RV-6 Crash near Turlock, CA

svanarts · #1 11-03-2006, 09:00 PM

Mercifully no one was seriously injured. Both pilot and pax walked away. Great airplane.

Article from The Modesto Bee
(and my employer)

arffguy · #2 11-03-2006, 09:06 PM

Thank goodness they got out of it. I can't tell from the photo Scott but was that a tilt-up canopy?

svanarts · #3 11-03-2006, 09:20 PM

I've never seen the plane but I have heard of it. The only RV based at Castle that I know of. Looking closely at the picture I think it is a tip up. I think I can just make out a roll bar in front of the rear window.

sportpilot · #4 11-03-2006, 10:03 PM

It gives a very good feeling when folks survive a plane crash and can walk away from it. My friend Frank Eldridge did that very same thing years ago. He was flying an RV6, and the engine died while he was on final approach. Frank was a legendary pilot at our local KAYS airport who was an icon to all us newbies. He continued the approach with a dead engine but landed a bit short and hit a concrete sewer culvert and the RV flipped over on its back. You can read his story in the "articles" section here on Vans Air Force, under the heading "I learned about flying from that" crash report by Frank Eldridge. Frank dosent think it was carb ice but all us local folks think it was. I was looking at the remains of his RV6 just last week and that is one strong and tough bird. As fate might have it we are building Cleve's RV9a in Franks old hangar as he has since passed on of natural causes.

An interesting side note the pilot of the RV6 that caught fire last week at Peachtree city near Atlanta was the FAA designated examiner who did the post crash examination of Franks engine. He told one of our local guys that his engine was in perfect working condition, escept for the carb ice. You can look up Franks offical FAA crash report on the NTSB accident database at this webpage using the query for the date.
NTSB accident database query

Its good to see a crash with a happy ending.

az_gila · #5 11-03-2006, 11:09 PM

Somewhat of a strange description by the passenger....

"He put the plane into a steep climb and didn't level out before it stopped flying. It produced a wing stall, which caused us to turn toward the ground," Carver said. "He's a good, experienced pilot and managed to level out before we hit the ground. We skidded in."

Glad to see they both walked away, and also glad to see the tip-up roll bar does work...

gil in Tucson

gmcjetpilot · #6 11-04-2006, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by az_gila

Somewhat of a strange description by the passenger....gil in Tucson

Is it like "Stockholm syndrome", you did not kill me so you must be good?

The whole article was worded strangely. The "Modesto Bee" writer was clearly struggling with the proper words for an aviation topic. Its almost painful to read, almost as much as my long post's.

The article switches to two other accidents, confusing. I am glad they are OK, but the 45 year old's fractured vertebra will not likely be peachy in 6-8 weeks, but I hope they both make a full and speedy recovery.

David-aviator · #7 11-04-2006, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by az_gila

Somewhat of a strange description by the passenger....

"He put the plane into a steep climb and didn't level out before it stopped flying. It produced a wing stall, which caused us to turn toward the ground," Carver said. "He's a good, experienced pilot and managed to level out before we hit the ground. We skidded in."

Glad to see they both walked away, and also glad to see the tip-up roll bar does work...

gil in Tucson

It is possible the elevator and/or elevator trim system malfunctioned.....perhaps the NTSB will look into it. Not all experimental accidents get NTSB service. This one should be investigated.

dd

jus10stephens · #8 11-04-2006, 05:08 PM

Everybody is missing the best part of the story. The last line. "I'm not going to be able to stop him. He has another half built at home."
Rock On Dude!

sportpilot · #9 11-04-2006, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by az_gila

Somewhat of a strange description by the passenger....

"He put the plane into a steep climb and didn't level out before it stopped flying. It produced a wing stall, which caused us to turn toward the ground," Carver said. "He's a good, experienced pilot and managed to level out before we hit the ground. We skidded in."

Glad to see they both walked away, and also glad to see the tip-up roll bar does work...

gil in Tucson

That sounds like to me they did a low level zoom with a steep pull out continued into a stall, and then recovered from the stall just as the plane hit the ground. Nice work if you can do it.

arffguy · #10 11-04-2006, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jus10stephens

Everybody is missing the best part of the story. The last line. "I'm not going to be able to stop him. He has another half built at home."
Rock On Dude!

I liked that part too.

"Marianne Carver.....

"I don't have a problem with him continuing to fly. Our plane, I'm not worried about," she said.

The crash hasn't scared Gary Carver away from flying his Piper Cherokee, which is larger and heavier than a kit plane.

"Everyone is supportive. No one has told me to stop flying, so I'll probably keep doing it," he said."

That part too.