REFLECTOR: Accident in Las Vegas

[Andy Millin]

Apologies for a long post.  It does not involve building, or other technical
issues.  You may want to delete this now.

 

I met Mack a couple of times at OSH.  I remember the first time.  It was at
the Velocity dinner.  Duane Swing was addressing the room and Mack raised
his hand to speak.  Mack wanted to explain a recent Lycoming AD to the group
in detail.  Duane told him "we don't care, and sit down."  I remember this
as Duane did not add "Please."  I knew Mack's heart was in the right place,
and I could tell this was a guy that knew a great deal.

 

I am saddened by this loss.  I am saddened by the way the media has treated.
And dang it, I'm frustrated that I don't have an answer.

 

When I entered the home building arena I took a workshop at Oshkosh on the
rules.  I learned about the 51% rule, commercial assistance, the 25 or 40
hour fly-off period, etc.  It is good to learn the rules.

 

I think it was sometime around 2000 when I was at Oshkosh and I met a guy
that had just flown in.  He had a Velocity that was a little rough, and it
was in primer.  He told me he was a professional builder and he built the
airplane to sell it.  What, not recreation and education . pure commercial
venture . that's not what the rules say.

 

He continued to tell me that the airplane had 40 hours on it. He had flown
off the restrictions as he was flying it in from California.  That ain't
what the rules say.

 

This was my earliest recollection learning that some people might not take
the rules to be rules.  Some are treating them as a "nice suggestion."

 

Through the years I have seen most builders play straight.  Unfortunately I
have seen others that have not.

 

When it comes to accidents, there can be all kinds of speculation.  I have
been guilty of it myself.  The unfortunate part is that I have been around
long enough to see enough.  The only constant fact in looking at an accident
is there are always things that are not known.  You must read the accident
report, and mentally add "and a bunch of other factors that we just don't
know."

 

When it doesn't make sense to me, like Ueli's accident, then I know
something else happened, and I just don't know what it is.  An accident is
rarely as simple as the obvious.  And trying to put a puzzle together when
you know you don't have all the pieces is just futile.

 

I don't think this is a jaded point of view.  It is a matter of acceptance.

 

The aircraft in Las Vegas had 5.1 hours of flight logged.  The restrictions
said it had to have 5 hours on it before it could be operated at the North
Las Vegas airport.  It just happened to have 5.1 hours . 

 

This just doesn't seem right.  I don't know the owner. I don't know if the
aircraft was Full Build, Fast Build, or Check Build.  I don't know who flew
the aircraft for 5.1 hours.  I don't know where this flying was done.  I
don't know a bunch of stuff.  I do know that the log book shows just enough
time to make it legal to operate at that airport.  Shoot me, I'm skeptical.

 

If the 5.1 hours had been flown at a rural, non-congested airport, then why
would the owner move it to a congested airport to start testing the
supercharger?  I have no idea if this is hindsight, or my version of common
sense (probably both), but if I was already at a rural airport and I still
had testing of that nature to do, wouldn't I stay at the rural airport until
I had confidence in the system?  I might.

 

Then, how did he get the aircraft from the other airport to North Las Vegas?
Fly it in from KSOW (stated home base) and then have 5.1 hours on it?
Airnav says it is 279.7 nautical miles between the two airports.  Yes, he
could have dismantled it and trucked it in.  Who would do that with what is
supposed to be an airworthy aircraft?

 

Mack was helping the guy.  If there is anyone that would know the rules, it
would have been Mack; and Mack was helping.

 

Bunch of questions, not many answers, don't have all the facts. 

 

Sorry for the rambling.

 

Andy

 

=====================================

 

Andy Millin

amillin at sbcglobal.net

 

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