Old message.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Jim West fatal Coot crash.
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 07:04:01 -0700
From: ACRE NL <rotaryeng@earthlink.net>

> > > > > Ken Welter wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > >   Yes and as you remember I told you at Arlington last year that Jim
> > > > > > was a accident waiting for a place to happen as the engine
> > > > > > installation was a compleat abortion and in addition to that he had a
> > > > > > aft CG problem and he would not listen to me about it and I told him
> > > > > > that it would be prone to stalling and spinning in the event of a
> > > > > > engine failure, then a couple months ago on a taxi test when he
> > > > > > lifted the nose wheel off the ground the nose came up and with full
> > > > > > stick forward he could not get the nose down and it stalled at about
> > > > > > ten feet off the ground braking the nose gear and one main gear and
> > > > > > damaging the hull. He repaired the damage but I do not know if he did
> > > > > > anything about the weight and balance but you would think he would of
> > > > > > at that point.
> > > > > >   Ken Welter

> > > > Its always particularly sad to learn of an accident that likely could have
> > > > been prevented.  You can fool yourself and perhaps others, but you can not
> > > > fool the laws of physics and aerodynamics - at least, not for long. I did
> > > > not know Jim, but my condolences go out  to his family and those who did
> > > > know him.
> > > >
> > > > Ed Anderson

> > What doesn't make sense here is how he got an airworthiness cert if his W&B was
> > off. FAA (and presumably DARs) are pretty strict about W&B calcs; at least my
> > FAA inspector was.
> >
> > Finn

> Yes but do they actually check it or do they check just the paper work?
> There is a saying in the professional A&P world. "I pencil whipped it."
> Meaning I signed it off without actually doing the work. In my experience
> the FAA rarely checks anything other than the paper work.

 The coot and any pylon pusher plane has a very narrow CG range.
The wing has a wider margin that it can be operated in but with
this type of plane in the event of a engine failure the prop drag
will pull the nose up. With the engine mounted high it will shift
the weight aft when the nose comes up. For this reason you need to
operate on the forward edge of the CG window of the wings specs.
To complicate this the passenger weight is forward and changes the
CG drastically and for this I have a 2.5 gallon fuel tank in the
nose and a one gallon tank in the tail cone to shift the weight
and keep the CG dead on 25 percent of the cord. Jim did not build
his coot he just installed the rotary on a coot that he bought
and there was two seven gallon tanks in the forward floor boards
that I told him needed to be full to fly solo to keep it in CG
and he did not believe me but I don't know if they were full at
the time. The lake also has this problem and they have weights
that they slide in and out of compartments in the front and rear.
Ken Welter


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