Bruce Brown
10-22-2002, 05:53 PM
In June of 2002, I encountered a stall in Paladin Sparrow flying a PD Barnstormer 400 rectangular wing.
The facts of the incident are as follows:
I had removed my chute from the PPC because of an awful line twist a few weeks earlier. After sorting out the twists, I put the chute back on the machine. Because this was the first time I had done this by myself, unsupervised - I decided it was best to contact someone to check out my re-installation of the wing.
I contacted someone I trust to check out the wing for me. This person is a dealer and has experience with this particular chute, but he had no experience (other than seeing one) with this particular PPC.
After checking some things out, it was discovered that I did not run the crossover lines through each other when I re-rigged the chute. This was done, and we then adjusted the steering lines to make certain they were equal. Although the Sparrow uses weight-shift to turn, it also uses some trailing edge pull.
My first test flight of the new setup was uneventful. The weather was perfect, and there was little to no wind. There was a problem however with the first test flight in that the machine was turning the opposite direction of what I was used to when steering input was applied. It also was not turning sharply like it did before.
I landed and reported this. We then made some more adjustments to the steering lines thinking they were too loose. I took the PPC up for a second uneventful test flight, but the problem of turning was still there.
I landed and reported the problem again. This time, rather than making any adjustments to the steering lines, we decided to start from scratch with them. The Sparrow uses a series of pulleys and the lines also cross-over when properly routed. We did some ground testing and it seemed to be right on the ground, however my gut told me it wasn't right. I commented that I thought it might be a good idea to get a routing diagram from the designer of the PPC. After some more conversation, it was getting dark and we thought we had it figured out. I decided to take the PPC up for a third test flight.
The third test flight is where the problem was encountered. Immediately after leaving the ground at full throttle, I was stuck in a fairly hard left hand turn and I had no steering control what-so-ever. Nothing I did would get me out of this turn. There were two experienced PPC pilots on the ground who witnessed the entire event. They both reported that the wing looked good, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Because I was stuck in the left turn, I was no longer over the grass runway and was over a cornfield. I was also headed right for the only farmhouse and trees in the immediate area. At this point I felt that I was too low to throttle back to idle for risk of nosing in to the corn field. I also couldn't let off the throttle because I would have either hit the tree head on, or possibly the farmhouse or outbuilding if I let off slightly. My decision was too go full throttle to climb over the obstacles, and that is what I did. The witnesses on the ground said that I missed the tallest of the trees by about a foot. I think it was more like 5 feet, but it was close.
After clearing the trees, my thoughts were immediately to getting the PPC back on the ground. I still had no steering control and was still stuck in this left turn. I powered back to reduce altitude, but the turn was taking me back over the other side of the runway where there was a bean field. I knew I didn't want to put down in beans because of what could happen to my chute.
As I was crossing back over the runway, I was trying as hard as I could to initiate somewhat of a stronger left turn to keep myself over the grass runway. I was literally screaming while trying to push the control bar further left to muster any strength I could.
All of a sudden, it felt like I hit a wall. I felt my butt get light, and I looked straight up at the wing. I saw a deformity in the middle of the chute and knew exactly what was happening. My altitude when this happend was approximately 50 feet according to the witnesses (note: the witnesses never noticed any problem with the wing at all).
I felt myself start to fall straight down, and immediatley tried to pump the steering bar to flare. This seemed to do nothing and the ground was coming up fast. I remember then going to full throttle to try to climb, but I ran out of room.
I do seem to remember a slight heavy feeling in my butt before I contacted the ground. The wing was trying to recover, but I ran out of room.
I landed on my left, rear wheel forcing me forward and breaking off my nosewheel. Thank God there was a frame support tube on the Sparrow because it took a lot of the impact. My head hit that tube, but I had my helmet on. My engine was screaming behind me, but my instrument panel was off to the side, away from the machine. I reached over and cut power. As soon as this was done I heard the screams from the witnesses asking if I was okay.
I remember wiggling my fingers and toes and then unlatching my 4-point harness (which did its job). They were yelling at me not to move, but I crawled out of the wreck and got up. It felt like the wind was knocked out of me, but I knew that overall I was okay. Believe it or not there was not a scratch on me!
The machine wasn't as lucky. There was pretty extensive damage to the frame, but that was it. The design of the Sparrow really did a great job of protecting me and taking the damage. The left side landing gear was pretty much wasted, and one of the main rail support tubes also broke at the nose wheel. One of the 3 blades on the Powerfin hit a prop-guard support tube and sustained damage. The prop ring itself was not even bent. There were some other tubes bent somewhat in a few places, but nothing really major.
With the help of the witnesses and others, we loaded the PPC up and took it to a nearby home to store. We left the chute on so we could take photographs to send to the manufacturer to assist in determining the cause of the incident.
I woke up sore the next day and went to the emergency room. I did have a cracked rib and a compression fracture of my T5 and T6 vertebrae. The fracture was stable so there was no major damage. If you are going to break your back, this is the way you want to do it:-) It is now several months later and there are no lingering issues from my injury.
What did I learn? There were several mistakes and they were all mine. The first mistake was expecting someone with no experience with my PPC to understand the characteristics of it. I also should have never taken that third flight after my gut told me something wasn't right. I should have made certain that the lines were properly routed.
In retrospect, I wish I would have put it down in the cornfield the minute I knew something was wrong. Live and learn!
The cause: It was confirmed by the manufacturer/designer that the steering lines weren't routed properly. The worst part of this is that I found my routing diagram about a month ago. Had I spent a few minutes looking for it, this would have never happened. The person I took it to could have helped me route it properly and fixed the crossover lines I had overlooked.
The facts of the incident are as follows:
I had removed my chute from the PPC because of an awful line twist a few weeks earlier. After sorting out the twists, I put the chute back on the machine. Because this was the first time I had done this by myself, unsupervised - I decided it was best to contact someone to check out my re-installation of the wing.
I contacted someone I trust to check out the wing for me. This person is a dealer and has experience with this particular chute, but he had no experience (other than seeing one) with this particular PPC.
After checking some things out, it was discovered that I did not run the crossover lines through each other when I re-rigged the chute. This was done, and we then adjusted the steering lines to make certain they were equal. Although the Sparrow uses weight-shift to turn, it also uses some trailing edge pull.
My first test flight of the new setup was uneventful. The weather was perfect, and there was little to no wind. There was a problem however with the first test flight in that the machine was turning the opposite direction of what I was used to when steering input was applied. It also was not turning sharply like it did before.
I landed and reported this. We then made some more adjustments to the steering lines thinking they were too loose. I took the PPC up for a second uneventful test flight, but the problem of turning was still there.
I landed and reported the problem again. This time, rather than making any adjustments to the steering lines, we decided to start from scratch with them. The Sparrow uses a series of pulleys and the lines also cross-over when properly routed. We did some ground testing and it seemed to be right on the ground, however my gut told me it wasn't right. I commented that I thought it might be a good idea to get a routing diagram from the designer of the PPC. After some more conversation, it was getting dark and we thought we had it figured out. I decided to take the PPC up for a third test flight.
The third test flight is where the problem was encountered. Immediately after leaving the ground at full throttle, I was stuck in a fairly hard left hand turn and I had no steering control what-so-ever. Nothing I did would get me out of this turn. There were two experienced PPC pilots on the ground who witnessed the entire event. They both reported that the wing looked good, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Because I was stuck in the left turn, I was no longer over the grass runway and was over a cornfield. I was also headed right for the only farmhouse and trees in the immediate area. At this point I felt that I was too low to throttle back to idle for risk of nosing in to the corn field. I also couldn't let off the throttle because I would have either hit the tree head on, or possibly the farmhouse or outbuilding if I let off slightly. My decision was too go full throttle to climb over the obstacles, and that is what I did. The witnesses on the ground said that I missed the tallest of the trees by about a foot. I think it was more like 5 feet, but it was close.
After clearing the trees, my thoughts were immediately to getting the PPC back on the ground. I still had no steering control and was still stuck in this left turn. I powered back to reduce altitude, but the turn was taking me back over the other side of the runway where there was a bean field. I knew I didn't want to put down in beans because of what could happen to my chute.
As I was crossing back over the runway, I was trying as hard as I could to initiate somewhat of a stronger left turn to keep myself over the grass runway. I was literally screaming while trying to push the control bar further left to muster any strength I could.
All of a sudden, it felt like I hit a wall. I felt my butt get light, and I looked straight up at the wing. I saw a deformity in the middle of the chute and knew exactly what was happening. My altitude when this happend was approximately 50 feet according to the witnesses (note: the witnesses never noticed any problem with the wing at all).
I felt myself start to fall straight down, and immediatley tried to pump the steering bar to flare. This seemed to do nothing and the ground was coming up fast. I remember then going to full throttle to try to climb, but I ran out of room.
I do seem to remember a slight heavy feeling in my butt before I contacted the ground. The wing was trying to recover, but I ran out of room.
I landed on my left, rear wheel forcing me forward and breaking off my nosewheel. Thank God there was a frame support tube on the Sparrow because it took a lot of the impact. My head hit that tube, but I had my helmet on. My engine was screaming behind me, but my instrument panel was off to the side, away from the machine. I reached over and cut power. As soon as this was done I heard the screams from the witnesses asking if I was okay.
I remember wiggling my fingers and toes and then unlatching my 4-point harness (which did its job). They were yelling at me not to move, but I crawled out of the wreck and got up. It felt like the wind was knocked out of me, but I knew that overall I was okay. Believe it or not there was not a scratch on me!
The machine wasn't as lucky. There was pretty extensive damage to the frame, but that was it. The design of the Sparrow really did a great job of protecting me and taking the damage. The left side landing gear was pretty much wasted, and one of the main rail support tubes also broke at the nose wheel. One of the 3 blades on the Powerfin hit a prop-guard support tube and sustained damage. The prop ring itself was not even bent. There were some other tubes bent somewhat in a few places, but nothing really major.
With the help of the witnesses and others, we loaded the PPC up and took it to a nearby home to store. We left the chute on so we could take photographs to send to the manufacturer to assist in determining the cause of the incident.
I woke up sore the next day and went to the emergency room. I did have a cracked rib and a compression fracture of my T5 and T6 vertebrae. The fracture was stable so there was no major damage. If you are going to break your back, this is the way you want to do it:-) It is now several months later and there are no lingering issues from my injury.
What did I learn? There were several mistakes and they were all mine. The first mistake was expecting someone with no experience with my PPC to understand the characteristics of it. I also should have never taken that third flight after my gut told me something wasn't right. I should have made certain that the lines were properly routed.
In retrospect, I wish I would have put it down in the cornfield the minute I knew something was wrong. Live and learn!
The cause: It was confirmed by the manufacturer/designer that the steering lines weren't routed properly. The worst part of this is that I found my routing diagram about a month ago. Had I spent a few minutes looking for it, this would have never happened. The person I took it to could have helped me route it properly and fixed the crossover lines I had overlooked.