NXT destroyed

[Bryan Wood]

Does anybody know the details of the Nemesis NXT Relentless being destroyed on landing in Florida? Apparently Kevin Eldridge is okay if there can be such a thing as okay after losing something like his beautiful NXT. I've been following the progress of these planes for years now and have to admit, they make thread, carbon thread and glue look pretty good. They certainly "Wow" me every time I see one. Very sad, but great that he's okay. Please update us if you know anything. Here's a link with some pictures of Relentless. http://www.relentlessairracing.com/gallery.htm



Thanks,

[aadamson]

Originally Posted by Bryan Wood

Does anybody know the details of the Nemesis NXT Relentless being destroyed on landing in Florida? Apparently Kevin Eldridge is okay if there can be such a thing as okay after losing something like his beautiful NXT. I've been following the progress of these planes for years now and have to admit, they make thread, carbon thread and glue look pretty good. They certainly "Wow" me every time I see one. Very sad, but great that he's okay. Please update us if you know anything. Here's a link with some pictures of Relentless. http://www.relentlessairracing.com/gallery.htm



Thanks,

http://www.relentlessairracing.com/news/n-apr-11-06.php

[osxuser]

Not a good year for Reno so far...

[gmcjetpilot]

Originally Posted by Bryan Wood

Does anybody know the details of the Nemesis NXT Relentless being destroyed on landing in Florida? [urlhttp://www.relentlessairracing.com/gallery.htm[/url]

AN unsuccessful flight but not destroyed. I believe he will rebuild it.

"NTSB Identification: DEN06LA058
14 CFR Part 91: General Aviation
Accident occurred Tuesday, April 11, 2006 in Glenwood, NM
Aircraft: Eldredge NXT, registration: N42XT
Injuries: 1 Uninjured.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On April 11, 2006, approximately 1000 mountain daylight time, an Eldredge NXT single-engine experimental airplane, N42XT, sustained substantial damage during a forced landing at the Glenwood-Catron County Airport (E94), Glenwood, New Mexico. The commercial pilot, who was the sole occupant and registered owner of the airplane, was not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed, and a visual flight rules flight plan was filed for the Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 91 personal flight. The flight departed Las Cruces, New Mexico, and was en route to Palmdale, California.

According to the pilot, during cruise at 12,500 feet, the airplane encountered moderate turbulence. Shortly thereafter, the pilot noticed a smell of smoke and then began to observe a haze in the cockpit. Initially, the pilot thought the airplane was on fire, and he declared a "mayday" to air traffic control. The pilot then shut down the engine, feathered the propeller, and initiated a forced landing to E94. Due to oil on the windshield, the pilot's visibility was reduced during the approach and landing. During the landing, the airplane departed the dirt runway surface and impacted rocks and terrain.

Examination of the airplane by the pilot and a local mechanic revealed the left main landing gear was collapsed, and the right main landing gear was separated. The left wing forward spar was destroyed."

George

PS: http://www.relentlessairracing.com/gallery.htm, click on a picture takes you to great gallery of RENO picture. Now that is a photography by Victor G Archer. Looking at two, three planes in a tight formation turn doing +300 is well a little exciting. I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO RENO ; got to go do that. The other class pictures: http://www.pbase.com/marauder61/reno_air_races_2005

[john kelley]

WOW best glide on NXT is 140 Knots!!!! This puts the 9 vs. 7 engine out performance debate into a little perspective. As sexy and fast as the NXT is I don't think I could live with that kind of glide performance. Eldredge just barely lived with it.

[aadamson]

Originally Posted by john kelley

WOW best glide on NXT is 140 Knots!!!! This puts the 9 vs. 7 engine out performance debate into a little perspective. As sexy and fast as the NXT is I don't think I could live with that kind of glide performance. Eldredge just barely lived with it.

Remember, this is a "race" airplane, it's really not designed to be a daily flyer, or a x-country machine. Most fast, high wing loaded airplanes have a pretty high engine out glide speed. Probably not a fair fight comparing a 300+ mph race plane with a "daily flyer".

Also worthy of note, these have been plaqued with gear problems. There were 3 or 4 flying before Reno, but 2 had gear failures prior to reno. I believe two years ago, John Sharp lost his gear on a Mayday landing as well. It wasn't a surprise that the gear failed with the side loading. I think Kevin did an awesome job in keeping it together as well as he did. I hope this doesn't put too big of a damper on his Reno shows.... It's nice to see the battles between the NXT, the thunder mustang and the Legacy's.

Also of note, this is/was a brand new engine, both for Kevin, and for Lycoming, they had just shipped the *first* IO-540 NXT to him and he had only flown it 20hrs according to his write up.

[osxuser]

Technically a TIO-540 (turbos), also interesting is I heard from a reliable source that Lycoming was considering pulling the sponsership of Sharps NXT because he hasn't even finished a race yet, and it was costing them $$$ for build up engines for him. I hope this latest NXT incident won't dampen their spirts even more.

[rv8ch]

Originally Posted by osxuser

Technically a TIO-540 (turbos), also interesting is I heard from a reliable source that Lycoming was considering pulling the sponsership of Sharps NXT because he hasn't even finished a race yet, and it was costing them $$$ for build up engines for him. I hope this latest NXT incident won't dampen their spirts even more.

I would hope that they would feel obliged to pay to have his aircraft fixed, and thank their lucky stars that his wife and family are not suing their pants off, had the forced landing turned out badly.

I don't want to turn this into a Lycoming bashing session, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot - that engine had 20 hours on it! And it was a very high profile aircraft. Is this really the best Lycoming can do? I hope this incident shames Lycoming into looking at its quality control processes - assuming this is not a design issue.

[L.Adamson]

Originally Posted by rv8ch

I don't want to turn this into a Lycoming bashing session, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot -

Then don't.....

L.Adamson -- 0360 Hartzell C/S

[N941WR]

Fat fingered the new thread about alt engines at Reno in this tread and didn't want to hijack it and don't know how to delete a post.

Sorry about that.