Badwater Bill's Memorial Service

Stealth Pilot wrote:

I was wondering about that as well. I was also wondering if she was
able to give an account of the accident yet.

a bump on the head will more than likely lead to some amnesia at that
point. dont push her to remember the traumatic events that led to her hubby
buying the farm.it will be kinder for her to forget.

Unfortunately, without her, we'll never know what happened. The NTSB
preliminary report says observers saw clothing and other objects coming
off/out of the airplane soon after takeoff. This implies the canopy had
opened.

This has happened to other Lancair owners, and they claimed the airplane
was still flyable. Yet a nearly-identical Lancair accident occurred at
Sun-N-Fun earlier that year. One witness saw the pilot having trouble
closing the canopy before takeoff. After takeoff, objects floated down.
Another witness saw the plane after takeoff...the canopy was moving up
and down as if the pilot was trying to re-lock it.

Was the airplane in Florida unflyable...or was the pilot distracted by
trying to re-latch the canopy? We'll never really know, since the pilot
died in the crash and there was no passenger in this case.

Had Bill encountered canopy latching problems before? A downwind
takeoff with winds gusting to 20 knots implies that he might have been
in a hurry and not latched it properly. But if he'd had canopy problems
before, it's less likely the NTSB will attribute the accident to a
faulty preflight.

Was Bill wrestling with an uncontrollable airplane? Or was he
concentrating on trying to get the canopy closed instead of flying the
plane? Or did the blast of wind throw an object into his face, covering
his eyes and disorienting him? Or did the engine quit, with Bill
deliberately popping the canopy to keep from getting trapped in the cockpit?

Janice is the only one that could know.

Ron Wanttaja

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:16:14 -0700, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

Stealth Pilot wrote:

I was wondering about that as well. I was also wondering if she was
able to give an account of the accident yet.

a bump on the head will more than likely lead to some amnesia at that
point. dont push her to remember the traumatic events that led to her hubby
buying the farm.it will be kinder for her to forget.

Unfortunately, without her, we'll never know what happened. The NTSB
preliminary report says observers saw clothing and other objects coming
off/out of the airplane soon after takeoff. This implies the canopy had
opened.

This has happened to other Lancair owners, and they claimed the airplane
was still flyable. Yet a nearly-identical Lancair accident occurred at
Sun-N-Fun earlier that year. One witness saw the pilot having trouble
closing the canopy before takeoff. After takeoff, objects floated down.
Another witness saw the plane after takeoff...the canopy was moving up
and down as if the pilot was trying to re-lock it.

Was the airplane in Florida unflyable...or was the pilot distracted by
trying to re-latch the canopy? We'll never really know, since the pilot
died in the crash and there was no passenger in this case.

Had Bill encountered canopy latching problems before? A downwind
takeoff with winds gusting to 20 knots implies that he might have been
in a hurry and not latched it properly. But if he'd had canopy problems
before, it's less likely the NTSB will attribute the accident to a
faulty preflight.

Was Bill wrestling with an uncontrollable airplane? Or was he
concentrating on trying to get the canopy closed instead of flying the
plane? Or did the blast of wind throw an object into his face, covering
his eyes and disorienting him? Or did the engine quit, with Bill
deliberately popping the canopy to keep from getting trapped in the cockpit?

Janice is the only one that could know.

Ron Wanttaja


be gentle on her.

look it isnt rocket science.

canopies like on the corby starlet,most jodels and the Thorp T18 that
have a fixed front piece and a slide back bubble are the safest
because an unlatch in flight means nothing. they just fly shut.they
can be flown with the canopy all the way back if desired.

canopies that hinge sideways will blanket the wing if they come open
and a crash is almost inevitable.

canopies that hinge forward wont be latchable in flight because of the
lift generated (about 10% of total lift) easily overpowers any human
attempt to pull it back in position.

canopies that hinge backwards will just be blown away but may take the
pilots head off as they depart the aircraft.

some homebuilts have less than optimal design features but that is
part of the character of them.
every single homebuilt is different and lessons from one are seldom
transferrable to another.

from my perspective who cares what the NTSB attributes the crash to.
Bill wont care. It wont bring him back. It wont stop people making
poor design choices in homebuilts.

as I say be gentle on Janice. she is grieving the loss.

Stealth Pilot

Stealth Pilot wrote:
canopies that hinge backwards will just be blown away but may take the
pilots head off as they depart the aircraft.

Wouldn't the hinge also have to fail for the canopy to strike the occupants
of the cockpit? Otherwise I'm not sure how the geometry of the situation
would cause any part of the canopy to enter the cockpit to strike anyone in
it.

(I could see how such a canopy's hinge would fail eventually and causing
rudder damage.)

Jim Logajan wrote:
Stealth Pilot wrote:
canopies that hinge backwards will just be blown away but may take the
pilots head off as they depart the aircraft.

Wouldn't the hinge also have to fail for the canopy to strike the occupants
of the cockpit? Otherwise I'm not sure how the geometry of the situation
would cause any part of the canopy to enter the cockpit to strike anyone in
it.

(I could see how such a canopy's hinge would fail eventually and causing
rudder damage.)

or undies wrapped around his head?

It had to be something pretty distracting.

"Stealth Pilot" wrote

from my perspective who cares what the NTSB attributes the crash to.
Bill wont care. It wont bring him back. It wont stop people making
poor design choices in homebuilts.

as I say be gentle on Janice. she is grieving the loss.

All great truisms.

All humans are curious. They just want to know. Like you say, it won't bring
Bill back.

I agree about not pushing Janice. She has been through a lot, and has a lot to
work through in the future.

Even though she does not remember anything from the crash, months or years down
the road, she may start to remember glimpses of the crash. On the other hand,
she may not.

For now, those close to her just have to take care of her the best way they know
how.

You all lift one for me. I'll lift one from afar.
--
Jim in NC

Stealth Pilot wrote:

some homebuilts have less than optimal design features but that is
part of the character of them.
every single homebuilt is different and lessons from one are seldom
transferrable to another.

from my perspective who cares what the NTSB attributes the crash to.
Bill wont care. It wont bring him back. It wont stop people making
poor design choices in homebuilts.

I respect your attitude, but I do not share it.

For one thing, the Lancair Legacy is not a "one-of." There are over 100
of them in the US registry alone. Bill had a "hired gun" build the
Lancair; the man built at least three of them (in addition to at least
one other type).

So I think it's important that the current Legacy owners know whether
there's a design flaw in the canopy latch. I think it's important for
owners of the hired gun's other aircraft to know whether their builder
had trouble getting the latch to work right.

Almost fourteen years ago, Steve Wittman and his wife were killed in the
crash of his O&O special. The accident resulted from his use of a mix
of covering processes (Poly-fiber fabric attached with nitrate dope).

Just *two weeks* ago, that accident was referenced in a Fly Baby mailing
list discussion of covering and painting processes.

About ten years ago, a very respected local homebuilder was killed. He
died because he didn't tighten a nut.

Every time I take a wrench to my airplane, I think of him and how even
the best can make mistakes.

So the lessons *do* get learned...but we need to do the research that
reveals the truths. If we learn nothing from this accident, then Bill's
death was a total waste.

Ron Wanttaja

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:19:55 -0700, Ron Wanttaja
wrote:

Stealth Pilot wrote:

some homebuilts have less than optimal design features but that is
part of the character of them.
every single homebuilt is different and lessons from one are seldom
transferrable to another.

from my perspective who cares what the NTSB attributes the crash to.
Bill wont care. It wont bring him back. It wont stop people making
poor design choices in homebuilts.

I respect your attitude, but I do not share it.

For one thing, the Lancair Legacy is not a "one-of." There are over 100
of them in the US registry alone. Bill had a "hired gun" build the
Lancair; the man built at least three of them (in addition to at least
one other type).

So I think it's important that the current Legacy owners know whether
there's a design flaw in the canopy latch. I think it's important for
owners of the hired gun's other aircraft to know whether their builder
had trouble getting the latch to work right.

Almost fourteen years ago, Steve Wittman and his wife were killed in the
crash of his O&O special. The accident resulted from his use of a mix
of covering processes (Poly-fiber fabric attached with nitrate dope).

Just *two weeks* ago, that accident was referenced in a Fly Baby mailing
list discussion of covering and painting processes.

About ten years ago, a very respected local homebuilder was killed. He
died because he didn't tighten a nut.

Every time I take a wrench to my airplane, I think of him and how even
the best can make mistakes.

So the lessons *do* get learned...but we need to do the research that
reveals the truths. If we learn nothing from this accident, then Bill's
death was a total waste.

Ron Wanttaja

we actually dont disagree Ron. Just be kind to Janice when it is done.
she is not a machine and she can be damaged by the memories.
if finding the facts is painful for her then desist.
surely a builder of an aircraft can assess the suitability of the
latch on his aircraft for himself. builders usually have some nouse.

Stealth Pilot