Hi George,

Yours is the latest message I've received expressing your thankfulness
that I wasn't seriously hurt so I will reply all of them here.

First, thanks to all of you.  This list is a great community and
provides a tremendous amount of support.  And a special thanks to Lynn
for the encouraging words about repairing the BD-4.

I spent several hours talking to the nice man from the FAA yesterday,
then several hours trying to get an airplane with no mains on a flat
bed trailer.  Didn't sleep much Saturday night either.

I have found that my perception of what I was doing didn't match the
reality.  The primary problem was that I misjudged the flare on my
landing and bounced pretty hard 2 or 3 times.  I then turned what was
going to be a really bad landing into something that may be an incident
or may be an accident.  They will tell me later.  I did this by
deciding the landing was really coming out bad and I would be better
off going around.  So, I applied full power.  My perception was that I
was flying in ground effect just off the runway.  In fact, I think the
wheels were on the ground most of the time.  The plane left the runway
on the north side (RWY 26) and I steered back to the left.  The ground
slopes off on the south side of the runway and I thought if I had
another couple of feet of air under me I had a better chance of getting
back to flying speed.

Yesterday, I was looking over the path I had taken to where the plane
came to a stop.  There were tire tracks in the weeds and I followed
them back all the way to the runway.  So the reality was that for that
whole time the wheels were on the ground.  I could have pulled power
and done a lot less damage.

I will wait a few days before making any firm decision about rebuilding
the plane.  If I do, I think I will make it a tricycle gear again.
That will give me one less problem while I rebuild my piloting skills.

Attached is a photo of my wheels up landing.  Can I log some retract
time!  Probably not.

Bob W.


On Sun, 4 Mar 2007 22:33:46 -0800 (PST)
George Graham <rx7ez@yahoo.com> wrote:

> My heart goes out to Mr White, to suffer such a catastrophy.
>
> I had a similar landing many years ago, on our first New York to Florida

> The winds in South Carolina were severe, and I didn't add enough speed

>
> But then I read about a similar landing in Southern Ontario, that

>
> How lucky we were to be alive and able to repair the damage.
>
>
> George Graham
> Sarasota Florida
> Mazda RX7 EZ
>
> ---------------------------------
> Don't pick lemons.
> See all the new 2007 cars at Yahoo! Autos.


-- N93BD - Rotary Powered BD-4 - http://www.bob-white.com
First Flight:  11/23/2006 7:50AM - 3.3 Hours Total Time
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