Airplanes was Re: [AT] an Iowa snowstorm

[pga2 at hot1.net]

I've heard that any landing you can walk away from is a "good" landing.
Since you had to crawl away from that one, it must not have been too good.
:o)
Seriously, you're the only plane crash survivor I know. From the pictures,
you were indeed a lucky man that day.

Phil

> 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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