Concentration-consecrated

[Tomanek, Wojtek]

Sorry to hear about Concentration's last flight.  It always hurts no matter
what the reason, but especially that you have done so many
modifications/improvement to the plane; custom modified cowl, moved canopy
forward, and OS 160 in the nose, to name few of them.

W-  

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Henderson,Eric [mailto:Eric.Henderson at gartner.com] 
Sent:	Wednesday, April 16, 2003 8:47 AM
To:	discussion at nsrca.org
Subject:	Concentration-consecrated


  I said farewell to my CONCENTRATE a.k.a. FOCUS yesterday. I dodged a
bullet yesterday when the elevator-stick-spring snapped during the 1-1/2
horizontal snap. An after market spring that I had shortened and must have
weakened. The week before my buddy Earl stopped me taking off without the
Jesus screw in the wing. I had the engine running and he spotted the wing
gap. But every plane has an expiration date on it and mine came due.

The P-03 schedule has 3 1-1/2 snaps in it. I was trying to master them when
I, and the guy next to me, heard a "clunk!" coming from the plane. I rolled
level, throttled back - but wait nothing! The plane was still at 3/4
throttle. It flew very straight for a while. Then started a slow turn over
the DMV a mile down the road. then I could not see it anymore. THEN it came
back into view performing a VERY slowly diving left turn. It almost made it
into the open are behind the field. Them it went below the tree line.

The OS 1.60 was running strong and then was gone. I searched for an hour and
came back and load up the van to drive around and further back. Just about
then the police arrived with a few pieces and a report of an upset home
owner. To cut a long story short they had called the police when it tore
through five tree tops behind their house. There was debris in the tops of
five trees.

The fuselage, or 3/4 of it, is still up there. Later in the day, Michelle
and I visited the home owner and gave them a fruit basket for any concerns
we may have caused them. They seemed OK, especially the wife, and they
understood that this was a very rare occurrence. I'm going back there today
to use a line and weight to try and dislodge it if the wind has not done so
already.

The police were amused and very helpful in picking up the hundreds of
pieces. I only hope the home owner does not get militant.

It was clear that the battery had come loose. There was no fail-safe action
telling me that there no power was reaching the on board radio system. The
pack was in the rear of the fuselage about 10 inches behind the wing. I had
taped the connectors together but the moment of the continuous snapping must
have eventually disconnected the pack. I must say this was the most helpless
feeling I can remember.

Regards,

Eric.
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