Steve and Paul,

       I have been on this list for a few years now and still have not
       ever heard
       what the cause of Everett' s crash was.
       I've been reluctant to ask due to the sensitive nature, but was it a
       machanical failure of some kind in one of the prototypes?

       Ron Freier



   Ron: the crash happened in October of 1997, down by the river, about
   a mile
   south of our shop and hangar.  Investigation, witness reports and other
   indicate it resulted from aerobatics close to the ground with
   possible pilot
   incapacitation and the engine was not a factor.

   The following was relayed to me by multiple sources.  Witnesses in the
   another aircraft were orbiting a riverboat stuck on a gravel bar when
   Everett went by at high speed at approx 500 agl; pulled up slightly
   in his
   normal manner for entering an aileron roll and when transitioning
   through
   the inverted position, dished out in an inadvertent split-s, going
   straight
   into the ground in a split second.  This is consistent with back
   pressure
   being maintained as the aircraft transitions the inverted position.
    This is
   consistent with a classic dish out of a roll into a split-s...failure to
   provide forward stick to unload the aircraft when transitioning the
   inverted
   pulls the nose down. Based on witness reports, if Everett had his head
   turned to the side to maintain visual contact with the other
   aircraft during
   the fly-by and roll, it could have been a contributing factor.

   According to witnesses, it happened in a blink.  The trees, then the
   soft
   ground, pulled the wings back against the sides of the fuselage and
   and the
   velocity drove it all into the ground as if it were a spear.  There
   was a
   large instantaneous vapor cloud from the rupture pressure of the
   wing tanks
   but no explosion or fire because anything hot was already deep in the
   ground.  The propeller made spiral marks on the tree adjacent to the
   hole.
   The engine appeared not to be a factor in the crash, other than the high
   speeds involved.

   A few days following the crash, Dick VanGrunsven came down and we
   examined
   the wreckage.  A few days following that, we disassembled every nut
   and bolt
   and carefully examined every part including those not retrieved by
   inspectors deep from the hole.  All impact damage.

   Everett would occasionally remind me to keep high when doing
   maneuvers. His
   instructor and a good friend were aerobatic pilots killed in
   separate Pitts
   airshow crashes years before and we had the tail section from one in the
   storage shed.  Everett's frequent admonition to me was that doing
   aerobatics
   close to the ground would get you killed.   I keep key parts from
   the crash
   for reference...and also as a reminder before aerobatics practice.

   Steve Beckham


Thanks for the write-up Steve.  Being someone who occasionally
participates in the ill-advised activity of low level aileron rolls, it
sure has caused me to take some pause.  Of course, as a doctor I am not
fully subject to the same laws of physics as the rest of you...  but
still.  :-)