First, I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and support and
thank you Paul for helping me find my propellers. :) I enjoyed your
visit and I'm sorry I couldn't do a demo flight.
I spent several hours talking to the nice man from the FAA Sunday, then
several hours trying to get an airplane with no mains on a flat bed
trailer. Didn't sleep much Saturday night either.
I have found that my perception of what I was doing didn't match the
reality. The primary problem was that I misjudged the flare on my
landing and bounced pretty hard 2 or 3 times. I then turned what was
going to be a really bad landing into something that the NTSB has
informed me is an accident. (It could have been an incident.) I did
this by deciding the landing was really coming out bad and I would be
better off going around. So, I applied full power. My perception was
that I was flying in ground effect just off the runway. In fact, I
think the wheels were on the ground most of the time. The plane left
the runway on the north side (RWY 26) and I steered back to the left.
The ground slopes off on the south side of the runway and I thought if
I had another couple of feet of air under me I had a better chance of
getting back to flying speed.
Sunday, I was looking over the path I had taken to where the plane came
to a stop. There were tire tracks in the weeds and I followed them
back all the way to the runway. So the reality was that for that whole
time the wheels were on the ground. I could have pulled power and done
a lot less damage.
I will wait a few days before making any firm decision about rebuilding
the plane. If I do, I think I will make it a tricycle gear again.
That will give me one less problem while I rebuild my piloting skills.
Attached is a photo of my wheels up landing.
Bob W.
N93BD - Rotary Powered BD-4 -
http://www.bob-white.com
First Flight: 11/23/2006 7:50AM - 3.8 Hours Total Time
Cables for your rotary installation -
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