, reported that the landing was on runway 28.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
The pilot's improper landing flare and inadvertent selection of the mixture control, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing during gusting conditions.

I guess that is why our instructors teach us to have your hand on the throttle when you land.

After lots of glider flying my power instructors had to slap my hand a few times to get into this habit. :eek:
 
Hmmm... should have been an easy switch from holding the spoiler/dive brake handle in sailplanes to the throttle in power planes. As a CFI-G, students were taught to have their hand on the spoiler/dive brake handle through the approach and landing. Remember the Blanik L-13s, where the spoiler/dive brake handle and flap handle were stacked one above the another? Many a Student Pilot, as well as rated pilots, let go of the spoiler/dive brake handle only to go back and grab the flap handle instead. Then they would float down the entire runway, and sometimes run off it, madly yanking back on the flap handle wondering why the spoiler/dive brakes didn't work! :eek:

It was a right handy vs. left handy thing. Glider spoilers on R side. Luckily I never flew a Blanik but I have seen the long, strange landings you mention. :)

I originally thought of making my RV-6A right seat pilot but decided against it and have learned to switch hands. It seems like the only thing I could do well previously with my left hand was drive a stick shift car in the UK - just got back last week and I could still do it.
 
The photo appears to show the anti splat nose job saddle to be to one side and forward of where it is supposed to be. The only way I can picture that happening is when there is not only an overload in the aft direction but also a considerable loading to the side. In other words the nose came down hard and was not in alignment with the direction the momentum of the airplane such as swerving rudder inputs at the moment of impact.

Let's face it. There are always ways to bend an airplane. I find it hard to imagine many planes that perform like an RV that would have survived the loading required to do that to the nose gear with the nose job installed.
 
The Internet thrives on rumors. I have a V-tail Bonanza which, if you're on the Internet you know, might fall apart in level flight at any moment. Before that, I had a BMW motorcycle which, according to the Internet, has a motor that surges uncontrollably. I recently bought a new Subaru, only to learn that the head gasket will self destruct shortly after the warranty expires.

And so we have the RV nose gear.

Since I asked this question, I've seen a few photos and videos of splatted Anti-Splats. It looks to me like every one of them would've flipped a 182. I'm not convinced there's a real problem with the RV nose gear. But I am convinced that, if there is a problem, the Nose Job is an improvement.
 
The Internet thrives on rumors. I recently bought a new Subaru, only to learn that the head gasket will self destruct shortly after the warranty expires.

Your new Subaru probably won't have this issue but hundreds of thousands of earlier EJ engines did. It was no rumor unfortunately for many owners.
 
The Internet thrives on rumors. I have a V-tail Bonanza which, if you're on the Internet you know, might fall apart in level flight at any moment. Before that, I had a BMW motorcycle which, according to the Internet, has a motor that surges uncontrollably. I recently bought a new Subaru, only to learn that the head gasket will self destruct shortly after the warranty expires.

And so we have the RV nose gear.

Since I asked this question, I've seen a few photos and videos of splatted Anti-Splats. It looks to me like every one of them would've flipped a 182. I'm not convinced there's a real problem with the RV nose gear. But I am convinced that, if there is a problem, the Nose Job is an improvement.

+1
I have the nose job on my 6A and fly out of a grass runway. 100's of landings, if not close to 1,000. There are no witness marks on my gear, suggesting that the nose job has never actually come into play. However, if it does I am sure it will help significantly.
 
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