First, I'd like to offer my sincerest condolences to the Schkolnik family.  I had the pleasure of meeting Gerard on Friday evening and found him to be extremely friendly and enthusiastic about the plane.  I saw him again and met his wife on Saturday morning.

I always hate these bouts of speculation following an accident, not because I think it's improper--I think there's often much to be learned by the rest of us by reviewing accident records or discussing causes--but because it means another of our brethren has been killed in/by a sport so dear to our hearts.

Regarding the spinner/cowl misalignment; though the deflection may have been greater in flight, pictures I took on Friday showed some static deflection on the ground (see attached).  I don't know if this is a reasonable amount of sag so won't speculate further.

Regards,
- Kyrilian

Paul Bricker <pbricker@att.net> wrote:

Looking at the photo it does appear that the front of the cowling is “high” relative to the spinner. The cowling does appear to be still in position on the fuselage (no gaps and proper alignment of the paint features). I don’t know the condition of the wreckage but a broken upper motor mount could result in a nose down thrust vector. Enough to cause loss of control?

 

Paul Bricker

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