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Mike seemed like a very thorough craftsman and
technically very savvy as well so I'm sure he maintained the aircraft. The
aircraft was a Schreder hp18. A homebuilt sailplane with a few
things known to cause trouble. If I remember right, he didn't build the
airplane. One of the known problems was with the tail retention pins. It
also has a bonded aluminum skin with foam ribs that has been known to
cause trouble. My first thoughts were structural failure in a serious gust while
racing for the gap in the ridge. Big wings lead to big gust loads. I've banged
my shins on the instrument panel a few times. Its all speculation, but it sounds
like structural failure or clipping a wing on the side of a cliff after the tail
came loose. There is always that golden bb out there, but I'd give Mike the
benefit of the doubt as well. landing out in a glider is fairly common and can
be exciting, but they land slow and picking a spot is a lot easier than with a
powered aircraft.
Monty
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 6:48
PM
Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Mike Wills
I would take that thought to the next level and submit that the likely
cause of the crash is structural failure in flight. Mike was definitely a
good enough pilot to make any crash landing near stall speed, which has to be
what, less than 30mph? While certainly fast enough to be be fatal it is
unlikely to be fast enough to "spread debris over a wide area", separate the
tail enough that it is no where near the crash site, and make the victim
"unrecognizable". Loss of the tail in flight explains all that, and also
why he was not able to at least get to a more suitable landing area.
Also possibly provides an explanation for why he did not follow his friends
over the ridge, but tried to find a closer place to put it down.
RIP Mike, we miss you.
On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 2:29 PM, Bill Bradburry <bbradburry@bellsouth.net>
wrote:
I didn’t know Mike,
but have been saddened by his loss. I was very impressed by his rotary
install.
The picture of the
glider helps to understand a report that I read that the tail had broken off
the glider. I was thinking that it would take more than a tree to do
that, but the tail boom in the picture looks like it could be broken fairly
easily if the plane wing hit and the plane was snapped to the side. I
am confused though, by the report that it is a motorized glider. I
don’t see any propeller and if it was truly motorized, why would he not have
been able to extend a glide to the airport?
Bill
B
From:
Rotary motors in aircraft [mailto:flyrotary@lancaironline.net] On Behalf Of David Leonard
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2010 12:55 PM
To: Rotary
motors in aircraft
Subject:
[FlyRotary] Re: Mike Wills
I just heard the news this morning and am very
shocked and saddened. Mike was one of my closer friends in the
rotary community and a
big inspiration for me to get started. His workmanship on his RV-4 was
constant source of higher goal-setting for me. We previously owned a
C-140 together to get our tailwheel experience for flying our
RV's. He was
always a very careful and conscientious pilot.
His house is in Spring Valley (East County San
Diego) and he leaves behind his wife and children.
Here is another article I
found:
Attached is a picture of mike with his sail plane
and his RV-4 in the background.
I will miss him very much and my thoughts are with
his family.
--
David Leonard
Turbo Rotary RV-6
N4VY
http://N4VY.RotaryRoster.net
http://RotaryRoster.net
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