REFLECTOR: The demise of Blonde Streak

Fri Aug 11 22:09:12 CDT 2006

  A sad event has occurred in the canard community.  Brian DeFord's
beautiful Cozy IV "Blonde Streak" burned to the ground.  For more on the
airplane, see http://www.deford.com/cozy/index.html.  Here's the story in
Brian's words:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------

Where do I begin?...

Saturday, Aug 5, I spent a couple of hours at the airport re-attaching some
rebuilt baffles on the engine after returning from 2-1/2  weeks of vacation.
Haven't had a lot of time to fly this summer - last time was in May - due to
heavy priorities at work and home. Been kinda hot here in Phoenix too and
I've been doing all my work outdoors on the ramp.

After getting everything all buttoned up I wanted to start the engine as it
had sat for so long.  No go - the battery just wasn't up to it.  So I
removed the battery and took it home to charge it over the weekend. 

My first day back to work was Monday, so I decided to bring the battery with
me and install it after work. About 5:45 I arrived at the airport and
proceeded to install the battery. The plane was on its nose as usual when I
work in the back seat.  After getting the cables hooked up I hopped into the
front seat and turned on the master, checking the VM1000 engine monitor to
see that the voltage was where it needed to be and turned the fuel valve to
the fullest (right) tank.  OK, before starting I want to do a walk around
and make sure everything was clear.  I hopped out of the plane and switched
on the nose gear motor to extend the nose gear.  After it was out I walked
to the front of the plane and as I approached the canard I saw and
white/grey smoke drift by the canard.  As I looked up I could smell the
distinct odor of burning electrical wiring and saw the smoke coming from the
top of the cowl.

I raced around to the cockpit and shut the fuel valve off (but didn't think
to shut the master off) and then in a panic could not remember where my fire
extinguisher was. I tore the front seat cushion off thinking it was under my
seat (that's where I kept it until I had the plane upholstered).  When I
didn't see it under the seat, the real panic set in.  I called the tower
from my cell phone and told them to please send the fire truck to tie down
330, got confirmation and hung up.  At this point I still thought it was
just some wires burning so I raced to the cowl with my screwdriver and
removed the 4 screws temporarily holding the top cowl on.  As soon as I
removed the cowl flames jumped up between the firewall and the engine.  I
kept thinking "where is the fire truck?" and looked to see if it was coming
but didn't see a thing.  The fire was crackling now.

We had a storm moving into the valley last night - typical this time of
year.  The winds were picking up from the south and were blowing from the
engine to the nose of the plane. I called 911 and told them I needed fire
trucks at the Chandler airport immediately - they were already on the way.
Seems Chandler Municipal doesn't have a fire truck and that's who the tower
called. 

I could not see the origin of the flames other than they were coming from
that space between the engine and firewall.  The winds were blowing the
flames out through the NACA scoop and the smoke was turning from grey to
black.  In almost an instant the flames reached up from the scoop around the
aft fuselage.  The smoke was billowing black within a matter of a few
seconds.  I think this is when I first realized the plane was going to be
lost.  It was just going so fast.  I could hear the sirens faintly in the
distance and knew they would never make it in time.

I got in my truck which was parked a couple of feet in front of the nose of
the plane and moved it further away. All I could do at this point was watch
it go up in flames. The fire trucks arrived but by the time the first drop
of water hit the plane it was mostly just a small pile of rubble where the
fuselage had been.  When the fuselage was consumed the plane took a final
tip backward onto the winglets.  The firemen ended up having to pour foam on
the flames as water just wasn't stopping it.  The flames that by this time
were mostly engulfing the strakes and inboard wing sections.  The news
helicopters got a "breaking story" just at the end of the 6pm newscasts as
the thick black smoke poured from the remains.

The wife of the FAA safety investigator just happened to drive by the
airport as the plane was just starting to go up. She called her husband and
he was on the scene before the flames were out.  From first whiff of smoke
to no more flames took all of 20 minutes.  What was left was a pile of
melted goo where the fuselage had been and a bunch of ash blowing around.
The wings and spar held together, but the structure of the wings was gone
except for the outboard two feet or so.  The winglets remained upright with
hardly any damage.  The engine top side hardly looked any worse for the wear
- the flames had all moved forward of the engine - but 2 of the 3 prop
blades were mostly gone.

After giving the investigator my report, as well as the police and fire
officials, I started making plans to get the mess cleaned up.  I went home
and got some shovels and a broom and returned half an hour later to start
shoveling the loose debris into my truck.  The airport used their street
sweeper to vacuum up much of the small stuff and we dragged the engine/wing
hulk forward a bit and wrapped it in a tarp for overnight. 

Tuesday morning at 6am my dad and I came to get the rest of it.  We used an
engine hoist to pull the engine off the firewall and stored it in a friend's
hangar (friend has a new Cozy in the test flight stages and did a fly-by for
me as dad and I cut through the spars to separate the wings from the
firewall).  We cut off the landing gear legs to reduce the weight somewhat
and then picked up the firewall piece and laid it in the truck followed by
the two wings.  After covering it in a tarp we took a slow 45 minute drive
through town to the landfill and deposited the remains there.

Nothing is left other than the engine.  I'll try to get some salvage from
it.  No hull insurance, just liability and medical.  I'll probably pay to
have the tiedown space re-paved.  Kind of sad.

As I walked up to the plane last night for the first time after talking to
the fire officials, a piece of paper blew across the tarmac and landed at my
feet.  It was the only thing I could see from the pile of rubble that had
any white color to it.  I reached down and picked it up - it was a page from
the New Testament of the Bible that I always kept in my flightbag, singed
around the edges.  I put it in my pocket and when I got home that night my
wife and I took it out and read God's personal, wind-delivered message to
me.  The page was from I Peter and chapter 4.  Verses 12-13 in the middle of
the page read, " Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; But
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his
glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."

Thank you Father for protecting me last night.  I'm so thankful this
happened while I was on the ground and no one was in the plane with me.
Thank you for giving me so much joy in the building and flying of "Blonde
Streak".  I certainly don't understand what happened or why, but I don't
question Your Sovereignty.  You know my feelings of hurt, my questions of
how did this happen and what went wrong.  And while I may never know the
reason for why this happened until I am in eternity some day with You, I am
content that You know what is best for me.

Thanks for listening,
Brian DeFord

****************************************************************************
****

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 309BD        Make/Model: EXP       Description: COZY MI-IV
  Date: 08/07/2006     Time: 0120

  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: CHANDLER   State: AZ   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT, WHILE PARKED AT TIE DOWN, DURING INSTALLATION OF A BATTERY, CAUGHT
  FIRE AND BURNED, CHANDLER, AZ

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:

                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:

                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:

WEATHER: NOT REPORTED

OTHER DATA

  Departed:                             Dep Date:    Dep. Time:      
  Destination:                          Flt Plan:              Wx Briefing:

  Last Radio Cont:  
  Last Clearance:  

  FAA FSDO: SCOTTSDALE, AZ  (WP07)                Entry date: 08/08/2006 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.tvbf.org/mailman/private/reflector/attachments/20060811/127d08dc/attachment-0001.html 