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"Airplane down in a field."
Wow. Just wow.
As I've related elsewhere I traded my Hatz for a Rose Parrakeet. I'm going to truck the Parrakeet home from Texas to Connecticut, but but Bobby (the guy I traded with) elected to hire a ferry pilot to fly the Hatz to Texas.
I met the ferry pilot last week at my home field, went over the plane, speeds, fuel burn, etc., and watched him fly a few circuits, he seemed to handle the plane just fine. He's young, still in college (aero engineering) but has over 2000 hours, plenty of tailwheel time, currently hauling meat bombs (skydivers) and towing gliders. After fueling up the plane he was off, made Harrisburg, PA the first night. I didn't talk to him after that, until yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Bobby, said the plane was down in a field about 100 miles from his home in Texas. Gulp. Details were sketchy, but apparently the engine quit, thunderstorms all around, but the kid managed a successful forced landing in a muddy field.
I texted the kid and he called me back a bit later, he said the engine sputtered and quit, restarted, and quit again, and the plane was down and covered with mud but intact. Then he left the plane in the field, not tied down or anything with severe thunderstorms approaching, and went to a hotel!
Miraculously, it survived the storms. Bobby arrived later that night with a trailer but it was no late to do much in the pouring rain except try to start the engine (it started but died immediately), and tie it down as best he could.
This morning, he checked the fuel tank and it was bone dry. Yup, the stupid kid ran out of gas! I should add that when I talked to him last night he admitted he was running 24-2500 rpm (!) even though I told him (both verbally and in writing) he should be running 2250, which is 65% power. Well, no wonder he ran out of gas; instead of 6.5gph it would have been burning around 10! And claimed he'd been flying 2 hour legs at that power setting, which is impossible with an 18 gallon tank.
I suspect he had a serious case of gethomeitis, and perhaps was trying to race the weather. He ran out of gas just 15 miles past an airport where he could have fueled up (or better yet, stayed the night as Bobby told him to do). Needless to say, Bobby is livid and I'm not too happy about it myself, though I'm relieved it wasn't anything wrong with the plane I sold him.
So Bobby and a couple of friends spent today disassembling the plane in the mud and rain with water moccasins swimming around their feet and loading it onto a couple of trailers... he was hoping to fly it out but it wasn't feasible. As of now the plane is sitting disassembled in the hangar. Tomorrow my wife and I are flying to Texas to pick up the Parrakeet.
Wow. Just wow.
As I've related elsewhere I traded my Hatz for a Rose Parrakeet. I'm going to truck the Parrakeet home from Texas to Connecticut, but but Bobby (the guy I traded with) elected to hire a ferry pilot to fly the Hatz to Texas.
I met the ferry pilot last week at my home field, went over the plane, speeds, fuel burn, etc., and watched him fly a few circuits, he seemed to handle the plane just fine. He's young, still in college (aero engineering) but has over 2000 hours, plenty of tailwheel time, currently hauling meat bombs (skydivers) and towing gliders. After fueling up the plane he was off, made Harrisburg, PA the first night. I didn't talk to him after that, until yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon I got a call from Bobby, said the plane was down in a field about 100 miles from his home in Texas. Gulp. Details were sketchy, but apparently the engine quit, thunderstorms all around, but the kid managed a successful forced landing in a muddy field.
I texted the kid and he called me back a bit later, he said the engine sputtered and quit, restarted, and quit again, and the plane was down and covered with mud but intact. Then he left the plane in the field, not tied down or anything with severe thunderstorms approaching, and went to a hotel!
Miraculously, it survived the storms. Bobby arrived later that night with a trailer but it was no late to do much in the pouring rain except try to start the engine (it started but died immediately), and tie it down as best he could.
This morning, he checked the fuel tank and it was bone dry. Yup, the stupid kid ran out of gas! I should add that when I talked to him last night he admitted he was running 24-2500 rpm (!) even though I told him (both verbally and in writing) he should be running 2250, which is 65% power. Well, no wonder he ran out of gas; instead of 6.5gph it would have been burning around 10! And claimed he'd been flying 2 hour legs at that power setting, which is impossible with an 18 gallon tank.
I suspect he had a serious case of gethomeitis, and perhaps was trying to race the weather. He ran out of gas just 15 miles past an airport where he could have fueled up (or better yet, stayed the night as Bobby told him to do). Needless to say, Bobby is livid and I'm not too happy about it myself, though I'm relieved it wasn't anything wrong with the plane I sold him.
So Bobby and a couple of friends spent today disassembling the plane in the mud and rain with water moccasins swimming around their feet and loading it onto a couple of trailers... he was hoping to fly it out but it wasn't feasible. As of now the plane is sitting disassembled in the hangar. Tomorrow my wife and I are flying to Texas to pick up the Parrakeet.
