Anyone Consider Putting a Horn on a Plane?

Probably rare enough not to justify the complexity. 

Interestingly, the idea was patented (in the United States) in April of 1946 - see the attached .PDF for details.

"It is realized that, at the present time, no simple means carried by aircraft are available for informing pilots in flight, ground personnel at an airport or people and traffic on the ground of their proximity of (sic) aircraft of the intentions of their pilots."

How awful for the Lancair pilot, as well as for the person who was killed, & their family. 

There's a horn on the BAe146... and it works, much to the annoyance of the ground crew....

I can't imagine it would be too difficult to attach an air horn of some description to an experimental aircraft?

Those horns are to alert the ground crew that the flight crew wishes to communicate witht eh ground crew with the intercom. 

Reports today stated the fatally hit person on the ground had earphones in, and appeared unaware of the plane.

Several other bystanders said (via news report info here... grain of salt taken) many others were able to get out of the way, by time other realizer this guy wasn't moving out of the way it was too late...... Death by music.

It is agaist military regulations to wear head phones / ear bugs for this reason.

In San Diego a friend had a squeeze bulb brass horn from a model T on his Pietenpol that was audible from altitude and another mounted an "oogah" horn in the cowl of his T-6 to warn people when he was about to start the engine. Both seemed to do the job required. 

I remember reading, and I think it was in an EAA publication, that someone had built a plane (or heavily modified it) to have locomotive horns (as in Diesel Electric Locomotives). I think they had done it just for the novelty, but then, it turns out they do have the ability to scare off wildlife.

So a low pass (about 30 AGL would do) with that horn blaring would probably stamped deer or moose. Not so sure about bear.

It would be interesting to use it while approaching a flock of geese...  I know of someone who hit one, at night (yes, they do fly at night) out side of Cleveland with a C182. It crushed the leading edge back to the spar -- it hit between two ribs.

As for the guy on the ground with the ear buds or ear phones, he may not have recognized the horn as being something he needed to pay attention to. The further you are from a road or railroad track, the less likely you are to pay attention.

March 21st , 1998 six skydivers with their chutes on died after an engine caught fire from an oil leak , that was  misinterpreted by the pilot as an electrical short - he cut the master and thus the radio off ...one survived by being either thrown out  or jumped out , when the aircraft cartwheeled off the trees alongside the runway ...he was only twenty yards high and a ti kwan do instructor and three tour vietnam vet ...but when the aircraft burst into flames the fire burned everything off the front of his body...I put the fire out on him with the fire extinguisher I had ...what a sight...

My friend, Bobby Bishop ...on the lighter side...bailed out of Bill Beardsley's BD-5 jet after an engine fire...

So in deciding how I am going to plan my emergencies...How will I  know if my engine  in the BD-5 is on fire , or just an electrical short ???   In furnaces they are call high limit switches... I'll be able to afford it.

As I said an Our Father over Marrion during his last two minutes , after cutting the melted straps off...I looked over at the wreckage and the form hulking over the controls...I  thought to my self what a friend  ,   to stay with his friend while trying to land, but how arrogant ...and then at the FBO someone came in and blurted  there were six in the plane...with chutes on...

BTW the next Chrismas I was out at the drome working on my wings...just finished my Hungry Man turkey microwave dinner and libation ...all alone out there....and as I was heading home made my way out to where the crash was...No moon starlit midnight ...not a plane in the sky ...nada....and after getting up and looking up...the runway lights came on...not one plane in the sky...nada...

They got me , you know ???  yeah....they really did.

Laser spot might work.

In the critical last few seconds of an emergency power-off landing, do you really want to be distracted by the task of sounding a horn?  Fly the airplane.

I've always wanted a horn too. It may sound crazy.... but I can think of a thousand times I am taxing by someone I just kinda want to say "HEY" to and a little honk would just do the trick.

So long as it doesn't cost me any airspeed.

Ken S

No, I haven't really thought about it, but if I do it'll be an     AIR HORN!!!!!

Hey, don't forget the sirens on the dive bombers back in dubya dubya two. Maybe a loud speaker would be better like the units they used in "Apocalypse Now". You could blast your favorite theme music to set the mood when performing a flyover for all your fans.

I can just hear the beginining of  Wagners "Flight of the Valkyree" (did I get that right?) as I approach the field for a low pass and then "Smoke on!"

Might be a subject for another post What would your theme song be?

 In this case, a horn probably wouldn't have helped.  The Lancair was probably approaching at 80 MPH...that's about 120 feet per second.  If the pilot had activated the horn five seconds from impact, the plane would still have been 600 feet away.  An ordinary car-type horn wouldn't have been that noticeable, and the jogger was wearing earphones.

However, I haven't heard the precise geometries yet ( how long had the plane been rolling on the ground at the time it hit the runner) so there might have been more reaction time.  Still, the runner, out in the wide open, probably wouldn't have considered the horn as an emergency warning.  He probably would have figured that some kid was playing with a car horn, and maybe started glancing idly around. 

I've had several people (all non-aviation types) tell me to beep the horn when I fly over their houses so they could come out and wave.

from day one me learning to fly and the instructor yelling "clear" from a closed cockpit, I thought there to be a better way: a buzzer or beep-beep; costs next to nothing and ez to install under the cowling to warn people about a starting engine (would not help the Lancair accident).  Much better understood by the public than "clear".

I read about it. Tragic. For what its worth, many aircraft have a Loud hailer installed. Nothing more than a speaker mounted in a wheel well to yell at (communicate with)  ground crew, waiting passengers, stray dogs or whatever. I guess that it uses the same amp as the cabin speaker. Selectable on the audio panel same as Com 1, Com 2, intercom or cabin PA. Weight increase is limited to the weight of the speaker.

A friend flew a EuroCopter AS355 that had a lightweight unit installed that was designed for a police car. It had siren, whoop and loud hailer. It worked ok from 500 foot flyovers and was approved by the FSDO for FAR 135 service. No drag perceived from the external speaker.

Why not just roll the window down and yell like this whiz-bang former NTSB official suggested?

"Even with oil smeared on the windshield, Schiavo says the pilot should have been able to see through a small window on the side of the plane and possibly yell out to anyone below."

Where do they dig up these idiots?

The only time I wished I had a horn on my airplane has been at OSH--can't believe how many aviation-oriented people will wander out in front of a moving airplane!  So I've thought of getting a marine horn--freon gas powered--so I could "blast" them into realizing I am coming (as if they can't hear my short-stacked Lycoming!).

But I doubt that this would have helped in the Lancair case--and it's truly a tragic ending to a successful forced landing.

Cary