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