Joe,
So sorry to hear about your bad morning. At least you were not airborne - I
once found my canopy
(in a previous Dragonfly) undone on downwind during a test flight after
getting a "little bit of air" too.
Fortunately, it had a safety catch; however, I had to hold it secure with
one hand while landing
with the other, juggling throttle and stick. It was a side opening canopy.
Scared the bee-gibes
out of me!
Of course, while the budget (and mental) impact is definitely a drag, it is
SO GOOD that you
didn't flip and get hurt! I'll light a candle for you.
Ben
Benjamin F. Copeland IV
just2...@together.net
- Original Message -
From: "Joseph H Horton" <joe.kr2s.buil...@juno.com>
To: <corvaircr...@mylist.net>; <kr...@mylist.net>
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2007 9:14 AM
Subject: KR> really bad morning
>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
>
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