with deep sorrow

[icebob]

Hi Flyer,

 

That box of claret sounds good but at the moment i do not think i could handle the head the next day:loopy:

 

Bob.

 

 

[Yenn]

I have only just seen this post and am so glad that you are still with us. Pity about the plane though, but it is replaceable and you are not.

 

I wonder is the posting of this info and the interaction with other forum members having any thereaputic benefit.

 

 

[icebob]

Hi Yenn,

 

yes very therapeutic, my wife has gathered all of the aircraft photos and construction photos and given me a large photo album/scrapbook and i will do up the book with all the photos and add pages of "memories" too, she figured that would give me some closure, i think she is correct.

 

I am even starting to look forward to listing some contenders as the replacement.

 

Bob.

 

 

[Methusala]

Ice Bob, I have a VP-2, Thruster and a Karatoo up Canberra way. When u get better drop me a PM and we could have a conversation. Have done 550 hrs in the VP, no airframe problems yet. I think that your cicumstances are bizarre, but have long held the view that there are more than 1,000,000 ways that an aeroplane could kill you! Have a good recovery and continuing good luck, regards, Don.

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Bob, I too only just read this mate as overseas and have not been playing around on the 'puter much. So glad you are ok buddy and I really do hope that you make a full, painless recovery. Very very glad you still here with us to tell the tale pal! Don't forget I will take you for a fly in the Jab. Hope this accident has not put you off flight all together. Take care for now mate :thumb_up:

 

Bob, ju

 

 

[blueshed]

Awesome IceBob

 

Well sirvived (that doesn't look right)! Good on you in terifiing circumstances.

 

Jolly good job ol' chap.

 

Hope the xrays were all clear!

 

Cheers Guy

 

 

[Guest RLP]

icebob, if it's not too soon - what did you think of the VP1 ? I've heard generally good things about it from the point of view of simplicity and functionality, but also heard it was not so well balanced pitch vs roll. ?

 

 

[icebob]

Hi RPL,

 

when i made the aircraft in 1976/7 i also got the from the UK and starter,altinator and fuel pump kit for the rear of the VW motor,wing fold option, that made the wings 7 inches longer(extra wing rib) and the elevator and rudder were also increased in size about 15% more than the original plan.

 

I had no problems with pitch and yaw. The only issue i did have was with even that small an increase in flying surfaces it became a real floater.

 

they are easy to build and now you can get the complete kits from the US, and the VW engine is one of the easiest to modify, i was getting about 1200 hours of service before overhaul.

 

Bob.

 

 

[Guest RLP]

Hmm, I've seen the plans for sale on the Evans site, but not a kit. kit would be interesting tho'. As to the motor, I had a dak dak dual cab for years, the 1600 got me all over S,SW Qld without a hitch, so I can see them being a reasonable choice. Sooo, how easy do you reckon - seeing as you have a life time of tooling on aircraft and I have, well, none.i_dunno

 

 

[Methusala]

Don's VP-2

 

Dear Bob I'll try to attach these pics to this post, regards Don.

 

 

 

[icebob]

Thanks for the photos Don.

 

RLP - this is the VP2, my VP1 had the same wings as these photos.

 

Don, I will indeed post photos but in a few weeks, I am doing a scrap book of all my photos of my aircaft as a way of saying goodbye, I am indeed proud of her and we have had a longer association than my wife and I, my aircraft was my second girl(better say that the wife is looking;))

 

Bob.

 

 

[icebob]

final report on crash.

 

Hi Guys,

 

Well after some deep and meaningfulls and a few liquid refreshments with the Crash investigators there are a few points that i am more than happy to publish here.

 

Basically I stuffed up in two areas.

 

1. Aircraft maintenance.

 

a) Fibreglass battery box manufactured in 1976 was never checked for deteriorating or security.

 

b) flight controls below the battery box had no protection from miscellaneous items falling into the flight controls.

 

c) aileron and elevator trim friction stops did not work.

 

d) airworthiness directive to strengthen the tail wheel area not complied with.

 

e)Main battery and the auxillary motorcycle battery did not have a fusable link or some sort of over voltage cut out.

 

2. Flying.

 

a) In an attemp to Establish a constant rate of decent the VP usual practice is to reduce power to around 2000rpm giving about 300-500fpm decent, however the "normal" engine off practice is to maintain about 50 kts to near touch down and use the aircrafts inherent drag to slow up to a semi flair and touchdown,using ground effect, the aircraft speed was logged as 37-38 kts, this establishes a high drag situation and therefore steeper approch- too steep for engine failure, stopped propeller situation.

 

b) In an attemp to provide a flair, elevator trim was set to full up.

 

c) There was some small movement(about 10%) of all flight controls for ailerons and elevator and about 1/3 range of movement for the rudder.

 

d) the attempt to "get home" at the time was flawed as the paddock adjacent to the strip was sufficant to land in, if a bit rough.

 

e) the over engineered flight control bell cranks were sufficantly strong enough to brake the fiberglass shards stopping or greatly reducing flight control movement if more vigorous movements had been used. There was sufficant space under the bell cranks to allow the broken fibreglass to fall and not effect the controls.Residue from the battery had minimal effects on the control bell cranks in the short time of exposure.

 

f) It was felt that directly the engine started missing a turn for home should have be initiated giving approxamatly 2 minutes of full power at 2900ft before engine total failure. This would give around 1.7 kms extra range more than sufficant to glide to the "home" paddock. Assesing the engine problems while returning to the home padock could have been performed and not on engine total failure.

 

g) The auxillary battery was designed to be able to be switched to provide power to the magneto but was not used. The magneto also has provision for a pulse start of the motor.

 

Bob.

 

 

[Guest RLP]

Honest appraisal Bob, a few more liquid refreshments as you reflect on those points over time I'd reckon. Good lessons in there for all, certainly for we wannabe flyer/builders. Reading your story - about as close as anyone would want to get by the sounds of it. :ah_oh: Good thing you still walk the earth. Appreciate you taking the time to pass on the finer points of Vp building; while yr still maybe coming to terms with the whole thing yourself. You've been a wealth of information - and freely given. Well done, good luck, and enjoy the rebuild.

 

 

[Vorticity]

Thanks for you info about the VP1 crash, plenty of things for all off us to learn, from what was a very unfortunate loss

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Good onya Bob.. Its great to see such an open an honest self apraisal.. Don't be to hard on yourself, you got home, sure ya pranged the thing but walked (rolled) away to tell us all what went wrong.. 20/20 hinsight is a remarkable thing but in the heat of the moment you did your best..

 

great stuff mate..:thumb_up:

 

 

[icebob]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am posting here as I am unsure where else to put it. After some long conversations with my wife and a look at a couple of VP's for sale I/we have decided to build our own VP2. The son-in-law has offered a very big shed with cement flood and 40 foot opening so we will build there, hay I even got away with a new Rotax for it WOW!!!!.

 

Herself was an airframe fitter in the RAN and is better at fabric coverings than me so the wings are hers.

 

We both are finding this exciting but are not going to start until about November, I am trying to convince her to get her licence and all relevent endorsments before that, now that should be intresting:raise_eyebrow:.

 

Bob.

 

 

[Admin]

Great to hear Bob - please keep us informed every step of the way - this will most certainly be interesting