"NTSB Identification: CHI08LA274
   14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
   Accident occurred Wednesday, September 03, 2008 in Findlay, OH
   Aircraft: Sadler Vampire, registration: N333SV
   Injuries: 1 Minor.

   This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain
   errors. Any
   errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has
   been completed.

   On September 3, 2008, at 1257 eastern daylight time, a Sadler
   Vampire, N333SV,
   received substantial damage on impact with terrain during a forced
   landing. The
   airplane experienced a total loss of engine power after takeoff from
   Findlay
   Airport, Findlay, Ohio. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed
   at the time
   of the accident. The 14 CFR Part 91 test flight was not operating on
   a flight
   plan. The pilot sustained minor injuries. The local flight was
   originating at
   the time of the accident."

   Paul Lamar


   A picture from Lakeland [Sun n Fun 2008] is available at:
   http://futurshox.net/aeroview.php?level=image&id=6602


   Lynn E. Hanover

   I took some too. Here they are. Ostensible Bill Sadler flew it at
   Sun n Fun
   with no problems. I don't think Bill Sadler would have told me
   if there were problems :)

   Also this report:

https://www.aero-news.net/EmailArticle.cfm?ContentBlockID=2c83f283-80f8-40e4-9cc4-54c13af7eaaa


   They mentioned a cooling problem. I had a long discussion with Eric
   just before
   OSH at his place in Ohio about the cooling. They were attempting to
   pressurize
   the cowling to force the air through the rad but that never works.
   Too many
   leaks. I suggested dedicated ducts and scoops. I don't know if he
   implemented
   my suggestions and if so how well they were constructed.

   Too bad it burned. We will probably never know what happened.

   Paul Lamar

   Here are some pictures I took in Ohio before OSH.
   The rad looks plenty big enough to do the job but the arm pit scoops
   merely pressurize the cowl. When you have a cowl that large
   the forces on the large panels add up to a lot of force
   that tends to separate the seams causing massive air leaks
   reducing the flow through the rad. In fact you can see holes in
   the cowl where the muffler went through by looking in the arm
   pit scoop. It was nearly impossible to directly connect the arm
   pit scoops with the rad with out cutting through the main spar.

   I suggested dedicated boundary layer bleed RAM air scoops like
   the ones on the Adam A500 huff and puff with ducts directly to the
   rad. I don't think Eric implemented this before the ill fated flight.


   Paul Lamar

Is this the same aircraft?  Or were they just repainting the prototype
frequently?  Presumably they are in the process of building a second
airframe up to production specs.  Did anyone notice whether the muffler
has a heat shield between the muffler and the engine?  And is it
separately ventilated?  I presume that they were trying to pump the
radiator with the pusher prop.  They need to talk to Marc Piolenc about
ejector flows and associated issues.  I agree with Paul about the need
for dedicated intakes.  I don't see enough detail to determine whether
they are trying to use the aft end of fuselage as a plenum.

Slowing the
flow is a good way to increase heat transfer through the rad while
keeping intakes reasonably  sized.

I think that the loss  of the
aircraft falls into two categories:  1)  what caused the sudden loss of
power on take-off?  This is a twin carb engine.  I don't see an
alternate air source.  Icing?  Whatever happened apparently  affected
both rotors simultaneously.  Bad fuel?  They use a wing tank in the
armpit of the wing.  This is a mid-wing aircraft.  I presume they need a
fuel pump(s)  to maintain sufficient fuel flow.  How is the pump
driven?  what is its failure mode.  There is no indication from existing
reports that the fire that eventually consumed the aircraft occured
before the forced landing.


Now we get to category  2)  what started the
fire?  If I read the news reports correctly, the pilot suceeded in
putting the bird down, but did not have sufficient room to stop and went
over the side of and into an old quarry.  One report gave the height  of
the walls as 50 feet.  If this is correct, we have an aircraft moving
laterally  over the edge at less than the stall speed of the aircraft
(40 knots?), with a large vertical drop.  The forces in the second drop
which should have been reasonably  vertical may have been enough to
rupture the fuel cell.

Does anyone know whether they were using some
kind of racing anti-slosh foam in the tank?  A ruptured tank with a very
hot exhaust could very easily have caused ignition. It didn't explode
because the pilot had time to exit the aircraft with minor injuries.  It
sounds to me like a pretty strong bird structurally that ended up in a
loading condition it wasn't designed to survive.  The kevlar pod seems
to have protected the pilot.

george w

Nothing is known George. Everything is speculation.
I don't think it was a fuel feed problems as it flew in April.
No reason to change it. Yes the aft end was used as a plenum.
And yes it was repainted.

Paul Lamar