tparkes:First tparkes:Last wrote:

Paul:

I talked to John Harlow about his LT-1 powered Lancair ES accident March 4th.  Other interesting details:

(1) Apparently, the lower front bearing of his Northwest Aero belt redrive failed (froze up), overheating the belt, which then failed.  John had logged some
400 plus hours on his ES, and had replaced this failed bearing once previously due to insufficient lubrication.  If anything, he feels the bearing was perhaps
over-lubricated this time.

(2) Unable to glide to Marana Airpark, he selected a field about one mile short of the runway, but on short final discovered a powerline in his path.  In the
process of easing the plane over the powerlines, he approached a stall (felt the controls becoming "mushy"), but dumped the nose in time to recover speed.
Despite the resulting high sink rate, he was able to flare and touch down on the main gear, which withstood the impact OK, but the nose gear subsequently
failed, causing the airplane to nose over.

(3) When the ES landed on the cabin roof, the overhead hatch-type door popped open (he hadn't thought to unlatch it prior to touchdown), enabling both
occupants to exit.

(4)  Somewhere in this process, both left and right wing spars failed, either at impact or when the plane flipped over.  One failed inboard, the other outboard
of the fuel tank.  Main landing gear was bent, but did not fail.  John is considering rebuilding.

(5)  John's passenger was Mick Myal, the editor of Contact! magazine.  Thankfully neither were seriously injured.

Tom Parkes
Turbo 20B Lancair ES
Prescott, AZ

Well well! How very interesting. Poetic justice? :-)
Mick, IMHO has been a little cavalier over the years about the problems of 
making auto engines work in airplanes. We shall watch Contact for any changes
in tone :-)

I am not so sure the bearing caused the belt to overheat. If he is
using 250 HP out of that Chev to fly, 7.5 HP or 5,600 watts is being 
dissipated by the belt and bearing. Most of it in the belt.
This is due to the 3% efficiency loss of the typical belt drive.

Now think of the heat put out by four 1500 watt room heaters.

Paul Lamar
 
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