I mentioned my friend in his RV10 making an emergency landing on a road. I thought I'd fill you in on the rest of the story and let you see why he used a lifetime of luck in one flight.
When the engine slowed and lost total power he was over a heavily wooded area with the only the road as a viable option. He glided over or under several power lines that he never saw, no oncoming traffic, and he passed several cars while still in the air. He was catching up to a pickup truck who's driver saw him coming in his rear view mirror and speed up to avoid a collision. Coming to a stop he turned in to a driveway and the wing tip clipped a mailbox. His luck held as the mailbox post was so rotted that it broke and didn't even leave a mark in the wingtip paint.
I was still in the air during the race when I heard his calls on the radio. After landing I jumped in my pickup truck with all my tools and headed to his landing site. When I arrived we pulled the cowl and spotted the problem. The fix was a sharp knife that I used to removed the collapsed intake tube which was not necessary for flight. We were convinced that was the problem but I wanted to confirm with a fuel flow test. I had a calibrated fuel can in the truck and fuel flow was normal. Our main concern at that point in the 95 degree heat was that local authorities would make us dis-mantel the airplane and haul it home. He used up his last bit of luck when the local police agreed to block off the highway and allowed Pete and I to fly the aircraft back to the airport. The local resident got a new mailbox the next day and was totally pleased.
I told Pete that for me it was a dream come true as I had on more than one occasion had dreams of flying an airplane off of a road and that day I had the chance to do it for real.
I later wrote a poem to mark the occasion and then added a chorus and made it a song. Pete has yet to live down his fortunate misfortune.
Poem below. His engine was a 540 continental and number 8 was the finish line
Larry Flesner *The tale of race #6* Was a hot day in June, ‘bout an hour till noon When race #6 took to wing With a clearance to go it was look out below And that 540 started to sing With his back to the sun he cleared turn #1 And headed for turn #2 It was bumpy as hell but he handled it well And the engine was purring like new With racers ahead it was onward he sped He would not catch the fast ones he knew As the miles flew by he was racing through sky And on down the race course he flew With a GPS fix he cleared turn #6 And he pointed the spinner to 7 With just one more turn and a trophy to earn How can you says flying‘s not heaven But heaven must wait; there’ll be no number 8 As the engine went suddenly dead With no place to go there’s a road down below And a road makes a runway it’s said So with hand on the stick and a piloting trick He brings closure to this harrowing fix His race was complete and he claims no repeat With his landing on 146 Chorus for song (God gave us wings with motors and things So we could go fly like a bird It may sound bizarre but it’s safer than cars In spite of the rumors you’ve heard) © Larry Flesner, Carterville, Illinois 6/12/2016 _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
