FYI fast forward to 30:45 of the 32 minute video.
At the end he wrote that the partially opened canopy created a "parachute effect" that prevented climbing or even holding altitude.
I guess if they could have jettisoned the canopy that may have helped. But that low to ground... FLY THE PLANE!
In the notes below the vid the pilot comments that they were losing altitude even at full throttle, thus the straight-ahead landing.Wow! Too bad.
I wonder what made them think the plane was uncontrollable? It may have been - turbulent airflow over the v-tail - but it’s not obvious. IOW, was a return to the airport an option?
That cockpit offers zero protection to the occupants. Their headsets frames are basically the only roll cage over them.
They should be glad they didn't flip.
Thanks. I only skipped to 30 minutes and still had way too much taxiing to bad techno. I'm glad everyone was ok, but I'm mostly interested in how they filmed to wingtip shots.FYI fast forward to 30:45 of the 32 minute video.
One of my fellow former flying club members seriously injured himself flipping in a taxi run in a Sonex. Serious brain injury and will never fly again.Not quite true. That turtle deck behind them is quite substantial ... you just gotta remember to duck!
Thanks. I only skipped to 30 minutes and still had way too much taxiing to bad techno. I'm glad everyone was ok, but I'm mostly interested in how they filmed to wingtip shots.
Thanks, that's interesting. If I'd just crashed an airplane in a circumstance where normal control of the aircraft was at issue, I might not advertise to the world that I'd mounted something on the aircraft with potential to disrupt airflow over the wing, but maybe that's just me.Lots of youtube guys doing it. It's a camera mounted to a pole, the camera can them digitally remove the pole from the video.
Thanks, that's interesting. If I'd just crashed an airplane in a circumstance where normal control of the aircraft was at issue, I might not advertise to the world that I'd mounted something on the aircraft with potential to disrupt airflow over the wing, but maybe that's just me.
Armchair quarterback: Looks like a pretty steep deck angle after the canopy comes off - was he trying to climb, while on the 'back' side of the power curve? Wouldn't the plane still be flyable? Granted, the adrenaline was probably flowing strongly at the time.
“Whoa, that didn’t work out the way we wanted it.” Last thing said at the end in a voice with no emotion. That guy be like cool.
One of my fellow former flying club members seriously injured himself flipping in a taxi run in a Sonex. Serious brain injury and will never fly again.
The sonex with two big guys in it on a warm summer day has a pretty anemic climb rate. With the added drag of the air blowing into the turtledeck I can easily see why the had trouble maintaining altitude.
More motor is always better but the thing sonex brings to the table is its low cost. Being able to build up an aerovee for less than 8k vs a 20k rotax or a 30k lycoming was the driving decision as to why I went with a Sonex.