Sparky has told me over the years about an incident at a KR Fly-In or Gathering (I think KR people just called them FLy-ins in the earliest get-togethers.) up in the Bay Area. In the late 70's I think . . . one of the first fly-ins. It wasn't Chino but someplace I can never remember the name of up in Northern Californa.
Someone was giving demo rides and on one of his low passes he pulled enough G's on the pull-up that the seat structure gave way, came down on the cables and one can imagine (with a lot of imagination) how one might survive something like this but, in this case, they didn't. The original KR seats were strips of strong canvas anchored to the forward spar. In my plane the canvas material was built of aluminum and tailored with cushions. Steve with his lanky frame had made a mess of this seat during his years of ownership. One of his legs was almost unbendable and got worse over the years. It, and eventually the possibly-related issue of cancer, made it such a chore that he finally gave up trying . . . which is when I found the plane on Barnstormers. The aluminum seat bottoms had originally been anchored with four or five well-set screws, guessing they are ½" stainless, each side. It was slotted in the center to make room for the tiny stick. (Aside . . . which has been a source of entertainment for me over the years. When showing non-flyers my plane I invariably get asked "How to you steer it?" There's no visible way to control the plane. The stick is so short and unobtrusive that even pilots sometimes have to go looking.) There's a story to tell about just how I figured the seats were anchored the way they are. If one doesn't build the plane, even though I've had two of them, there are construction details that many owners are just not going to know about. This is such a basic (and critical) construction feature I should have understood but somebody protects fools sometimes. I've told the story but don't feel like going over it just now. It's in the archives, many years back. My point is these low passes with high-G pullouts seem to be the occasion for some sad stories. Anytime a plane is under a strong stress it's time to be especially aware and more careful but in giving someone a ride it's the feeling of pulling "G"'s that pilots assume will thrill the passenger so I guess most everyone gets the "G pull". It sounds like Marty knew what he was doing and maybe even was perhaps a little lucky. I'm grateful for his test-flying. With two up he had to be near or beyond gross for his famous rides so thanks to his tugging at the boundaries like that I'm left with the idea I've got, aside from a beautifully constructed airplane, a very strong structure . . . though something simple like seat screw attachments coming out/breaking/whatever . . . or the material itself tearing, cracking, can turn something that was great fun into a tragedy in a split second. Come to think of it, many of our most spectacular crashes have occured at airshows whether Oshkosh style or at a KR get-togethers in Northern California. I think I got my passion for low, fast passes out of my system when I was about eighteen on a Student Certificate. I used to buzz my girlfriends house (and other friends, etc.) repeatedly until the Anchorage FSDO guys eventually had a talk with me. But even without that, high-speed low passes just became boring at some point. I'm just not the daredevil type anymore. Mike KSEE _______________________________________________ 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
