Accident in Lethbridge

madjones · Post by **madjones** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 4:15 pm

Any information on this? It was just mentioned on the news, but no details.

FL410 · Post by **FL410** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 6:47 pm

Got this out of someone's blog (of all places to get news)

A young man had cleared cutoms with his Vari-Eze. We noticed that he then had significant difficulty in getting her restarted. Took him something like 12 or 13 times, and indeed it was only after he hand propped it that she started.

After taking off, he reported that he had a fire, and he was cleared to land anywhere at the airport. Witnesses say that he was coming in to land when the plane simply plunged into the ground. The consensus was that the fire melted the control surfaces (engine is mounted on the rear in such planes), or that the pilot succumbed to smoke from the fire.

I saw plenty of black smoke as I was taxiing to the runway. I really didn't want to fly at that point, but if we were to go anywhere, a test flight was required. So I took off, and got a birds eye view of the crash site. It wasn't pretty. And I hope that I never see another one.

Here's the picture from the local news. Sorry it's so small, that's all they've got:

Capt · Post by **Capt** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 6:50 pm

U.S. private aircraft. Stoped at YQL for fuel, took-off and caught fire, tried to turn around for runway 12, crashed and burnt up. Sad to say another life lost this summer, not a good year for pilots.

Capt

Out of Control · Post by **Out of Control** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:53 pm

Sad to hear the news, may he rest in peace.