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Message
Greetings,
Below is a message I got from a friend who has an RV-7,
and is currently a Navy flight instructor. You should of course take
the second hand account of the accident as such.
Rusty
Rusty,
May be telling you something you already know, but
I went to St Elmo today for gas. I saw all of your friend's plane.
The aft body with the engine and mains as well as the instrument panel were in
the hangar by the fuel pump. The rest of the wreckage was about a 100yds
to the east in a big junk pile. I walked out there and saw both wings
(mostly undamaged), the entire cockpit area including the seats, all three
tires, doors, etc. I then walked over to the ultralight hangar
and talked to some guys in there. One of them said he witnessed the whole
thing. He said the airplane took off from runway 24 and some ways down the
runway the engine quit. He said the guy then wrapped it up into a tight
left hand turn to try to get back to the runway, but half way through the turn
he started coming almost straight down, but in a level attitude and pancaked
into the trees. It crashed into the group of small trees just off the left
side of the departure end of 24. I've been wondering why he wasn't able to
glide to a farmer's field because I know there are a lot of them around St
Elmo. Now I know why. I feel terrible, seems so senseless, but
I guess the urge to turn back and save the plane can be a powerful one.
This should have ended in an off-field landing with only bruised
egos.
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