BREAKING: Harrison Ford seriously injured in plane crash

[Dalton]

Harrison Ford crashed a small plane into a golf course today... taken to the hospital in critical condition

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/03/ ... lf-course/

[Mr Bean]

First saw it and thought "Hey that looks like a WW2 American P-40" Second thought, huh why is Ford running around in that?

[Grumman]

First saw it and thought "Hey that looks like a WW2 American P-40" Second thought, huh why is Ford running around in that?

I was going to say that the crash didn't look too bad, but if it was a Warhawk, it's lost a lot of length from its nose.

As for why... when you're a millionaire you get to indulge in such hobbies as "buy and fly your own fighter plane."

[SpottedKitty]

Not a P-40, look at the two open cockpits. It's one of those just-before-WW2 trainers. Not sure which, I thought about a Texan but that has a long enclosed glasshouse and a big radial engine. Early model Fairchild PT-19, maybe? That tailfin shape is pretty distinctive. If it is, then it's just had the engine concertina'd a bit. A moderately bad crash, but not totally catastrophic; the sort you might be able to walk (or hobble) away from if you're lucky. Hope he's not too badly hurt.

[Iroscato]

He's having a shit year for injuries, poor man. Hope he's alright

[The Duchess of Zeon]

It's a Ryan PT-22 Recruit.

[SpottedKitty]

It's a Ryan PT-22 Recruit.

<nod> That's it, I was close. It's got the right radial engine with the cylinders sticking out, and the wing shape is a better match.

I notice it does have very flimsy-looking main undercarriage legs; maybe what happened was a heavy landing (lost power?) into soft grass, and the main gear collapsed?

[Rogue 9]

New reports say he's in fair condition and was speaking to first responders.

[lPeregrine]

(lost power?)

Seems to be. This says it was an engine failure after takeoff, which pretty much means "find the softest thing in front of you because you're going to be crashing there in about 30 seconds". A rough landing on a golf course is a good outcome.

[Broomstick]

Glad he wasn't seriously injured. Probably looked worse than it was because any cut on the head bleeds like a bitch. He probably went face-first into the panel when the airplane stopped moving but inertia wasn't done with him yet.

The TV news this morning was playing ATC communication where Ford asked for an immediate return just after take-off. Presumably, Ford was either forced to land on the golf course or decided that was better odds than trying for the runway. That was actually a pretty good job landing it given something was Seriously Wrong.

[Borgholio]

Am I the only one who is glad he's ok just so he can finish Episodes 8 and 9? Because I feel like an asshole for thinking that. Then again, when Harold Ramis died my first thought was, "Well there goes Ghostbusters 3."

[LadyTevar]

I understand he broke his arm, as well as the head injury. Witnesses are saying he picked the best place to ditch, as the rest of that neighborhood is hi-density suburbs. It seems he had the control and time to pick his landing.

[Broomstick]

It also helps he's a damn fine pilot in real life and not just in the movies.

[Patroklos]

I hope that plane is repairable. I think its okay to worry about that now that Ford will be fine.

[SpottedKitty]

Witnesses are saying he picked the best place to ditch, as the rest of that neighborhood is hi-density suburbs. It seems he had the control and time to pick his landing.

<nod> More details just came up on BBC News — the golf course is right at the end of the airport runway, and the plane came down just a few hundred yards past the runway. Makes sense, if you have the training not to panic and try an immediate about-turn. With no power, low speed and low altitude, going straight on and hoping to find a big enough patch of uncluttered ground is the least unsafe thing to do.

[jwl]

Also, didn't he skim the trees before landing or something?

[Mange]

Also, didn't he skim the trees before landing or something?

Yes, he "clipped" a tree going in. Apparently, another pilot died in 2010 when his Cessna crashed, also near the eighth hole, on the same golf course.

[Irbis]

I think its okay to worry about that now that Ford will be fine.

Fine? Head injury, especially at 70, can be very dangerous thing. Just look at Michael Schumacher or Fernando Alonso - both substantially younger and extremely fit sportsmen who suffered low speed crashes recently (and with best modern safety gear, not sitting in 80 year old plane). I'd wait at least a week before declaring Ford is fine, which he hopefully is

[Broomstick]

Also, didn't he skim the trees before landing or something?

Yes, but that may not have been intentional. In fact, I suspect it was entirely unintentional.

I think its okay to worry about that now that Ford will be fine.

Fine? Head injury, especially at 70, can be very dangerous thing. Just look at Michael Schumacher or Fernando Alonso - both substantially younger and extremely fit sportsmen who suffered low speed crashes recently (and with best modern safety gear, not sitting in 80 year old plane). I'd wait at least a week before declaring Ford is fine, which he hopefully is

Actually, getting a knock on the head at 70 is actually less likely to cause damage than at 20. Let me explain.

As we age our brains shrink. Everybody's brain shrinks, no matter how sharp you stay. The resulting space is taken up by additional cerebral spinal fluid. This means the brain matter of someone 70 years old is slightly farther from the skull bones than someone 20 years old. Thus, it requires a somewhat harder blow to the head in the old fart to result in the same damage as a 20 year old would suffer.

Of course, it's never good to take a knock to the head, but this is a rare case where advancing age can be protective.

The other two factors are how hard a blow (by all indications, Ford never lost consciousness and was speaking to first responders which is a positive) and where the blow occurs. Given the situation, the "blow to the head" was almost certainly him going face-first into the control panel. This means his face rather than his brain may have borne the brunt of the impact. Sitting here at our keyboards we can't know how exactly all that played out, of course.

[Broomstick]

I'm probably going to SF hell for helping to pass this picture around, but what the hell:

[Batman]

Who the hell skims the trees on purpose when trying to bring down a powerless airplane?
And that looks way too big to be the actual Falcon.

[lPeregrine]

Who the hell skims the trees on purpose when trying to bring down a powerless airplane?

Someone who understands that a plane with no engine has a limit to how far it can glide before it's hitting the ground one way or another, and it's better to hit the trees in a controlled manner than to stretch a glide too far, stall the plane, and face near-certain death. It takes discipline to accept that the tree you're about to hit is less likely to kill you than attempting to avoid the tree and aim to minimize the damage. A lot of pilots have died because they wouldn't accept that it was no longer possible to reach the runway.

Alternatively, he may have had a limited amount of space to land in. Stay too high above the trees and you overshoot your landing spot, so you have to cut the margins and hope you don't clip the top of a tree coming in. The lesson here is that landing a (single-engine) plane with an engine failure can very easily turn into a no-win scenario where the best you can do is try to survive the inevitable crash.

[Broomstick]

I wouldn't call that choosing to hit trees on the way down, it's more you're forced into the least bad alternative. It's a "choice" in one sense but it's not something I'd willingly choose if I really had a genuine choice.

[Terralthra]

Well, this is just obligatory.

[Batman]

I wouldn't call that choosing to hit trees on the way down, it's more you're forced into the least bad alternative. It's a "choice" in one sense but it's not something I'd willingly choose if I really had a genuine choice.

It does, however neatly answer the question of why would anybody do it on purpose, that being the question I asked and lPeregrine answered-doing so being the least sucky option you have available.