Sam Hodges just called me to tell me about his forced
landing after take off at Paducha on 7 August. Ed K had notified me the
day before of the incident but I wanted to get more details from Sam before
reporting.
Engine sputtered and quit approx 200-300 ft after take off
- Sam stated he had time to switch from A to B controller - but it made no
difference. It was a hot 97F day. Sam had performed runup before
take off and all appeared OK.
Sam made it to a dirt road after the engine quit, but the
nose gear failed and the aircraft also incurred some damage to the wing
tips. He and his spouse Rose were shaken up a bit but bascially OK except
for sore muscles, etc.
Sam is meeting FAA guy to go over the aircraft - back at
the hangar- today.
As those of you who make it to the Paducha flyin last fall
know - Sam and Rose have a beautifuly Renesis installation in an RV-7A - a
really nice looking package.
Sam has been working out the bugs of his installation -
wrestling with temperatures primarily and this flight was to check out the
effectiveness of some of his recent changes.
I'm sure Sam will let us know whatever is uncovered
pertinent to the incident.
Just great that no one was seriously injured or
worst
Ed