Rear engine in a crash question

I've been reading through the BD-5 thread and have a question.

I guess this is an opinion thread but what happens to a rear engine
mounted directly behind the pilot in a crash? In something like an
ultralight, BD-5, Cutiss pusher or Vari-EZ does an engine have a
tendency to rip loose and go through the pilot due to inertia in a
sudden stop? Or in many crashes is the direction of flight not straight
ahead, like if the aircraft was in a stall when it contacted the ground?
The force is down not forward through the cockpit.

Bernadette

I really hate to admit it, but, to my great chagrin I once departure stalled
and crashed a rear-engine ultralight. Think of a Quicksilver, except the
engine was under the wing. Well, it didn't "tear loose" but rather went
right over my head. A friend and a passerby together elevated the tangled
mass of tubing enough for me to crawl out from under it. Amazing how hard it
is to release a seat belt when your body is dangling from it...

Al Mills

I really hate to admit it, but, to my great chagrin I once departure stalled
and crashed a rear-engine ultralight. Think of a Quicksilver, except the
engine was under the wing. Well, it didn't "tear loose" but rather went
right over my head.

A friend and a passerby together elevated the tangled
mass of tubing enough for me to crawl out from under it. Amazing how hard it
is to release a seat belt when your body is dangling from it...

Al Mills
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sounds like your seatbelt was NOT an aviation approved type.
If it was, it should have unlatched easily...
allowing you to fall and break your neck or
whatever was going to break your fall. g

Barnyard BOb --

BOb

Don't laugh. Saw a P-51 pour full power on after a landing attempt
that went bad and bird torque rolled inverted and went into sand
beside runway.

Group ran out and picked wing up to let pilot get out. Bubble canopy
was broken of course and when he released is seat belt fell on his
head and cracked a vertebrae.

Can't win sometimes for losing I guess?

Big John

On Tue, 18 Nov 2003 16:51:36 -0600, - Barnyard BOb -
wrote:



I really hate to admit it, but, to my great chagrin I once departure stalled
and crashed a rear-engine ultralight. Think of a Quicksilver, except the
engine was under the wing. Well, it didn't "tear loose" but rather went
right over my head.

A friend and a passerby together elevated the tangled
mass of tubing enough for me to crawl out from under it. Amazing how hard it
is to release a seat belt when your body is dangling from it...

Al Mills
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sounds like your seatbelt was NOT an aviation approved type.
If it was, it should have unlatched easily...
allowing you to fall and break your neck or
whatever was going to break your fall. g

Barnyard BOb --

BOb

Don't laugh. Saw a P-51 pour full power on after a landing attempt
that went bad and bird torque rolled inverted and went into sand
beside runway.

Group ran out and picked wing up to let pilot get out. Bubble canopy
was broken of course and when he released is seat belt fell on his
head and cracked a vertebrae.

Can't win sometimes for losing I guess?

Big John
+++++++++++++++++++++++++

I'm not laughing.

Just because the crash may be over...
undoing a seatbelt still may require
extreme care and caution.

I first became aware of this early in my
crop dusting career. Seems a fellow
put his Stearman on its back and in
haste to exit his inverted position...
yep, injured his neck and back a bit.

That bit of foolishness might have paralyzed him....
had he been SOBER.

I'm not even going to take a stab
at the moral of this story. g


Barnyard BOb -- seen a lot in 50 years of flight

From: BernadetteTS
Date: 11/18/2003 9:55 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

I've been reading through the BD-5 thread and have a question.

I guess this is an opinion thread but what happens to a rear engine
mounted directly behind the pilot in a crash? In something like an
ultralight, BD-5, Cutiss pusher or Vari-EZ does an engine have a
tendency to rip loose and go through the pilot due to inertia in a
sudden stop? Or in many crashes is the direction of flight not straight
ahead, like if the aircraft was in a stall when it contacted the ground?
The force is down not forward through the cockpit.

Bernadette

Another design that would appear to be dangerous is mounting the engine above
and behind the cockpit. In a descending crash or a head on crash the engine
will most likely land on whomever is in the cockpit and probably ruin his whole
day.

Something else I have seen is a tidy row of toggle switches over one's knee. I
bet they would redecorate one's kneecap in a crash.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

In article ,
(B2431) wrote:


Another design that would appear to be dangerous is mounting the engine above
and behind the cockpit.
Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

Hi Dan

Do you mean like a Republic SeaBee?

Bernadette

From: BernadetteTS
Date: 11/18/2003 8:50 PM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

In article ,
(B2431) wrote:


Another design that would appear to be dangerous is mounting the engine
above
and behind the cockpit.
Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

Hi Dan

Do you mean like a Republic SeaBee?

Bernadette

Yes.

I was in the first unit in the Air Farce to get the H-60. One of the safety
features they told us about was the transmission and rotorhead are built to
fall forward of the cockpit in the event of a major forward crash.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired

Yeah and they told us that the struts holding the rotodome on the AWACs
were of unequal strength so that it would break to the side instead of
chopping thru the fuselage. Good thing we never had to find out.

--
Kevin McCue
KRYN
'47 Luscombe 8E
Rans S-17 (for sale)




-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

Dan

Don't know if you ever saw the N-9 (P-40) and K-14 computing
gunsights (P-51). Both would leave a 'mark' on your forhead in a crash
(that you survived)

Used to be a 'mark of honor'. Then they started making everyone wear
helments.

Big John


On 18 Nov 2003 21:03:51 GMT, (B2431) wrote:

From: BernadetteTS
Date: 11/18/2003 9:55 AM Central Standard Time
Message-id:

I've been reading through the BD-5 thread and have a question.

I guess this is an opinion thread but what happens to a rear engine
mounted directly behind the pilot in a crash? In something like an
ultralight, BD-5, Cutiss pusher or Vari-EZ does an engine have a
tendency to rip loose and go through the pilot due to inertia in a
sudden stop? Or in many crashes is the direction of flight not straight
ahead, like if the aircraft was in a stall when it contacted the ground?
The force is down not forward through the cockpit.

Bernadette

Another design that would appear to be dangerous is mounting the engine above
and behind the cockpit. In a descending crash or a head on crash the engine
will most likely land on whomever is in the cockpit and probably ruin his whole
day.

Something else I have seen is a tidy row of toggle switches over one's knee. I
bet they would redecorate one's kneecap in a crash.

Dan, U. S. Air Force, retired