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It was supposed to be a short takeoff in an old ultralight plane from 2002.
Kostas Bastakys, the director of the Tauragė district flying club, wanted to feel better in the air and explain the cause of the observed vibration.
But while flying at an altitude of about a hundred meters, the plane’s engine fell silent.
“It just came to our attention then. Maybe it came into contact with the casing and the motor stopped,” said K. Bastakys as the most likely cause of the failure.
Understand instantly
- Kostas Bastakys was born on February 27, 1951 in Šilutė. 1979 acquired a higher university education, worked for many years at Tauragė Žigulių tech. at the service station. Since the restoration of Lithuania’s independence, he has been running his own business, president-elect of Tauragė Aeroclub and is the owner of the Tauragė airfield.
- The club president is currently piloting a Czech-made Cesna-172 aircraft, is also licensed to fly ULO-class aircraft, and is an ultralight aircraft pilot training instructor.
The 69-year-old pilot said the flight experience allowed him not to panic and make an emergency attempt to land the aircraft on the airfield’s meadow.
He told me that at the beginning everything went as it occurred in those seconds.
K. Bastakys landed the plane with the engine off, but went from acceleration – as then calculated, it rolled 92 meters – and hit the drainage ditch.
“Just as it would not stop the car immediately if it was driving fast, it also did, but the speed of the plane was not high. He did not hit, but entered the ditch and hit the opposite slope, – said K. Bastakys. “And because of the explosion, apparently there was a wiring and the plane caught fire.”
Photo of 15min / Plane landed at the Taurage airfield
The flames immediately engulfed a small Polish-made aircraft.
K. Bastakys himself jumped from the plane, but felt the flame sweat his skin too.
It was a hot September 5, during the flight I was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt.
“Only when I came out of the cabin flames came through the cracks,” said K. Bastakys. – Everything happened on the spot. I got off the plane and walked. “
Colleagues had to turn it off?
“A little,” admitted the pilot. – was dragging shake, He was not fully clothed. So the burns were mostly on the hands, superficial. “
Photo of 15min / Plane landed at the Taurage airfield
After the flames were extinguished, the pilot was transferred to the Tauragė Hospital. There, the doctors decided that it would be worth going to Kaunas, where doctors who exclusively treat burns work.
Superficial burns were detected in Kaunas.
Now K.Bastakys is taking medication and plans to receive treatment for a week at Kaunas hospital.
“It doesn’t hurt,” he described. – Medicine is good these days – pain killers injected and they don’t hurt. Or maybe it wouldn’t hurt anyway. “
Photo of 15min / Plane landed at the Taurage airfield
After turning an unpleasant adventure into his memory, K. Bastakys claimed that he did everything correctly in midair and while descending.
“If the plane had crashed with the blow, the consequences would have been bad. But I landed the plane well. Just that ditch at the end of the path … like in anger.
If it wasn’t for that water channel, it would have landed successfully.
But the explosion itself was not strong because the plane had already slowed down and was about to come to a stop. I have enough flight experience, landing a plane with the engine off was not a problem. Just that ditch. “
Photo of 15min / Plane landed at the Taurage airfield
K. Bastakys stated that he did not feel scared during the accident.
“I think those who have seen it are more scared. He had nothing to fear. The only thing that is unpleasant is that the plane caught fire, ”he said.
According to experts, the price of ultralight aircraft ranges between 5,000. up to 50 thousand. EUR, and in exceptional cases it can be up to 100 thousand. euros.
In this case, it was a former personal plane of K. Bastakis, which you will no longer raise from the ashes.
But still, Tauragiškės does not rule out the possibility of ascending into the air, despite the most dangerous descent of his life.
“It just came to our attention then. After all, as they say, you live and study. You just have to be more careful.”
Understand instantly
- Specialist comment
- Artūras Mkrtūmianas, Secretary of the Lithuanian Federation of Ultralight Aircraft Pilots: “In this case, the pilot is not an athlete, but has extensive experience as a pilot. The aircraft was used for recreational and non-sporting purposes only. Information about the incident has been relayed to the Ministry of Transport, whose investigators will decide whether an investigation is worth conducting, if there is anything to be learned from the disaster.
- Analyzing the case itself, the situation is that the engine stops during the flight and if not the terrain, probably everything would have ended without any loss, because it is not new for pilots to land with the engine off (- during training the instructors simulate engine shutdown and students flee). In this case, the ditch prevented the pilot from landing safely, and it seems that he was lucky, only the contours of the plane were left unexpectedly, and the pilot himself was not seriously injured. “
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