"Corrie" wrote in message
om...
damn.

http://www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=113724

"James Wright, 53, of Cottage Grove, Ore., died when the plane, a
replica of the Hughes H-1, crashed about 6:30 p.m. Monday in Midway
Geyser Basin about five miles north of Old Faithful, park officials
said.
...
The plane approached from the west about treetop level just south of
the basin parking area, officials said. It apparently struck on the
west side of the Firehole River and came to rest on the east near the
main park road, which was closed for about five hours after the crash.

The airplane burst into flame upon impact, but the fire was quickly
extinguished by park staff."


Sounds like an attemped forced landing on the riverbank? Anyone
familiar with the area? The reporter clearly has no clue about
controllable-pitch props:


Per the article in Air & Space, that airplane had a counterweighted prop
that cycled automatically between high and low pitch. They had trouble with
the pitch change mechanism during early flights, but made modifications that
supposedly corrected the problem. The first gear/second gear analogy
isn't exactly right, but isn't that far off the mark...

KB