Pilot confuses instructions, lands on top of hangar instead of inside after jump take-off fails
- Shashwat Dwivedi
- Jun 6
- 1 min read
It appears the recent release of Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning has inspired people more than it should have. The climactic battle between Tom Cruise and his nemesis as they danced around the wings of a Boeing Stearman has led people to forget that anything involving the unconventional use of aircraft should preferably be done under expert supervision.
Or perhaps the release has inspired someone to start a movie marathon of Tom Cruise’s filmography, with one too many rewatches of the Top Gun series. The pilot who crashed his CubCrafters CCX-2300 on top of a hangar after attempting a ‘Jump Take-Off’ had learnt the manoeuvre from an instructor two years prior.
SA jump take-off is useful in scenarios where there is little surface to launch from, such as an aircraft carrier, where fighters fly off the end of the ship, which is tilted somewhat upwards. These aircraft also utilise specialised equipment for this, as shown in the Top Gun movies.
So, when the CubCrafters pilot attempted this, his plane nosedived. He pushed the stick forward and used rudder and ailerons to straighten the aeroplane, but his attempt to decrease the angle of attack was unsuccessful. He then crashed on top of a hangar at the airport in Spanish Fork, Utah, leading to damage to his fuselage.
