There are still too many unknowns for us to fully understand what
happened in Shannon's tragic situation.  But there are, in my mind,
several very clear lessons.  You MUST know the engine-out performance
parameters of your airplane.  You MUST, on a REGULAR BASIS, practice for
enroute and traffic pattern engine failures (especially if you have
hot-rodded your engine, as many of us have).  You MUST be aware of
nearby airports at all times (there was an airport within a couple of
miles of where Shannon reportedly was when he advised ATC of his engine
problems... Blackhawk, WI (87Y), 7.2 miles east southeast of Dane Co.).
You MUST be mentally prepared to accept damage to your precious creation
from an off-airport landing so that your flight safety decisions put the
emphasis on your butt and not the airplane's belly.

I feel really, really bad about Shannon, both because I had met and
spent some time with him at OSH last year, and because I feel like,
based on what we know so far, he should have been able to get his plane
down with minimal damage and walk away.  I'm almost hoping that Brent
finds some really surprising non-pilot issues with the airplane, because
it saddens me terribly to think that Shannon died trying to save his
precious, but expendable airplane.

Lee Metcalfe
N320WH - Kansas City