So the owner made a change, didn’t test it and then had someone else fly the plane?  Interesting…the more facts that come to light, the worse it gets.

 

I wouldn’t be so hard on the guy, except it is stuff like this that either increases my costs, makes it hard or it may one day make it impossible for me to fly my plane or worse it actually kills people.  So (with all due respect) you’re dang right I’m going to look at something dumb and say something about it.

 

Kevin

 

 

Kevin,

 

I gave this information to share experience, to impove safety and to avoid (wrong) speculation concerning this accident!

One more fact: the test pilot is NOT the owner - that´s why I think HE did a perfect job!

And: I will not claim to judge this mishappening!

 

Johannes

 

 

Von: Kevin Stallard [mailto:Kevin@arilabs.net]
Gesendet: Sonntag, 12. Juli 2009 01:46
An: lml@lancaironline.net
Betreff: RE: Belly Landing L-360 Video

Wow! 

 

All this congratulations for something that could have been completely avoided.

 

No wonder we’re having a hard time getting insurance.  I can’t believe you guys are patting this guy on the back.  A good reprimand is in order. 

 

He should have never been in this position in the first place.  All it took was jacking up the airplane and doing a gear check.

 

The mentality has got to change folks or we aren’t going to be able to afford our insurance.

 

I’m not impressed.  I hope he’s man enough to pay for his engine and prop repair with out insurance help. 

 

Kevin

 

 

 

Fellows,

 

I know the owner of the Lancair and spoke to him today:

- as already mentioned: he replaced the screws of the hinge of the nose gear door; the screws he used was too long (about 1/4" beyond ancour nut)

- hi did no gear check after replacing the srews :-((

- the hydraulic pressure was able to retract the gear (high power); there was scratches of the screws at the nose gear fork

- while lowering the gear, the nose gear was not able to "overcome" the screw jam; the low pressure switch shut off hydraulic

- any manouver like pulling high g etc. were not successful and the test pilot decided to land on grass with all gear in (the airfield EDML has a 3000ft concrete and parallel a 3000 ft grass strip) - watch the video to see the landing - in my opinion a perfect job!

- no injury to any person!!!

- damages:

   - two propeller blades (wood  MT prop) brake off

   - lower cowling serious damaged

   - XPDR antenna at belly broken off

   - scratches / damage to the rudder

   - nothing else!!! : no damage to the flaps, no damage to injector, nearly no damage to exhaust system, nearly no damage to the belly (only slight scratches)

-> my opinion: it was the right decision to use the grass strip with all gears up and flaps about +20°! This would be my favorite configuration in any case of an emergency landing (no engine, gear problems etc.) too! Any other configuration like "no gear on concrete"; "main gear only on concrete"; "main gear only on grass" would cause more risk and damage!

 

Johannes

D-ESWS LNC2

 

Von: John F. Herminghaus [mailto:catignano@tele2.it]
Gesendet: Freitag, 10. Juli 2009 13:50
An: lml@lancaironline.net
Betreff: Re: [LML] Belly Landing L-360 Video

The cause of the accident was that the owner, who I know, replaced the screws in the nose gear door with stainless screws which were longer than the ones they replaced.  As a result the nose gear retracted, but would not extend. 

Tom McNerney ha scritto:

Not to flood this place with youtube links, but this is something I think everyone should see.  Check out the related videos of the plane on the ground before/after the nose gear failure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEWWQsWThxs

Tom

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