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Old 29th Aug 2005, 21:08
  #17 (permalink)  
drambuster
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: LONDON
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I attended the fly-in last year which was an interesting experience - on the approach we could see a damaged aircraft lying to one side of the runway. It turned out that the pilot of this Vans RV7 had 'lost it' on the humps and then collided with the granite blocks which form a line down one side - gear collapsed resulting in heavy damage .

Then, towards the end of the event, a 172 attempted to depart on the wrong runway heading. Since the threshold is down a relatively steep incline he didn't realise his mistake until he came over the ridge .... finding himself pointing directly at the line of parked aircraft. He was too fast to stop but just had sufficient speed to clear everybody before stalling in behind the line. A very heavy inpact resulted in a trapped, concussed pilot and fuel leaking from the wing tanks. Fortunately for him there were two incredibly brave RAF crew who, despite the fuel everywhere, dragged him out and made a run for it ... just seconds before the whole lot blew up! He owes his life to them.

I would say you shouldn't go in with less than 200 hours and plenty of practice on rough strips with an emphasis on short field(carrier style) landings. Its not the place to be floating down the runway. Well placed confidence is the key. That said, it's a great place to visit and I only mention the above two incidents to give you a perspective on what lies in wait for those short on experience or confidence. The other eighty attendees were fine!
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