In article , Ric says...
Just to play devils advocate here, you were talking to a reporter about
the fatal crash of one of you ultralight designs. If you didn't intend to
infer that flying the ultralight without a fuselage may have contributed
to the crash why on earth would you mention it?
Ric
The correct word would be "imply." I wasn't there, but I have seen
enough bad editing to wonder if his response may have partially been to an
earlier question.
Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired
Yes, you are correct. "Imply" is the correct word. I need to read before
hitting the send button. If indeed the above statement was used out of
context it would be pertinent to post the whole interview .......maybe?
That statement like many statements I gave to the news media are edited.I talked
with quite a few media people during the first few days after the accident and
they only use a small portion of what you say.
As an example of mis information, during the first few days after the accident
the plane was reported to be ultralight, it was not.That it was bought in
Virginia, it was not. That it was a used plane ,it was not. That the engine quit
,it did not. That it crashed on take off ,it did not and that it probably
stalled and spun it did not. Rumors and speculation ran wild even on this
newsgroup.Those were only a few of the ones I heard and saw reported in the
media.
In my conversations with that reporter and other reporters I said that it was
way too soon to come to any conclusions and that information was still coming
in, some true some false .For example the truth was, the plane was actually
bought new ,that it was built in West Virginia,the accident occured during
landing, the engine was running and that it was a Hirth not a Rotax . I also
mentioned that we just recently learned that the plane was being flown without a
fuse cover.I said it wasn't designed to be flown that way but that I had flown
it without the cover years earlier during the test phase of the design.It was
just another tidbit of info, another piece of the puzzle that we were trying to
solve...
I was trying to impress on them that info will be forth coming for a long time
and it will take time to try and sort things out because anything else is pure
speculation.
I just returned this afternoon from Jackson Hole where I met with the NTSB and
we examined the wreckage together. We learned a few more bits of info but I'm
not at liberty to discuss it. A second report from the NTSB will be out in the
future and until then I can't and won't speculate on the crash .If we find
something of a safety related issue that could affect current Hawk owners I will
certainly alert them.
As far as posting the entire interview I doubt it exists ,I don't tape record my
conversations except for those I used to have with zoom .
Cheers
Chuck S RAH-14/1 ret
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