wow indeed. What a story. So happy to hear that you are recovering
successfully, and a total bonus that your beautifully finished and
creatively modded bird is rebuildable.
May both of you return to the air soon!
best wishes,
PeteZ
On Mon, May 16, 2022 at 6:55 PM <davidjoyce@doctors.org.uk> wrote:
> 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.
> [image: page9image92354240]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
>
>
> [image: page9image92343680] [image: page9image92350016] [image:
> page9image92345024] [image: page9image92351936]
>
>
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