Well it was bound to happen I guess, We were suppose to have rain
all day and I woke up to clear blue and light north wind. So off to the
airport for a morning flight that I love so much. They have been working
on the site development for the past 2 months and in doing so had to put
4 storm lines across the runway which was done at night and patched with
blacktop. The patches had not been to bad but this past week I noticed
that they were getting a little rougher. I taxied to the departure end
and had to wait awhile for warm up when I was waiting I had opened the
canopy a little bit for some air to move through the cockpit. When then
engine hit temps I called departure and headed down the runway. Soon
after hitting full throttle I remembered the canopy latches and reached
over the lock and quickly changed my mind and decided to abort take off.
I reduced throttle and started applying brakes ( probably@ about 50 mph).
All this at just about the same instance that I hit the first pipe
crossing. There was a loud bang and bounce up on the nose and then the
sudden nose drop to the pavement with the prop disintegrating instantly.
Throttle was already at idle and brakes already applied. There was the
loud grinding as the plane slid to a stop ( about 75 yards), I was
certain that it was the bottom of the new cowl sanding itself down. I
shut off fuel and master and then ignition switch al befor I had stopped.
I am not positive if the engine quit at prop struck or was still
running. I think running because I seem to remember some shaking.
There was not a soul around so I got out and pulled her off the
runway. I ended up only a few feet from the turn off. As it turned out
the nose wheel busted completely off shearing the pivot bolt off clean at
the weld. The nose strut failed and folded at the vertical bend directly
above the nose wheel but thankfully it kept the cowl, spinner and exhaust
pipes off the ground. The visible damage is limited to the strut and
hardware and the nose wheel fairings.
I don't know how long I will be out of commission. This just was
not in the budget for the summer.
Have to go back to the airport now , I just got a call from the site
contractor, actually a good friend so i guess someone saw what happened.
This probably means a report to write to the authorities.
Joe Horton
Coopersburg, Pa.
joe.kr2s.buil...@juno.com
