The aircraft, a Twin Otter, belonged to Air Antilles and was on a flight from Point-a-Pitre on 23/08/2023. According to local accident reports, there were 7 people on board and 1 person was slightly hurt but treated on site and didn't need to go to hospital. The report said the plane veered onto the grass due to a nosewheel steering failure on landing, clipped a signpost, then turned sharp left into the parked helicopter. It is apparently still parked at the airport awaiting a decision on whether it's repairable. It is a 2019 built aircraft, so it probably is repairable if they can recover it to a workshop.

"The wing came off, so that's obviously gonna be a problem" Hahaha, just gotta love Kelsey.

Even though Kelsey doesn't usually pilot passenger planes, he's one of the best unofficial spokesmen that the industry has, at least for those of us with a fear of flying.

Not sure how many comments you see but you have helped me tremendously. I have a long time fear of flying so bad I wouldn’t fly at all. Watching your channel has alleviated the fear so much I was able to fly to Washington state from NC to visit my son and daughter in law. Your explanations of what planes do and why they do them and how safe it really is. I had no surprises on the flight as I remembered things you said at each point of my trip taxiing, takeoff, in flight, landing , braking etc. Thanks so much for what you do. PS Delta comfort is worth the extra money. Thanks for your professional insight

Years ago I lived for a year down in the Caribbean. I remember one flight extremely well that went from Union Island to Argentina. We got on the flight and it had two long benches down each side rather than seats. We sat down and there were a couple goats, some chickens and other farm animals with their owners. We shrugged, no big. We took off and I looked out the window and noticed the engine cowling was being held on by wire. I looked closer and realized there was wire holding all kinds of parts on the plane. We made it and have some great pics of a plane we probably shouldn't have gotten on lol.

Watching Kelsey’s face when something goes horribly wrong is awesome. 😂😂Always excited to see a new video. Thanks for making my day !! Stay safe Kelsey.

Great video. Reminds me of my long student XC flight. I landed at KMAE for fuel before returning to KFAT, and my right main blew upon touchdown. The panel was slanted to the right (weird feeling) and the plane was obviously pulling hard to the right as well. I immediately jumped on my left break in an attempt to match the drag induced by the blown right main, but my trajectory was still heading towards the side of the runway. I then went full deflection left rudder, and while that helped, I was still heading for disaster (the side of the runway was a slight drop into mushy greens). I then added FULL power to gain rudder authority, which straightened me out just enough as my forward momentum dropped off, ultimately coming to a stop about a foot before going off the runway. Within 30 seconds there were pilots driving out to assist from the hangers. It was really awesome to see the response of those who witnessed it on the ground. The aviation community looks out for one another... Oh by the way. You know the "rule of 3s?" Yeah. I experienced it that day. After the mechanic shop replaced my tire (my CFI knew them and got it handled), I proceeded to refuel as intended. The fuel pad was slightly skewed and not level, and I forgot to put my fuel selector on one tank, leaving it in the "both" tanks position. Needless to say I was still a bit flustered by the entire ordeal. Well, after measuring the tank and watching the gallons tick away patiently, halfway through the tank overfilled and I had 100LL all over the top of the wing. On me. Ugh. How embarrassing that was... THEN, on my t/o roll out of there, at 50kts just before rotation, I noticed a massive hawk coming from my 10 o'clock heading towards my 4 o'clock. I sat back, accepting what looked to be an imminent bird strike as fate, but remained on the runway and didn't rotate. I heard him graze the top of the fuselage as he went overhead. I can only imagine what would have happened had I not seen the hawk. I likely would have rotated right into him. It was quite the eventful long student XC flight 😂. I won't lie. I questioned my aeronautical desires that day ... But in the end, realized I handled the blow out remarkably well, and that my instincts in the moment saved the plane from further damage.

HI @74 Gear. I’m a private pilot at St Barthélémy based at the island. I want to clarify the first part as I landed there more than 600 times there (Even landed there yesterday). First for small airplanes only (C172 - PA28 single engine only). Normally you can land few meters after Charly exit no problem at all. It depends on your speed of course but you have way enough runway after touching down to slow down. In case of airplanes doesn’t want to touch down you can retract your flaps (you can see the C172 did it, that’s help to push the plane on the ground) I’m not a fan of this, but sometimes I do this when not confident (Piper flaps are manual hopefully). Blow off tire happen lot of times, there is a bunch of videos on KZfaq that you can see with that kind of problems. Just check your tires before flying, but if it happen to you in st Barth, it’s kind of a normal thing on your pilot life 😅.

"If you dont like the way I land my plane, stay off the helipad!"

You can tell it IS the pilot revving the engine as you can see the propeller spin sync up differently with the camera shutter when it goes from idle to revved and back to idle again

I really enjoy these videos. After watching enough of these videos, I feel confident that if I'm ever in a plane and there's an emergency situation, everything I have learned from this channel will allow me to know that eventually I will see a break down of it on this channel.

Every landing that you can walk away from is a good landing. Every landing that damages two aircraft is an expensive landing.

Kelseys face is priceless in the second clip, even the traffic slowed down to see what just happened at 8:48

As a Cessna pilot I can say we get tought to rev the engine for 5 to 10 sec after taxi and then shut it down by giving it full lean. By doing so you 'clean' the cylinders and spark plugs of all unused gas.

I love seeing your face when things are going pear shaped, thanks Kelsey.

"the wing came off. That's obviously going to be a problem"... lol, love you, bro!

I had a brake lockup in my Bonanza which shut down a runway for a while. It happened after touching down and slowing to taxi speed and there was no skidding, and actually hardly used brakes at all as it was a long runway. I only began to notice loss of directional control when turning off on a taxiway but then with my starboard brake locked up I couldn't move. Operations had to come out with dollies and a tug, but the tug stalled and ended up stuck as well so they had to go find a FBO with a second tug. It was a comedy of problems. A supervisor came out and, noting no skid marks or flat tire and the one brake locked up solid, determined it to be purely a mechanical failure and I wasn't even charged for the towing. The problem turned out to be moisture contamination of the brake fluid which had frozen on that extremely cold night. Everyone was super nice to me and I gave all the guys who came out nice tips.

Small correction. Airport was there before 1984. I did landings with my instructor there multiple times in the late 1970s and early 1980s before 1984. Thanks for the memories!

My guess as to what happened to the first plane was that they got on the brakes as soon as they felt the plane touch down, about 0:42 you can hear a brake noise, but the right wheel is still floating because of the lean. So the left brake is starting to slow the plane down, but the right brake is fully locked because that wheel wasn't spinning yet. And the moment it finally touches down, around 0:45 it's just dragging static rubber along the pavement and turning it into white smoke.

Kelsey, I love you! You're a real treasure to aviation. Thanks for all that you do!

"The wing came off. That's obviously gonna be a problem." Best line EVER! Thanks for another great video!

I’m so glad I found this channel! My dad was a 747-800 capt. with Atlas but he died a few years ago. We loved to talk flying and ham radio.

Seeing that you're about to smack into a Helicopter, is definitely a "Code Brown" moment!

I read somewhere that you are getting or have received a forth stripe, Capitan Kelsey sounds great

Hi Kelsey, I saw you in Hong Kong airport yesterday and didn't want to bother you after a long flight. Welcome, and love the videos!

"the wing came off, that's obviously going to be a problem" 😅 keep up the good work K!

Love you narration of these two events, Kelsey. Always looking forward to seeing what's next, pal. In the meantime, KTBSU.

Those pilots really didnt like that helicopter

im extremely scared of flying, and i got thalassophobia and megalohydrothalassophobia, its embarassing, but this prevents me a lot from going places as you can imagine, but 74's videos are helping a lot, words coming from an actual pilot, who has experienced a lot, it truly does give you a sense of comfort, but then you have moments like this incident, we dont know exactly what happened but there could have been civilians on this plane landing somewhere and crashed into a damn helicopter somehow which adds to it, now, this is not a common thing but still, details matter in aviation.

“The wing came off that’s obviously going to be a problem”

"the wing came off - that's obviously gonna be a problem" - Thank you Kelsey for this quote!

Wouldn't be a good Sunday morning without Kelsey.

Thanks Kelsey love the topics you cover❤

I flew a Grumman AA-5 for a while. That type doesn't have nosewheel steering - you need to use differential braking. One time, halfway to the runway, one brake failed, partially locking up. I could still taxi, but could only make left-hand turns. It made taxiing back interesting.

Regarding the Cessna, wheel pants will grab a blown tire. There's not much clearance inside between pant wall and tire and when the tire gets low, it gets fat. It's one reason many owners remove the pants.

Love all your videos

Loving your facial expressions! :)

What could've happened with the twin Otter is the tiller being off centre (by a lot) to the left. It would've touched on the mains with no issues, but as soon as the nose came down that nose wheel would've put it on a trajectory for disaster. The nose tiller is not spring loaded so wherever you leave it last is where the wheel will stay pointing. Edit: fixed typos

Oh my gosh, your expressions are the best❤

love your vids!

Whatever happened to "Coming Up" lol. That was classic stuff. I still enjoy your videos. Keep up the great work

Another great video, Kelsey!!

Another great video explanation. Thanks Kelsey you da best

I learn so much from your videos!

Keep these coming Kelsey!

I've had a flat in a Cessna 172. It isn't possible to tow a 172 that has wheel pants* with a flat tire (at least, not without damaging the plane). The deflated tire gets stuck between the pant and the rim, causing the whole wheel to lock up. The FBO had to send out a mechanic to take off the pant to free the tire so that it could be towed. Considering this happened at around 10:00pm, it took quite a while to get that plane off the taxiway. * The aerodynamic farings that go over the tire.

Good morning! Great video Kelsey! I’ll be headed down to the Caribbean in a few weeks! Looking forward to my free breakfast and snacks 😉

The St Barts pilot did gun it. The prop definitely was spun up. Love yer videos!

Caribbean relaxed attitude, pretty common. An AMT friend is from Grand Cayman, the most chill person you’d ever meet. Great video of these short runways Kelsey!

Great video as usual!

Thanks for another video Kels

Great commentary

Another great video! It sometimes seems like it takes forever for Sunday to get here each week so I can get another 74 Gear video. Anyway, as a younger pilot, I would have dreamed to take a shot at flying into St. Barts, but now, I'm older and I know better. BUT, you US based pilots can get a similar (although not as carzy dangerous) experience if you want to fly in low over a beach and drop it down over a sand dune onto a short runway: Montauk (KMTP) is a thrill to fly into and, afterwards, you go get a great seafood lunch a short walk up the road. Nothing like kids on the beach waving at you as you swoop by 30 feet over their heads.

I have been a passenger flying in and out of St Barts a half dozen times and it was wonderful. Standing at the top of the hill at the rotary was fun watching how close the planes came in overhead. The best fun though was driving on the roller coaster narrow roads around the island.

8:45 🤣The banner at the top of the video reading "the Turmoil Pass" as the location while the plane hits the helicopter. The pilots must have appreciated the foreshadowing... 🤪

After 12:40, something about the way Kelsey says "the wing came off" really got me :)

Your eyes are righteously green in this vid Kelsey 🤩 I even put it on my TV to check the color against my phone 🍀 and they’re even brighter… just like the ocean around St Barts. I literally had to keep rewinding the content to keep up 🫠 It’s usually your big brain that distracts me, but not this time 🙈

My favourite show on Sunday!

"the wing came off, that's obviously going to be a problem." 100% Kelsey.

Wow this video is the craziest one I’ve seen on your channel Kelsey.😊

I've done St. Barts a bunch in MSFS, it's a beautiful flight.

Many years ago, I landed my super swift at a Wichita airport in front of a thunderstorm. A little low on fuel, I could see the cross wind was way too high. So I landed on a taxi way directly into the wind. And spent the next 15 min flying the airplane on the ground. Needing 15 to 1800 RPM to hold position.

08:47 the look on your face killed me. 😂

Another Great video!!!

Great video as always. Hoping you're gonna cover that AC 777 that had an interesting landing at YYZ a few days ago - I gotta fly on one of those to that airport soon and could use the reassurance lol

Great video!

Kelsey, since i born ,i'm leaving in ST Barths,I'm 62. This airport was created by Free French pilots fighting for the RAF;Today it is an attraction for many who do not always have the expertise and the experience. For the twin Otter, the company was bankrupt and it was not the best pilot who were in command. In youtube check "Aviation dans la Caraïbes" for the historic of aviation in ST Barths

"The wing came off and obviously that's going to be a problem!" I'm dying laughing OMG!😂

One thing that may very well have contributed to the blown tire on the C172 is the lack of left rudder that was clearly needed before touchdown. The plane is basically pointing at the cameraman when it touches down, and I can't imagine that such an amount of side loading is good for the tires. Crosswind correction would've called for left rudder and right aileron to keep the airplane aligned with the runway, but also over the centerline. Might've saved the tire. The wind sock is not that indicative of what the winds around the whole airport might've been doing; especially over the hill right before the plane crossed the threshold. As you mentioned, the airport is surrounded by mountains. Winds tend to bounce off of those mountains and fly all over the place. The winds might've been relatively calm at the surface near the beach, but they could've been very different just a couple hundred feet above and at the approach end of the runway.

Thanks Kelsey

Thanks!

Great video!😸

"...this plane, the wing came off, that's obviously going to be a problem." *me, scribbling into a notebook, 'Wing coming off is a problem''*

Very interesting. Ty

That engine gunning is the same impulse that digs a car deeper in the mud/snow and gets it good and stuck. Pilot probably has a new nickname.

What a beautiful island!

Always cool to see a video about a project we just wrapped up. The aircraft is now enroute back to canada for repair. Your analysis is interesting, but i think the final report will supprise many.

Hi! Solar radiation here. I enjoy you so much. A normal kid turned celebrity-you make your mama proud.

Cheers from the Pacific West Coast of Canada.

So i was watching your video at breakfast (free BTW) before our flight in the hotel with my coworker, when he remarked I hope we are never in one of his videos. We both nervously LOL’d and I quickly switched to Squirrel videos. Anyway love your Videos.

"This plane... the wing came off - that's obviously going to be a problem". I love that kind of humour... in fact, I'm still laughing.

Good Sunday morning!

The approach is easier since they replaced the stop sign with a roundabout at the top of the hill.

A St Bart's forum said he was landing over the beach and was wide left of the runway. They also mentioned that the pilot reported problems with the braking system. They were also saying they thought he landed on grass.

I had a similar flat tire situation on touchdown flying same model C172. The tire was old and it was its time to go. At first, when the plane started pulling right I just concentrated on staying on the runway and not flipping over. And when I finally stopped I did exactly what the pilot in the video did: put power to move away. Of course the plane remained motionless. Only after that I opened up the passenger door and looked at the right wheel. I saw that the tire was flat. Called atc, and the airport team moved the plane to the hangar. There was no damage, just a fat bill for towing the plane. Was flying with a new tire in a couple of days.

You know you're having a bad day when you slew off a runway, but at least that is as bad as it's going … oh, then again.

St Barths is worth the cost of a flight inbound. San Martin has a small airport nearby with direct flights, cheap. St Barths and Saba are great landing spectacles. On Saba, pilots often come in below the airport level (to avoid strong headwinds, heading straight into a cliff), lifting and touching down at the last moment.

the second one looks a bit like they lined up with the road next to the runway, caught their mistake late and then had problems managing the aircraft in a go-around with low energy, slight tail wind component and rising terrain. I'd love to hear the cockpit voice recorder for this one

At my flight school for a while there was an exhibit of a a C172 tyre which was flat on the one side after the pilot had opted to slam the brakes on touchdown. The tyre had a sticky note saying "Self-choking tyre" 🙂

Hi Kelsey, great videos you put out. I'm not a pilot but my question is how do you keep track of your flying time and does someone have to sign off on them everytime you fly, thank you.

From a technician thoughts considering that there is smoke coming from the wheel it is more likely that the anti-lock brake system failed and locked up and caused the brake pads to lock up against the rotar causing the pads to burned onto the disc rotar. Or some thing got caught in the wheel assembly and smoked do to heat of the brake system.

"Keep the blue side up" *STALL STALL STALL* God Damnit Kelsey

The Twin Otter approach looks low, but at this distance it's hard to tell. Looking closely, it appears that the nose wheel may have clipped the slight berm at runway 28, or at least touched down hard before the mains. That would explain a steering problem or failure. These guys are super good at getting the wheels on the ground quick at St. Barts, but I've seen a ton of video where they are pushing the nose down, rather than burning off the energy in a longer float. Once you reverse the props on the Twin Otter, it comes to a stop pretty darn quick.

Love the understatement "This plane the wing came off, that's obviously going to be a problem." LOL

Next time I have a bad day at the office I’m going to remember that second clip…

On a lot of smaller planes the front wheel is *not* steerable by any mechanical means. It is a castering wheel - a lot like a shopping cart. You steer your plane on the ground by means of differential braking.

Said it years ago, gonna say it again.. the yummiest pilot on all of You Tube!!

Hi kelsey, both twin otter of the airline had steering problems. I'll share the link to vidéo of one of them.

Hey Kelsey, I'm sitting here after Thanksgiving and decided to put on Die Hard. I would like to hear your critique of the 747 landing that they decided to use in the opening scene. Lol. Happy Thanksgiving buddy, may your landings be better than his.

For the Saint Barts scenario, with the wind sock being nearly lifeless, would it make more sense to land in the opposite direction, so you could land with an incline instead of downhill? I guess the wind could’ve been gusting stronger above the runway if there’s natural barriers (hills/mountains), or natural barrier preventing an approach from the other direction.