BD-5 crash in Australia

In a previous article, "Richard Isakson" said:
bottom of the airplane, the pilots center of gravity is low and the engine
is fairly low. That makes the airplane center of gravity low but the thrust
line is up at that top of the airplane. The high thrust line wants to push
the nose down so the pilot has to compensate with aft stick. Now the engine
stops. The clutch disengages the engine and the prop and the prop sits out
there windmilling. A windmilling prop is like a parachute, now trying to
pull the nose up. The airplane controls are commanding nose up already so,
between the controls and the prop, up the nose goes. If the pilot's not
spring loaded to shove the nose down, it won't go down. It will pitch up
violently and the g-loading will go up. This causes the wing skins to

The Lake Amphibian, and probably most boat-hull type amphibs, have that
same problem. The weight and drag are down near the hull, and the thrust
comes from that engine mounted on a pylon above.


--
Paul Tomblin http://blog.xcski.com/
If I have pinged farther than others, it is because I routed upon
the T3s of giants.
-- Greg Andrews