Wow, Glad to hear you are not more seriously injured. Hopefully like my
friend who had similar fracture after writing his plane off with a
forced landing cross grain into a medieval ridge & furrow field, you
will be good as new in a couple of months. & good choice - trees beat
buildings any time. All best, David Joyce, GXSDJ
On 2022-05-16 21:56, Fred Klein wrote:
> Gents...Back on April 13th I had some unanticipated excitement.
>
> In the spirit of sharing experiences so others may benefit, here is the
> narrative description of this event which I've provided to the NTSB:
>
> This Experimental, Amateur-built Aircraft was being flown within the
> Phase 1 Limitations listed under its Special Airworthiness Certificate
> dated September 10, 2019. !
>
> After take off with full fuel at approximently 10:30 am with the
> intention of remaining in the pattern and flight testing some
> modifications to the engine cooling system, I'd been doing circuits
> around KORS at 2500 ft...all was well, engine humming along, temps were
> nominal... cruising along at 130-140 kts...decided to land...descended
> to pattern altitude...entered downwind at 85-90 kts stabilized at 1000
> ft...80 kts abeam the numbers...lowered flaps & LG...(LG & flaps are
> interconnected w/ single flap setting of 20 deg.)...engine
> stopped...slowed to 75 kts, switched fuel pumps, attempted restart,
> engine cranked fine but did not fire up...turned base, attempted
> restart again, engine cranks fine but no start...at that point I was in
> a state of disbelief that my engine would not restart, although I
> realized that I may not reach the runway... turned 45 deg towards
> runway threshold...terrain is flat with a wooded strip approximately
> 100 feet wide separating rows of one and two story residential
> structures...another restart attempt, nada...way below the proper glide
> path and I became quite aware that I was heading for some trees...was
> feeling surreal, calm...no images of my life passing thru my
> brain...definitely flew the plane, stall warner did not go off...the
> engine was not windmilling prior to impact, and upon impact my shoulder
> strap risers performed well...no injuries...no smell of fuel...First
> thing I did was turn off Master Switch, and out of habit, turn off all
> other rocker switches; when doing so, I did not notice if any of the
> rockers, normally "on" in flight or whenever the engine is running, had
> been in the "off" position...If I'd had any available bandwidth in my
> brain, I would have sat tight and dialed 911 on my cell phone, but my
> instincts had me opening the door to exit the aircraft had a sense of
> being within a bunch of tree branches...I now think I was experiencing
> some tunnel vision...in any case, I didn't realize I was up so high...I
> recall having no trouble getting my butt up on the headrest and
> swinging my legs over the gullwing door sill and onto the wing...then
> all of a sudden I was on my back on the ground in considerable pain
> after having fallen 12 to 15 feet onto soft, soggy soil, flat terrain.
> The property owner witnessed the low flying airplane and heard the
> impact into the trees; he called 911 at 11:36 am. Aircraft remained
> intact, stuck and supported between trees in a nose-high attitude.
> Estimated airspeed at impact between 50 and 60 kts. Post-crash, falling
> to the ground resulted in compression fracture of lower spine; no
> complications; need to take it easy, need for patience to let body heal
>
> Probable cause of engine stoppage: The engine stoppage occurred as I
> was lowering the Landing Gear and Flaps. In the process of lowering the
> LG, I experienced some difficulty getting the lever control into the
> down and locked position. Normally lowering the gear is done with the
> right hand. I used my left hand to assist getting the lever in the
> locked position...One possibility is my left hand may have brushed one,
> two, or three of the rocker switches which control the ignition coils,
> fuel injectors, and ECU of the MPEFIed, 140 hp engine derived from a
> Subaru EA81. A second possibility is that when I returned my left hand
> to the control stick,, I abruptly shoved the stick forward to correct
> for the nose-high attitude caused by the deployment of full flaps and
> my left hand brushed up against them. If either of these events
> occurred, I was completely unaware. This is speculation on my part and
> may be confirmed (or not) once the aircraft has a new propeller
> installed and the engine is run up. My hunch is it will fire right up,
> smoothe as silk, and stop when the rocker switch energizing the
> ignition coils or fuel injectors is turned off.
>
> We'll see. Description of Damage to Aircraft and Other Property
>
> Airframe is of premolded fiberglass / composite construction; control
> surfaces are fiberglass over foam cores.
>
> Forward portion of starboard wing tip and nav/strobe/landing light
> broken, 2" dia. puncture starboard wing leading edge, 12" long crease
> in port wing leading edge, port wing AOA pin dislodged, propeller
> blades broken (engine not running on impact), spinner dented, lower
> cowling ruptured, main LG fairing ruptured, 2" puncture in rudder, 20"
> gash in underside of fuselage, tail wheel swivel-stop bent, 2 fuselage
> punctures, appproximately 4" x 4" forward of port wing root; aircraft
> came to rest within trees about 10 feet above the ground, in the
> process of lowering the aircraft to the ground the starboard gull-wing
> door/window was broken; no indication of major structural damage but
> unable to confirm until aircraft is back in the hangar and thoroughly
> inspected.
>
> At present, N195XS rests in her trailer in my yard while I rest on my
> back.
>
> Fred
> A-194
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