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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sorry to hear that Jerry,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My first pattern plane was an Eclipse and it really
seemed to fly well. I had a wing break in half during flight and
needless to say, the "landing" wasn't very smooth.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Emory Schroeter.</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=bravo52@cox-internet.com
href="mailto:bravo52@cox-internet.com">bravo52</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=discussion@nsrca.org
href="mailto:discussion@nsrca.org">discussion@nsrca.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, April 25, 2005 10:52
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> OK, so I planted the Eclipse
this weekend......</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Yep, it is no more. Man I loved that
plane. I loved the way it flew like a bullet. Because of the "new"
radio's and the fact that it isn't my primary plane, I programmed in some
flaps. Well, normally, when you deploy flaps without mixing in a little
down, the plane pitches up. I was a couple of mistakes high and my buddy
said, "put down the flaps" and so I did. Well, what happened next was
probably the best looking crash I've seen in a long time. Two things
happened. First, the nose pitched up so fast ( I think I was carrying
too much speed) I think I sheered a control horn on the right aileron.
Then came the tuck. Oh yea, that baby tucked nose under and rolled
left. I was on the flap switch faster than kiddies on candy but it
didn't help. With full opposite aileron, I could barley roll
level. Unfortunately, I was about 60 degrees nose down and picking up
speed. One of the qualities of the old Piorun Eclipse is little or no
drag. Any way, by the time I got on the elevators and leveled out, it
plane was about 3/4 of an inch off the ground and accelerating! Then
things started slowing down. I think they call it temporal
distortion. In very slow motion, the plane was flying ever so smoothly
across the ground when parts just started departing the aircraft. The
first to go was the prop blades. I actually saw one fly off...that is
right before the left horizontal stab tip just touched the ground. Then
it exploded in a cloud of foam. Then, the left wing. Pulled the
wing tube right out of the fuselage. Now mind you, the fuselage is still
scooting along at Mach 3 shedding parts like crazy. And even though it
seemed like minuets, this all happened in about 5 seconds! All the
while, I'm thinking, "No problem, I got this.......". In all, the
fuselage in primarily intact. The left wing is good, the right wing lost
the wing tube and part of the wing root, allot of sheeting and some
foam. The left horizontal stab has left the building..........
But......I think I can rebuild it!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Jerry L.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>