Larry said, "I've often wondered what happened to several KRs I've seen in the past like Robert Muse's KR , the turbine KR seen at the Perry, Oklahoma KR Gathering in the late 90's, and the retractable gear KR owned by the Gathering host at Perry."
Bobby Muse's really nice KR met it's end over the Mojave Desert, two winters ago. Steve Glover was called by FAA or NTSB to advise on that accident. I happened to be driving from Vegas to San Diego the day that happened. It was a really violent winter day up in the desert, very ugly and cold sky. The pilot (if memory serves) was clearly confident in his skills and the plane too. Certainly weather had something to do with what happened. Hopefully Steve G. will chime in with just what happened. The piloyt had taken off from Porterville on the western slopes of the Sierra range and crossed those high mountains, probably going like a bat out of hell with a very strong tailwind. I imagine he was hoping to be home that night sometime and with the winds howling like that he probably would have gotten home early. He was heading back to one of the Southern states. So, the chronology on that plane is Bobby Muse and whoever bought it and lives in Porterville. Unknown person. The third owner didn't make it home. I think on that retractable that was at Perry, a really clever bit of engineering from the pictures I've seen, I tried to follow it a long time ago and found out only that the owner was managing an airport, I think there in Oklahoma. I read on this forum something about the turbine that showed up so somebody knows the story on that. There were two nicely done retractable designs back then. One was crashed in . . . I want to say Nebraska . . . or one of the Dakotas with a new owner ferrying the plane home. Those first flights often have problems don't they. Unfamiliar plane and some little nitpicky thing, a fuel selector (John Denver) or something else just as simple and just as critical, often interferes with the trip. I know my first trip in the KR I have now could very easily have ended with me disappearing in some Wyoming or Utah canyon. I would have just disappeared like they did all the time back in the 20's and 30's. Once I got the plane home and started taking things apart I saw just how lucky a pilot I am. ____________________________________________________________ KooBuzz Meet 10 Celebrity Little People Impersonators http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/573639ab737c839ab2ff0st02vuc
