|
|
Bob,
Thank you for your candidness. I believe it takes a BIG MAN to admit his errors and take responsibility. That quality is in short supply in America. All of us make mistakes -- it is the person with unflinching integrity who admits them. As a group of Lancair pilots we are constantly learning from others misfortunes. I am sorry this happened to you but it should be a wakeup call to all of us to be on guard when distractions mount up in the cockpit.
Fortunately, there were no injuries. Airplanes can be repaired but people cannot be put back together as quickly as this Evolution. Last year's two fatal Legacy accidents (one at Sun N Fun and one at Oshkosh) likely involved distractions.
When my next kit is finished-- you will be checking me out in it!
Best Regards,
Jeff Edwards
President, Lancair Owners & Builders Organization
-----Original Message-----
From: BJeff10338@aol.com
To: lml@lancaironline.net
Sent: Sat, Jul 4, 2009 7:36 am
Subject: [LML] Evolution incident
OK, it’s time to dispel all the rumors and conjecture. I returned this morning from the Evolution demo tour and now have time to sit down and shed some light on what happened. I told myself that there were two things I would never do in my aviation career; run out of gas and land gear up. I’ve flown for 52 years, ha
ve over 26,000 hours, flew fighters in the Air Force until I retired, part 135 in the Hawaiian Islands, deep desert operations in Saudi Arabia for ARAMCO, part 121 with American Airlines (serving as check airman on the B-757/767), fractional ownership in the Lear 60 for Bombardier, taught in war bird jets and Lancair aircraft, raced at the National Championship Air Races and yes , spent over 7 years as a guest of Uncle HO. I say this not to impress you but to make the point that this can happen to the most experienced pilot. The incident took place at Winder, GA (KWDR). I was doing a demo in the Evolution with a client flying the aircraft from the left seat. We had done the airwork demonstration and after demonstrating a pattern I gave the Evolution to the customer. On downwind, an aircraft reported a three mile straight-in. In fact, he was around five miles out. I told the customer to hold the flaps and gear until we had a visual on the straight-in. At around three miles we had the traffic and turned base, putting some flaps down. On final, my attention was on the traffic and the customers airspeed and glide path control. As we flared for the landing, the prop began to strike the runway. I looked up and saw that the gear switch was still in the UP position. I immediately put the gear switch down. The aircraft slid to a stop on the runway. When I got out, I saw that the main gear had partially extended, holding
the fuselage off the runway. The nose gear had partially extended and the tire rotated 90 degrees resting below the nose gear doors protecting the nose cowl. The step on the left side was ground down and the flap hinges on the right side were ground a little. The bottom of the rudder was slightly scraped. The prop, of course, was trashed. I cannot put to words the terrible thoughts and feelings that I experienced with the realization of what had just happened. I hope none of you have to experience this. The Garmin 900X has no gear warning system (Lancair is installing an independent system). There were three certified pilots on board at the time. One was a corporate pilot in the rear seat observing the demonstration flight. It still comes down to the fact that I was PIC and was responsible. We lifted the Evolution with bridles, put the gear down and towed it to Roman Air on the field. This happened on Monday. By Saturday, I test flew the aircraft and we continued on with the tour. The nose gear and airframe parts were replaced and our on-board mechanic performed a composite repair on the rudder. Lancair responded immediately with parts support and the gear case and hot section were sent to a repair facility for teardown and inspection. There was no damage to it but the bearing and prop governor were mandatory replacements. Our mechanic and demonstration team worked their butts off and the Evolution was airwort
hy in five days. It’s a great aircraft and this was a testimony to it’s robustness. We continued the tour to Austin, Atlanta, Spruce Creek, Raleigh-Durham, Norfolk and then home. We completed 15 demonstration rides during the tour and covered over 6000 miles flying at altitudes up to FL 270 and True airspeeds over 300. Most of our takeoffs were at or near max gross take-off weight (4300 lbs) with density altitudes up to 7000’. Every customer was impressed with the aircraft and the most common response was “WOW”. The incident (FAA classified it as an incident after inspecting the aircraft), as most are, was due to a series of events. I broke my normal configuration routine, was distracted by other factors and did not complete the checklist. The Evolution is a thorobred and should receive the response from the customers that it deserves. So, keep your heads out, be aware when routines are broken and use that checklist. Respectfully, Bob Jeffrey
|
|