The pilot ended up with some cuts on his face and a broken ankle. At first I started to question what I was getting into with this whole idea of building and flying plane. But, when you think about the time you spend in a car, you are more likely to get seriously hurt in a car crash...then in a plane.Here are a some really nice attributes of small planes...
- Slow take off and land speed (usually <30 mph - speed kills)
- Slow stall speed (very hard to make it fall out of the sky)
- Lightweight (less mass = less inertia so hits are not so hard)
- Good pilot protetion (In the event of a crash, there is not a lot of "stuff" that can come off the plan and hurt you)
- Support balistic parachute recovery systems (a big parachute for you and the plane)
I found all the plans for the A-plane (Affordaplane). I've been looking online for prices on aluminum square tube and sheets. It's expensive...but I guess it is all relative. I need a single sheet of 2'x4' aluminum for the body. Just that one piece of metal is about $65! Since I don't have any extra money right now, I'm going to focus on reading about flying and renting some DVDs to watch.
UPDATE - 11/30/2008
Turns out the engine stalled shortly after take off. The pilot was only 150 ft in the air when it happened. The pilot of this plane was very lucky though, he's in the hospital doing fine. - Thanks Ben!
5 comments:
Informative.... :)
And sure, you do have a point about car accident vs airplane accident statistics ;)
Some more info about the crash, the engine stalled shortly after take off. He was only 150 ft in the air when it happened.
Yeah you don't know me, but I was looking for news article when I came upon your blog. Anyway the pilot is my cousin and very experienced. So crashes can happen to anyone. The pilot of this plane was very lucky though, he's in the hospital doing fine.
Ben, thanks for the information. I live just a few miles south of the Mulino airport, and hope to make that my "home base". I'm glad to hear that your cousin is doing fine.
I can see how much passion you have for flying...wish you all the best and hope your dreams come true...soon! :-)
make sure you look up at the stars tonight! You should be able to see Venus and Jupiter!!
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