If this was previously reported, please forgive the repetition. I talked with a missionary flyer last Sunday who reported a 337 crashing during this last year in Copan Guatemala (if I recall the location correctly). This was described as a fairly short, up-sloping runway - sounded challenging. It was probably a short field landing. Upon flap extension, only one flap extended but the other didn't. The aircraft commenced roll and impacted a deep crevasse just short of the runway. There were six souls on board; all survived, apparently un-injured or with only minor injuries.
The missionary, an extremely experienced bush pilot, blamed himself for not reacting faster in retracting the flap(s) to restore control.
The account I heard may have been in error regarding the failure sequence - perhaps the flaps were already extended when one snapped up.
A semi-happy ending for all except the unfortunate airplane. And a reminder for us all to be primed to quickly retract the flaps and add full power in case of un-commanded roll. This makes it important to have props forward and mixtures full rich when turning final, before extending full flaps.
Should we have the props forward and mixtures full rich whenever we extend any flaps at all? Or maybe do this turning base, instead of on final? This assuming we're close to sea-level flying a normally aspirated Skymaster.
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Paul
T337C
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