According to a three-paragraph item in today's paper edition of
The Daily Telegraph (my emphasis):
A British adventurer on a round-the-world journey has escaped without serious injury after her 1940s bi-plane crashed in the Arizona desert.
Tracey Curtis-Taylor suffered only bruises to her thigh after the vintage Boeing Stearman aircraft turned upside down after hitting a bush during takeoff at Winslow, where it had stopped for re-fuelling.
Ewald Gritsch, Ms Curtis-Taylor’s Austrian passenger, also escaped unharmed.
However, the same story is continued as follows in the
on-line edition (again, my emphasis):
The plane, built in 1942 and known as the Spirit of Artemis, had been bound for Phoenix when the accident happened.
Writing on Facebook, Ms Curtis-Taylor, 53, said the crash had been caused by a combination of high density altitude and a partial lost of power at a height of about 50 feet shortly after takeoff.
“The Spirit of Artemis then started to sink which was not a great scenario with power lines directly ahead but thankfully there was open desert to the south,” she wrote.
“I did a gentle left turn and then levelled off. It hit the ground and rolled forward about twenty feet but then the right wheel struck a dense sage root mound which tore off the right landing gear and threw the plane onto its left wing. It then cartwheeled tail over the nose in a cloud of sand and dust.”
The crash left the aircraft with extensive damage, meaning Ms Curtis-Taylor will be unable to complete her trip across the United States this year, which started when she took off from Seattle last month. She has refused Boeing’s offer of a replacement plane because of her “deep attachment” to the Spirit of Artemis.
Sky News on-line edition states:
"The aircraft, which was part way through a journey from Seattle to Boston in a recreation of the pioneering US postal flights, suffered extensive damage."
It also carries a clear image of the stricken aircraft.
Further photos and background information are available in a slightly longer report here:
The 'Bird in a biplane' Tracey Curtis Taylor survives plane crash in Arizona | Daily Mail Online
"Miss Curtis-Taylor was travelling with Ewald Gritsch, her Austrian passenger for that leg of the journey, when the plane came down."
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz48u6PndUj
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An interview with Ewald Gritsch about the project, and his restoration of the Stearman, is here:
The Stearman « The Aviatrix
One wonders what might have been the total payload, i.e., the combined weight of pilot, "passenger" and any baggage. Presumably this was a daytime take-off, making a low-level inversion less likely?
[EDIT] Just noticed that
Jay Sata beat me to it (this news) by over 24 hours with a new thread on the
Private Flying forum. Posters have speculated that the selected mixture (fuel/air) ratio might have been too rich for the high density-altitude (hot-high). This aircraft may not have the standard Continental R-670 engine, later versions of which replaced a carburetor with fuel injection. Perhaps someone can tell us whether the pilot controls the mixture or if it is automatic?