Wow.... my empathy to you and Kim.... congrats are in order not just to the
designer but to the pilot for cool thinking in a crisis situation. Thank
you for your candid report of this terrible situation. May you quickly get
your bird repaired and into the air soon!=0A=0APaul Boulet, N914PB, Malibu
, California=0A=0A----- Original Message ----=0AFrom: Thomas Scherer <thoma
s@scherer.com>=0ATo: europa-list@matronics.com=0ASent: Sunday, February 25,
2007 8:57:05 PM=0ASubject: Europa-List: she did what she was supposed to d
com>=0A=0Ait is my sad duty (well, glad - I am reporting it myself) that N8
1EU was =0Alost tonight on a take-off failure with me and Kim Prout aboard.
,=0A=0AThe Rotax 912 failed on take-off and running out of options I had to
put her =0Adown at the end of the runway with a droop and fence ahead.=0A
=0APlane came to a rest in a quarry after shearing off the landing gear =0A
(trigear) and tearing off the firewall foward.=0A=0AIt is a miracle that Ki
m and me walked away and I fully attribute it to the =0Adesign of the centr
al tunnel and the wheel attachment that we're not only =0Aalive but walked
away unharmed from a complete crash,=0A=0AThe flying surfaces seem unhamarm
ed as well as the fuselelage except the =0Afirewall foward (which broke off
1oo %) and the gears which were lost about =0A2oo feet short off the cras
h site.=0A=0AIt is very early to say anything - the engine was fine - we wo
rked on it the =0Aentire afternoon and found it to be very smooth - I fear
I installed as new =0Afuel filter which should not have been there - more l
ater.=0A=0AAnyway - we're alive (and having our share of Whiskey) and I pro
mise you ... =0Ayou will hear again of N81EU.=0A=0AThanks to the designer w
ho made her this crashworthy - N18EU now has 890 hrs =0Aunder her belly and
never missed a beat (Rotax 912).=0A=0Amore later=0A=0A<Thomas N81EU>=0A=0A
PS: the only pain we can report of is on our feet - after the firewall =0As
heared off our feet were in the void and got hurt on the last impact. She
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