If you can't be good, it's good to be lucky. I was lucky.
The SBach started right up, and ran impeccably! Idled sweet and clean, no hesitation transitioning to WOT. Let her sit, and she purred. Opted to go ahead and take her up. I had moved the battery pack back, and added a second so I could just switch leads when I flew the first one down, since I needed some weight aft of the CG. This worked and she was nicely balanced. I took off, heading north and flew her out to the far end, turned and flew back towards the field. She sounded smooth and sweet, power and performance, turned back north and then decided that I wanted to increase the expo on the surfaces, it's at 35 but still sensitive. I turned her back south on the downwind, and as I started to turn to base, I realised something was wrong she suddenly righted her self to level flight. It was too quiet... and she was getting sluggish. Did she brown out? I had control again. (I wondered if having the vertical antenna in front of the duck would create a dead space aft, and this would be the orientation that Howard would block both antenna, did it?). Dead stick, the engine stalled. Since I had been at the end of the downwind leg. and she was dropping to stay aloft, I started a turn to base and realised she wasn't going to make the runway, and the upside of the hill is sure death. I turned back away towards the north, but she wasn't going to make the turn, I leveled out. I had no idea where she was in relation to the chain link fence that separates the dump from Mt Hudson and the Southern Ents. I feared landing in the active dump as there are nothing but metal dumpsters, and a bit of open hard dirt driveway. I could only try to keep her level as her nose finally dropped and she disappeared.
I had no idea where she actually ended up, so I drove down to the gate and walked the south east corner, challenging the ticks and poison ivy. Nothing. Didn't see her in the trees, or beyond the fence in the south woods. She wasn't in the cabbage.
So reluctantly I headed into the active dump. If she went in there surely she took a dumpster out or was in a million pieces.
Lucky. I found her in the middle of this driveway between the dumpsters next to whatever detritus that yellow thing is. Smack dab in the middle. Flat. She landed flat! Should have taken a pic from here before I picked her up. I think the vortex generators kept the lifties under the wing to the last moment.
Yeah, that's Clarence on the other side of my car, just arriving as I was leaving. Dumpsters...
The big dump was right in front of her.
This is what I saw as I walked up.
It was like just a hard landing!
If you suck as a pilot it pays to be lucky.
Hatch latch is missing. The fuse must have flexed and pushed out the canopy taking the hatch.
Most ot the internal damage was on the port side.
Took out her spark and the blade.
Starboard side damage is light.
Will be rebuilding the wheel hardpoint again. The wheel pants came off and one of the wheels, but I have all the parts, and the suspension looks fine.
Sheared the tail gear clean off.
Cracked the bernoulli flap.
The gear. The canopy is fine.
Small puncture from the wheel pant as the gear came off, starboard wing.
The port wing looks to have some mild internal damage.
The control horn is intact, came out, port wing.
All in all, a pretty lucky ending. I have no idea why the engine quit, it was running so nicely. I had idled back to take some speed off for the landing. I going to take a break with her for a few days then rebuild and figure out what happened.
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