Airplanes was Re: [AT] an Iowa snowstorm

[Ronald L. Cook]

A friend of mine and fellow crop duster visited with the FAA about my 
accident.  They said it was torn up so bad that no one could say what 
made it crash.  It was obvious that the aircraft had hit a pole and been 
knocked down.  So much chemical smell around that they didn't want to 
get close to it. (I was carrying 260 gal load at the time of the crash) 
  My friend pointed out that the pole was not in the flight path of a 
headland pass and that it wouldn't knock down that airplane anyway.  No 
further comment from the FAA.

There were no passengers involved and I crashed on private property, so 
I guess there was no reason to investigate much.  I would like to know 
what failed.  They don't care.  End of story I guess.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA

charlie hill wrote:

> I wonder why they didn't investigate.  I guess because you didn't get
> killed?  A friend of mine screwed up a few years ago.  He had just bought
> his first twin engine plane, a Piper PA 60.  He got checked out on it,
> grabbed two of his buddies and went to play.  Stalled it climbing out on
> takeoff and screwed it into a pine forest.  Killed all three of them.
> The FAA tore the whole plane and half of the forest apart on that one.
> Pilot error.  His wife had to pay the other two wives a bunch of money.
> Luckily she had it.
> 
> The accident report link is  below if any one is interested.
> http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20001208X07088&ntsbno=MIA97FA020&akey=1
> 
> Charlie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Ronald L. Cook" <rlcook at pionet.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 9:00 PM
> Subject: Re: Airplanes was Re: [AT] an Iowa snowstorm
> 
> 
> 
>>The only "story" is that I screwed up!  It was kind of a silly REC wire
>>arrangement cutting across the corner of one field and going to the
>>other side of the road.  I was finishing the field.  Going to do a
>>headland pass.  Apparently caught that angling wire with the landing
>>gear.  Just the top wire of the two.  That does absolutely nothing to a
>>6000 lb. aircraft traveling at 130 mph.  However, the parted wire must
>>have whipped around part of the tail damaging it.  The airplane did some
>>unusual pitch changes.  Full travel on the controls from up to down
>>about 3 times overpowering me and then settled down to level flight.  I
>>figured, well, I guess I must have hit something and I better go back to
>>the airport and see what needs fixing.  And in the meantime I better
>>hang on to this damned thing.  I went about 1/8 of a mile and it pitched
>>down abruptly at about 45 degrees and smacked into the soybean field.
>>HARD!  The wreckage is laying in the torn up soybeans.  It didn't slide
>>anywhere.  Just kind of ran over itself.  Some part of the tail had to
>>have failed.  Nobody investigated.  I never saw the wreckage after I
>>left the scene.  Just those pictures that someone took.  The FAA says I
>>hit a pole and crashed.  There was a broken pole, but that would have
>>happened from the wire snapping.  I would have heard me hitting a pole.
>>  No need discussing what I think of the FAA.  They suspended my license
>>for 30 days in the interest of safety.
>>Yes I was maybe lucky to survive.  The airplane did exactly as it was
>>designed to protect the pilot.  The safety harness was up to date and in
>>good shape and I was wearing a custom fitted Kevlar crash helmet.  There
>>was no fire.  I crawled out of it, although I don't remember how.  I
>>couldn't walk, as my right leg and foot were broken, and crawling on my
>>hands and knees wasn't going too good either as my sternum was also
>>broken.  I was glad to see help arrive.  I was in the hospital for 5
>>weeks and have been recovering ever since.  I finally was able to walk a
>>little with the aid of a cane by the end of December.  I am getting
>>better every day.  Kind of limpy gimpy, though.  The cane is hung up
>>now.  I lost the whole darned winter of tractor fixin'.<g>  Better times
>>is a comin'.
>>
>>Ron Cook
>>Salix, IA
>>
>>Robert Brooks wrote:
>>
>>>Ron;
>>>
>>>There has to be a story behind those pictures.  It's amazing you lived
>>>thru the crash.
>>>
>>>Bob
>>
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