On Tue, 22 May 2007 02:40:11 GMT, George wrote:

Bob Martin wrote:
RapidRonnie wrote:
I don't think Richard Van Grunsven puts a lot of crashworthiness
effort in the RVs, either. They do fly better than Bede designs
though.


The one guy I know of to crash an RV hit a large concrete block and
flipped completely over. He broke the canopy open and crawled out with
minor injuries. The airplane (RV-6A) was essentially a total writeoff
though.

Unfortunately, he died of a heart attack a couple years ago.

As far as extracting someone from a wreck, I was taught to never move
someone unless they are in some other form of imminent danger (the most
common example given was a burning vehicle).

Right on, and one other thing that is relevant, if loss of life isn't
imminent, burns will heal, a severed spinal cord probably won't. That is
why accident rescues should be left to professionals, not bystanders.
But then hindsight is easy to use, forsight is almost impossible, and
the current situation almost always seems more critical than it is.

YMMV

my mileage does vary.
skin burns are superficial. lung tissue burns are often fatal.
the guys in the circumstances did absolutely follow the correct course
of actions. if he had been in the flames any longer the lung tissue
damage would have been fatal. as it is now he is alive but cannot
survive without oxygen supplementation.the spinal damage was already
done, sadly.

I'm proud of the efforts of my fellow pilots. they took some gutsy
actions at considerable personal risk.
.....and I often doubted that they ever had it in them.

Stealth Pilot
member of the Sport Aircraft Builders Club of Western Australia.