Fast glass biplanes

"John Pelchat" wrote in message
om...
|
| I looked at the NTSB site and gear design was mentioned in the
| findings for both Lionheart accidents. I'm not an engineer, so I
| leave it up to the rest of you to consider the information.
|

I actually saw the Lionheart crash at Bremerton. When he took off it was a
thing of beauty. The round engine coupled with the wind going through the
strutless wings made it sound like a giant dragonfly. He departed from
runway 19 at Bremerton and was gone, IIRC, about 45 minutes.

When he returned the wind had shifted almost 180 degrees. I guess he did not
check the AWOS or look at the wind sock. He made several low passes over the
runway, but he said later that he was having trouble getting lined up
properly. We went out to watch him land just as he was on short final.

He landed with a left quartering tailwind of about 9 knots. The Lionheart
started to weathervane. One main gear collapsed, then the other as he
groundlooped. The gear bolts were connected directly to the fuel tanks, so
when the gear collapsed the bottom of the fuel tank was ripped out. The
plane burst into a spectacular fire which was caught on film by several
cameras on the ground and a camera in the chase plane. It was pitiful
watching Bremerton's lone fire truck (a pickup truck with a water tank on
the back) try to put this thing out. The water would not even reach the
fire.

His wife was sure he was dead because we did not see him get out. As it
turned out he had only a cut on his thumb. The airplane was a total loss. He
did not have insurance and had spent much of his life savings on the plane.
He told me he had spent about $400,000 on building the plane. It had a
magnificent burlwood panel.

I believe his was the fifth Lionheart completed and the fourth to crash. The
pilot told me he did not plan to build another. I had first met the builder
a couple years before in a Belfair restaurant. A factory representative was
with him wearing a Lionheart t-shirt. I went over and introduced myself. The
rep was a professional builder who was going to spend about six months
working on the project with the owner.