On Thu, 03 Jun 2004 01:26:46 GMT, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 18:46:16 GMT, "Thomas J. Paladino Jr."
wrote:

Fuel exhaustion? Seems plausible.

Nah, there would have been a mayday call or something if they had just ran
out of gas.

Not necessarily... the pilot may not have known the actual fuel state,
depending on how accurate the gauges were or how well they were working at
the time of the accident. If the engine quit suddenly, things might have
happened too fast for a mayday.

The apparent lack of post-impact fire really argues for no fuel onboard.

True, but one witness said he heard the what sounded like high RPM, or
something to that effect. That and they were only about 15 minutes
out from the start of a very long cross country. (The first 50 miles
of a 1000 mile trip)


The one article has a witness statement that I think could be telling:
"The plane appeared to be flying normally, flat, and then went up like it
was trying to go higher, went into a spiral and crashed into the ground."

Sounds to me like the pilot or passenger could have accidentally hit the
control stick, pitched the plane up suddenly and set her into a spin.
(assuming the witness is reliable).

Lots of things could have happened and at this point it is all
speculation. Control failure, Pilot problem, They had apparently
gone through some heavier weather at the start of the flight, but
again that is at least second or third hand. If they got that plastic
airplane in hail, or a thunderstorm, again lots of things can happen.
Even a piece of heavy baggage coming loose


Certainly a possibility, though it's not a common accident mode. It's
tough to accidentally pull a stick back hard, but it could have been
knocked forward and the pitch-up was from over-reaction. Seems a bit of a
reach, though.

Side stick in the IV-P. I don't remember if it's a joy stick, or true
side stick. I flew a Cozy that had a joystick just like a video game
and it was a joy to fly. I found I don't like the side sticks like
the Cirrus uses.


You're certainly right about witness reliability. Back when the second
Wheeler Express prototype crashed on its way to Oshkosh, they had an
eyewitness on the local news. The guy said that the plane "fluttered down,
definitely NOT in a spin." And, of course, the plane WAS in a spin...it's
just that the non-pilot observer didn't recognize it.

Let's see what the NTSB preliminary has to say...

From the photos the parts are all pretty much in the same spot, just
not attached and in pretty poor shape.

And as you say... Let's see what the NTSB has to say.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com



Ron Wanttaja