Mailing List flyrotary@lancaironline.net Message #47055
From: Bob White <bob@bob-white.com>
Subject: Re: [FlyRotary] Re: Accident - Oly Olson Down but Alive and well!!!!!!!!!!!
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 08:23:53 -0600
To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary@lancaironline.net>
I'm just sayin' Ed - you know a lot of people that land in trees.  :)

I tried to tell my wife about this incident and she immediately though
I was telling a joke.  (She's Norwegian don't cha' know.)

Bob W. (My last landing was a good landing.)


On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 09:59:04 -0400
"Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com> wrote:

> Bob, I think you may be referring to my good friend, Finn Lassen - Yes, Finn
> also found a cushion in the top of some tall pines.   But as they say any
> "landing" you can walk away from is a good landing. If the aircraft will fly
> again, it's a fine landing and if it will fly again without repair it's a
> GREAT landing.
>
> I hope there was not any inference in you question, Bob, about being friends
> with Ed Anderson and Trees in your future?
>
> I think we will see Finn back in the air with us before long.  Trying to
> build a house at Shady Bend and an aircraft also takes a bit of doing.
>
> Ed
>
>
> Ed Anderson
>
> Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
>
> Matthews, NC
>
> eanderson@carolina.rr.com
>
> http://www.andersonee.com
>
> http://www.dmack.net/mazda/index.html
>
> http://www.flyrotary.com/
>
> http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotary/configs.htm#N494BW
>
> http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Rotorhead%20Truth.htm
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On
> Behalf Of Bob White
> Sent: Thursday, July 09, 2009 9:19 AM
> To: Rotary motors in aircraft
> Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Accident - Oly Olson Down but Alive and
> well!!!!!!!!!!!
>
> Wow!  That's a great ending for what could have been a total disaster.
> I don't know Oly, but I'm tickled pink that he's OK.
>
> Ed, Didn't you have another friend that landed in a tree?
>
> Bob W.
>
>
> On Thu, 9 Jul 2009 08:45:57 -0400
> "Ed Anderson" <eanderson@carolina.rr.com> wrote:
>
> > I am posting the contents of a report of an accident involving my friend
> Oly
> > Olson and his rotary Vari-Veggan that was posted on Van's RV List by David
> > Domeier. Oly  was using an Ellison Throttle body rather then EFI and was
> > working on sorting it out.  I was attempting to assist him over the phone
> > and via e mail.  He seem to have a problem getting the Ellison to both
> idle
> > well and still provide adequate fuel flow on the high end.  He was
> thinking
> > of going to a different size Ellison to see if that cured the problem.
> I
> > have no further details at this time and no indication of what the cause
> of
> > engine stoppage might have been.  He had flown several times with the
> > Ellison.  Oly and his wife had stopped by to visit me last year, a great
> > couple.
> >
> >  
> >
> > I think it clear that having the right "reflexes" are necessary in such a
> > situation - because there is no time to think - just react.  Even so Oly
> > clearly is a great stick man to get the aircraft oriented up right before
> > striking the trees.
> >
> >  
> >
> >  The body of the report follows:
> >
> >  
> >
> > Ed
> >
> >  
> >
> > REPORT
> >
> > ".
> >
> > I received a cell phone call from a friend at KSUS (St. Louis Spirit) this
> > afternoon at about 1:35 pm. He was upset and could hardly say what had
> just
> > seen. From his open hangar he witnessed a mutual friend on down wind leg
> > suddenly pitch up, roll nearly inverted and disappear behind an adjacent
> row
> > of hangers in what appeared to be 45 degree dive. He said we just lost
> Olie.
> >
> >
> > Olie is one of the guys in a local group messing around with experimental
> > airplanes, he was trying to get the one and only metal built VariViggin to
> > fly with a Mazda rotary engine. This was the second or third time Olie had
> > attempted to fly the airplane in the past several years. It was a
> beautiful
> > machine copied from original drawings and built by a couple engineers in
> > Canada and painted like a Blue Angel F-18. Olie bought it and had it
> trucked
> > in. We were in total shock and not feeling well at all about this
> happening
> > to a guy we knew so well.
> >
> > I was really in the dumps when the phone rang again about 20 minutes
> later.
> > It was the same friend calling to say local guys were reporting Olie was
> > walking around the wreckage which was up in a tree. I said, this is the
> best
> > phone call I have ever received, wow!
> >
> > I had Olie's cell phone number and called him. Sure enough, he was alive
> and
> > well, and I said man am I glad to hear your voice. He said things happened
> > real quick and he would brief everyone as soon as possible, meanwhile he
> was
> > waiting for the FAA and also looking for a ride back to the airport. (he
> may
> > not have been aware of it, but there was quite a traffic jam developing on
> > Airport Road as a number of people saw him go in, one said he couldn't
> > believe he was not killed, all this on a local TV web site)
> >
> > This evening I received more info on what happened. The engine quit at
> about
> > 90 knots on down wind leg and the airplane pitched up immediately,
> probably
> > due to a high thrust line, speed dropped off to about 70, and the machine
> > rolled nearly inverted about that quick. Olie said "some basic instinct
> > kicked in - I pushed the nose down trying to recover some speed and kicked
> > rudder real hard trying to get the airplane to roll back up right" - it
> did
> > just that before it hit the trees. He climbed down with hardly a scratch.
> >
> > We are thankful our friend Olie is with us tonight...."
> >
> > __________________
> >
> >  
> >
> > Needless to say so are we.  I sent Oly an e mail asking that when he got
> > things sorted out to provide any information he could about what he though
> > the cause of the engine stoppage was.  One thing from this incident shows
> > that regardless of whether using and EFI system, a Carburetor or other
> means
> > of providing fuel - they all require sorting out and you can encounter
> > difficulties with any of them.
> >
> > Ed Anderson
> >
> > Rv-6A N494BW Rotary Powered
> >
> > Matthews, NC
> >
> > eanderson@carolina.rr.com
> >
> >  <http://www.andersonee.com> http://www.andersonee.com
> >
> >  <http://www.dmack.net/mazda/index.html>
> > http://www.dmack.net/mazda/index.html
> >
> > http://www.flyrotary.com/
> >
> >  <http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotary/configs.htm>
> > http://members.cox.net/rogersda/rotary/configs.htm#N494BW
> >
> > http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Rotorhead%20Truth.htm
> > <http://www.dmack.net/mazda/index.html>
> >
> >  
> >
> >
>
>


--
N93BD - Rotary Powered BD-4 - http://www.bob-white.com
3.8 Hours Total Time and holding
Cables for your rotary installation - http://roblinstores.com/
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