ETLB Squawk Forums — Archive

I watched my friend crash his Sonex this weekend.  I was at the Gardner airshow (with Airbike Ace) on Saturday morning.  I heard a loud "thud" and looked around just in time to see the plane land in a heap in the mud just short of the runway.  I was relieved to see him open the canopy and climb out unhurt.  The plane had clipped the top of a warning barracade, stalled into the mud breaking off both axles and shattering the prop and putting a dent in one wing tip.  Amazingly, the pitot tube and antennas under the plane were undamaged.  Both titanium gear legs were slightly bent.

My buddy said that he found himself low and sinking on short final and jammed the throttle forward.  The engine backfired and didn't respond.  From where the plane first touched to where it stopped was maybe a hundred feet.

Charlie

Here are the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20695499@N07/sets/72157626872643081/

Glad your friend  wasn't hurt in that off-airport (just barely) landing.  It was easy to  get too low and slow this past Saturday, the Density Altitude was around 3500' (pretty high for us flatlanders).  Although the damage doesn't appear severe, I  would guess that broken propeller would quallify as a "prop strike" and require some engine analysis and possible teardown.

His Sonnex and yours Charlie, are beauties. Hope  he fixes it soon and gets back into the air. Nice to see you at the fly-in, it sure was a grand collection of replica planes  on display and flying.

Paul Fiebich

Hi Charlie;
Ted is a friend of mine. Small world, LOL.  Paul said it all, heat and humidity got him. But the main thing is he is OK. I just was talking to him and went to the Buzzards to catch up. It sounded like Ted, and it was. I hope he repairs it and gets back flying. He is a good guy.
Bob

High density altitudes teach many lessons where I live. Similar situation on my last gyroplane flight in 1990. Density altitude was at least 10,500 and I really shouldn't have been flying, but I was younger and over confident. Developed engine difficulty - had full throttle or idle, nothing in between. Fled back to the Santa Fe airport. Lots of traffic and the controllers wouldn't let me land on a taxiway segment as they often did when things were slower. I was forced to circle off the airport at full throttle for several minutes waiting for clearance (and building up anxiety). When finally cleared and inbound to land I tried to calm down by saying to myself..."How bad can it be? You've got 8,000 ft. of runway to land it on". Over the runway I went to idle and started a long, slow, gradual descent to the runway. Perhaps 10 ft. over the runway I started a gradual flare. Here I learned another lesson. It is often stated that gyroplanes can't stall. Well, that's true, technically speaking, but they can lose lift so rapidly that the word "stall" merely becomes a matter of definition. The bottom dropped out and I fell to the runway so hard that I bounced back up several feet and the rotor torque twisted me off almost 90 degrees toward the right side of the runway, and rolled me over almost 90 degrees at the same time. I was looking off my right shoulder, directly at the runway surface, where the ends of those expensive rotor blades were Whap, Whap, Whapping themselves against the pavement. A couple seconds later I was looking at dirt and brush and waiting for the inevitable: a complete rollover and crash, upside down onto the desert floor. From that point on things became a blur and I have no real memory of them. Next thing I do remember is that I was plunking onto the runway and was watching the rotor blades spinning above me, with the first 8 or 10 inches of their ends now pointing straight up into the air like little winglets. Somehow, I had wrestled the machine upright and back over the runway, and had landed it. My whole body was trembling. I taxied back to the ramp. dismounted the now-destroyed rotor blade, and never flew it again. Amazingly, their was no indication that the tower had any awareness that any of this had even happened. The whole event was probably so brief (seemed like a lifetime to me) and I was so small and far away from the tower, that they never really saw what was going on. Besides the unbelievable fortune of still being alive and uninjured, I had also re-confirmed what I already knew from other close calls - when the going gets tough, I am the type who keeps fighting until a point of resolution is reached. All the procedural training in the world won't tell you what kind of pilot you are. You must be in a crisis to find out how you will actually react. I attribute my poor decision to fly in high density altitude to be the cause. Dave Metheny's recent EAA article points out another issue that I am very wary of in this lightweight airplane - wind gradient. Another entity waiting to bite the unwary.

Hey guys,  Sorry to hear about the Sonex.  I actually happen to live on the south side of the Gardner airport property.  Paul, If I had known you were there, I would have bailed on the family and stopped by to see you.  I actually drove past the airport on monday and saw the sonex sitting there.  If it hasn't been picked up yet, I could help someone disassemble.  I have tools that could be of use as well.  My email address is leviself@gmail.com, feel free to email me if they need any help.  I don't get on here too often since I don't have my minimax anymore.  Best of luck to you guys!
Levi

Hi Levi, I did strafe the train that runs just south of the Gardner's Municipal Airport (K34) and dropped a few bombs in the general area just to keep any Huns that might be hiding there at bay.  We didn't want anyone spoiling our day. Given your location, are you part of the French Underground now?

Glad that you have revisited  the Board and that you live in  the general Kansas area.  Some  updates on your current status would be interesting.  Speaking of interesting, I will always remember visiting you and your family during the Fort Scott fly-in several years ago.  Also, you provided a tailwheel from an Aeronca (?) to replace mine that broke  in half during departure. I am still using that wheel, albeit a bit worn down now!

AirBike Ace

Someone captured a picture of the "moment of impact".  You can see water splashing and pieces of the prop flying away.

That picture makes me wonder by how much he missed the wires.  'Always expect engine failure in the airport environment' is what I was taught.  Or, make sure you have enough to glide to the runway, always.  bummer.