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HOW NOT TO DO IT
This is not a good way to land but it could have been a lot worse. I am over my diapiontment now so I will share it with everyone on the 20th Febuary 2010 I had an engine failure due to fuel starvation and a forced lading on a forestry track in a place called Duck Marsh Tasmania I was on a 3 mile final for The Vale a private air strip at the base of Mt Roland North West Tasmania Australia I was 700ft AGL approx and no other choise for a lading spot unfortunatley the track was only 12ft to 16ft wide and the plane didnt fit so I was pulled off the track into the plantation and there was still a lot of stumps from the last cut under the small trees growing there now. It is a testiment to the stength of the Zodiac 601 XL really afetr such a accident to see that the cock pit and wings are still intact and I exited with only a twisted ankle the photos show this and I hadnt even fited the wing mod kit yet I will miss my little Zodiac it was related to me after all the dna we shared during the building process those of you that built will understand what i mean. The insurance paid out ok so I bought a Cutlass 172RG and am now flying again so I wasnt put off at all by the accident and would like to build again in the future probably a 750 or 801 we will see. there are also some photos of the new plane and the trip from Perth WA to Devonport Tasmania. The Engine was a Continental 0-200 A, On further investigation the cable to the mixture control had broken and the mixture had vibrated full lean with hind site it would of been good to have a full rich spring to stop this I always assumed it had one in the carureta but it didnt look out for this everyone. Happy flying and dont under etimate your bird they are very strong but I do hope you dont have to find out the way I did.
cheers Kevin
Comment
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Comment by John Ellis on August 26, 2010 at 8:29pm
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Thank your for sharing your experience. Looks to me you make an excellent emergency landing and saved the most important piece of the aircraft -- yourself. Where I live there is bush, more bush, and logging roads so I can empathise with your situation. You do need to get yourself into a 750 or 801 though. :-)
John
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Comment by Kevin Rudd on August 26, 2010 at 4:24pm
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Yes I think it would be to expensive the kit in its box cost about $4000.00 USD and then every thing else cost extra or was sourced localy a coplete aircraft would have to be about $10000.00 I think and probably get knocked about a bit to
Kevin
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Comment by Bob Pustell on August 26, 2010 at 10:31am
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The brave little airplane gave its all to protect you. You helped it by doing everything you could do assure a good outcome. Sorry it had to happen, but well done! Would shipping a damaged airframe down-under be cost prohibitive? I ask because of a recent posting on the chat group for the Corvair engine conversion. I will paste the posting below. This might be a good way to get a rebuilable machine at a good price and help out a fellow builder at the same time. It all depends on how much it would cost you to ship it............... Good luck.
Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:11:58 -0400
From: jaybannist@cs.com
Subject: CorvAircraft> Help !
To: zenith-list@matronics.com, zenith601-list@matronics.com,
corvaircraft@mylist.net
Message-ID: <8CD1298242B764C-D38-23C1@webmail-m049.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I need your help.
My airplane, N2630J, "Lil Bruiser", a Zodiac 601XL with a William Wynne Corvair engine, was a certified (E-AB), well mannered, flying airplane. In an off-airport landing, it struck a berm, bending t the nose gear strut, firewall, cabin floor and cowling. The prop was stopped in the horizontal position, so the prop nor engine suffered damage. It is now hangared at Hicks Airfield near Fort Worth, Texas.
Because of my physical condition, I am no longer able to fly, so I know that I will never fly this airplane. Consequently, as you might guess, I have no motivation to repair it myself; and would like to sell it to someone who will fly it..
I have invested around $50,000 in the airplane and I am willing to sell it for $20,000. It will require about $3,000 in parts to repair. So for around $23,000 (less than the cost of a 650 kit and an engine) and around 300 hours of work, a person could have one sweet $50,000 airplane in a relatively short period of time.
I have the XLB upgrade kit, still in the shipping containers that will be furnished to a buyer.
My questions are:
Is trying to sell the airplane as is, where is, reasonable?
If so, how is the best way to go about finding a buyer?
If not, should I consider selling parts, or just sell the whole thing to the salvage yard?
Thanks for your help in advance,
Jay Bannister
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well I didn't have a lot of time but I remembered to AVIATE NAVIGATE COMMUNICATE like we are told in training and it turned out ok thank god
cheers Kevin
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Comment by Jeff Webb on August 25, 2010 at 7:05pm
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Looks like you did a great job putting it down considering what you had to work with.
cheers!
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Comment by Jonathan Porter on August 25, 2010 at 1:41pm
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Interesting build - but I prefer bush planes - since I live in the bush!!! Have always wanted to build an RV8 aerobatic - but cannot justify an aeroplane that does not earn its living doing good works for others!!!
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Thanks for the comment I agree with it by the way but I bought the so called spam can so I could fly straight away while I build from plans or plans + some parts I am still thinking on that one we will see also thought about a war bird build like the P51 or something a mate is just completing one now it looks great but I dont know wether its me or not you can see his at http://www.pbase.com/derekslater/mustang_build if your interested cheers Kevin
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Congratulations! You had an emergency, made a decision and are still around to talk about it. Accidents like this are something to learn from, thank you for sharing. BUT WHY BUY A SPAM CAN? Get that CH7xx or CH8xx underway so that you can be liberated and really FLY again!
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