On 22 May 2007 09:41:35 -0700, wright1902glider
wrote:

Stealth,

Do you know if this was a compressive spine injury?

I must show peter these posts one day. he refuses news interviews and
would probably be embarrassed by me making comment.

I dont think the full medical investigation has been done but the
answer is probably.
his seat was the standard BD5 seat I think, with an inch of temperfoam
or similar under his bum. the BD5 is a pretty small aircraft and would
be worse than a wittman w8 tailwind for sink rates on the back side of
the performance curve. the engine hiccup occurred below best glide
speed and I think he was caught by high sink rates with stuff all time
to react.
in this respect the BD5 is no different than the Robinson R22 where
there is a period after liftoff and before best climb speed where an
interruption in power means that you are in for a bruising.

btw I was a thousand Kilometers away in Newman when this occurred and
I've only seen the dramatic newspaper shots.
like you guys I'm not morbidly fascinated by his misfortune but by the
engineering and aerodynamic considerations of designing a small very
fast aircraft.

I discussed the seating considerations with the other BD5 pilot last
night (there are 2 bd5's on our airfield, the only two flying in
australia) the sheer small size of the fuselage restricts the ability
to pad the seating any more than what they've done. having the wheels
up didnt help any either.

designwise it is interesting that having the engine behind the pilot
seems not to have been a factor in the success or failure during the
prang of the aircraft. it is conjectural what contribution the extra
weight of the turbo honda engine would have made to the sink rates.
induced drag would be the bugger here I think.

oh so much for the idea that having the wing below you improves
survivability rates. it makes no difference in some situations.

maybe the hotdog method of achieving liftoff then maintaing low level
horizontal flight and accelerating like hell before climb out is a
better way of flying them.
interesting.
Stealth Pilot