Post by JohnC on Jul 22, 2004 12:48:25 GMT -7
Well, my Wanderer finally bought the farm - uhmm, runway.As I've said, we use a carry ship here because of the desert flora. This morning We got about 5 carries in, but with the cloud cover, couldn't find any thermals. So we flew the glow's for awhile. About 11:00 AM we decided to try it "one more time" (remember that phrase?).
Ken took it up to about 300 feet - could barely see the darn thing when he let it go. It seemed to hesitate for a moment and then kinda laid over on its back before I saw something depart from the general area.
Seconds later another piece broke off and its flutter identified it as the wing. The the rest of the assembly turned into a dart! We started walking into the ten-foot high Mesquite, Geasewood and Creosote Bush., all the while keeping our eyes on the area of the crash. Then I noticed that the wing was still fluttering up, caught in a @#$%^& boomer thermal! Talk about wierd, folks, it was really a sight to see!
By the time we got halfway to the general area of impact the wing had finally settled to the ground A visiting Border Patrol Agent found the remains of the fuse (he said the nose block was literally imbedded in the asphalt at the edge of the airport runway! Fortunately, the aiport traffic is quite slow right now, due to work being done on it.
The "wing" was actually only half of it, which is why we passed it up on our original walk through. It was also found on the edge of the runway, several hundred yards from the fuse remains.
It looks like I'll be able to use most of the internal gear, so it wasn't all that bad. And now I've got more room for another sailplane in my hangar!
JohnC