Here's a picture of an AeroComp that I helped haul out of Clear Lake just
outside of downtown Orlando a few years back.  On landing one of the rear
struts that attached the floats to the fuselage failed, the float assembly
buckled, the prop hit the water and the airplane immediately flipped over on
its back.  We were at the scene within 3 minutes and both occupants had
already been rescued by someone on a party barge.  Both the pilot and
passenger were pretty shaken up but not much worse for the wear.  I figure
they nosed over somewhere around 60-70 knots, so the impact had to be brutal.

It took us 8 hours to haul the wreckage back to shore, get it disassembled,
and laid out in the yard in pieces.  It was quite the day.  The pilot did much
of the work, BTW, so his injuries didn't appear to be all that bad.  Neither
he nor his passenger required any medical attention.  Shared only as a data
point to this discussion.

   <Marv>


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