Those of you....

[Brett_Henderson]

... who've been here long, may have heard me mention my mentor, now and then, when an aviation question or debate comes up.


Well.. after probaly 25,000 hours, he's had his first accident.  Nobody hurt, in no small way due his uncanny piloting skill.

Hard to imagine that I could respect him more than I did.. but I do..

http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/conten ... 7C423.html

[C]

Well done to him. A PFL is bad enough, but at night...  ...he said it himself - aim for somewhere dark! Nicely done.

[Mobius]

Wow, sounds like he handled it perfectly.  It's pretty amazing that someone could have lost a propeller in-flight then glided to such a nice landing, especially in a cornfield, that the authorities couldn't decide whether to call it a crash or a controlled landing.  Glad to hear everyone is all right.  

Just out of curiosity, was this the same Liberty that had a prop-strike a few weeks ago?

[Brett_Henderson]

Just out of curiosity, was this the same Liberty that had a prop-strike a few weeks ago?

Yes.. same plane. It was down for several months, repaired at the Liberty factory in Florida. I don't know how many hours since then, but it's less than 100... I'm thinking this one is on Liberty..

[C]

I'm thinking this one is on Liberty..

Or Continental...

[Brett_Henderson]

Good point, but I'm pretty sure A/P guys at Liberty did the tear-down, inspection and reassembly after the prop-strike / frame damage..

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2 ... 110558/8#8

[C]

Good point, but I'm pretty sure A/P guys at Liberty did the tear-down, inspection and reassembly after the prop-strike / frame damage..

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2 ... 110558/8#8

Fair point - just wondered if having a prop strike had lead to the engine being shock-loaded and therefore being replaced of at least sent back to Teledyne-Continental maintanence unit for overhaul.

Either way, the important thing was the airframe withstood the shock of losing the prop (good old no-nonsense Yorkshire engineering ) and a safe landing was made...

*Liberty updated, of course.

[Brett_Henderson]

I just got back from looking at it. I'll try to get some photos, next time.

The engine, crank and where the hub mounts, look intact. For some reason, the whole prop assembly parted company.  I can't imagine all the mounting hardware shearing... or it's hard to imagine all the nuts working themselves loose, simultaneously, too  ::)

This is a head-scratcher   :-/