Test flight crash

[Hawker 800 xp]

Hi guys!

2 years ago I offered to assist a company that was building aircraft.
2 seater composite. I was very excited and enthusiastic to help them get up and flying.

unfortunately with an engine failure , smoke filled cabin, oil covered winscrean I fell from 5 thousand foot impacting a bank at 120 kts stopped in 3 meters. Do I need to explain my injuries.....

anyway the company turned their back on me and have left me to recover on my own. Not even a thank you. just a legal letter to say I must never contact them again. This has not only cost me my life but has cost me dept I will never be able to pay back working the rest of my life when I work again.

Anybody know of any insurances the company should have had to manufacture aircraft? or anyway I can claim anything to help get back on my feet litrally

any help would be great. thanks

[Pilot DAR]

Wow, sad story.... My sympathies....

I am reminded (as should happen more often); "there but for the grace of god go I..."

I'm sure that things differ greatly from country to country, so I really wish I had an answer which was more helpful, but here are some thoughts;

The aircraft must have had a "purpose" for the flight, and therefore a flight authority (permit) issued by the national authority to allow the flight. Any flight authority for a test flight I've ever seen has an associated application, a part of which would contain an attestation that the aircraft is "safe for flight" made by a qualified signatory representing the builder or maintainer of the aircraft. If the crash was found by investigation to be the result of something, particuarly something the pilot would not detect, being not safe for flight, I thing there is some basis for a lawsuit there. The national authority would be the ones to ask if there are any requirements for the insurance you speak of. If such a requirement exists, they would know....

I am not aware of any requirements for insurance of the kind to which you are referring. The aircraft probably would have been insured for third party liability (so the bank was covered), but that would not help you. If such insurance were in place, you would have known, as the pilot would have had to have been accepted by the insurer to act in that capacity. As for "manufacturer's" insurance, I am certain that there is no requirement to be carrying what you are thinking of - Many companies just could not get it - unquanitifiable risk. I had a friend in an extremely similar situation, I think that he did not suffer, the company (Seawind) does not seem to have survived his mysterious crash either, from all outward appearances.

I keep myself well life insured, knowing that nobody else may be covering me while I'm test flying.

Good luck, and best wishes...

Pilot DAR

[Brian Abraham]

Pilot DAR, Seawind apparently is still about.
Seawind 300C - The World's Fastest and Best Land and Seaplane
Their take on the accident can be found at
http://www.seawind.biz/Seawind%20Fly...all%202007.pdf

[Pilot DAR]

Please pardon the thread drift, it is a bi-product of interesting new information.

Thank you Brian, for the links, they are quite interesting. I knew and flew with Glenn Holmes, He had great pilot skill. The writings about him in the link you posted, sound accurate to me.

I happened into St. Jean, Quebec in May, during a weather diversion. The Seawind factory was lifeless. A knowledgable local person said it had been so for some time, and no word existed locally of a reopening.

I know very little about the Seawind itself.

Pilot DAR

[Double Zero]

Flying Lawyer required here !

Hawker 800,

Sorry to hear of your mishap & situation.

Here in the UK we are deluged by ad's for lawyers ( known in a derogatory way as ' ambulance chasers ' ) saying they'll claim for anyone who has suffered an 'accident at work', no win, no fee, then if & when they win they pass on the full amount to the victim, taking their cut from the costs to the losers.

I suspect they'd run a mile if faced with an aircraft incident, but there may be something similar where you are, have you tried google searching for something akin to this ?

Also in UK we have the Citizens' Advice Bureau - actually a charity run by expert volunteers, mostly on the legal side, with a little government assistance, who would be useful - don't suppose you have anything like that ?

Any Pro' Pilot fellowships or even flying clubs where someone may know something useful ?

FLYING LAWYER here at Pprune would be the person to know, though I don't have his contact details myself...

Good Luck,

DZ

[The Beer Hunter]

Hawker 800.

Sorry to hear of your situation. Without asking you to name anyone what was your association with the company? Was there a written contract? Were you being paid?

As an aside what is your background? Airline? Military? What was your test pilot ability (for this project) based upon?

[Hawker 800 xp]

Ufortunately out her in South Africa, Not having much luck with support.
Yes a lot of positive thoughts from fellow pilots.

Experience 3500 hours. ALTP flying a hawker 800 xp

There was no contracts as I was just helping them out. After they turned their backs I invoiced them basic freelance rates to try and get at least a couple of pennies out of them.

[Shawn Coyle]

Were you thinking of taking them to court? And if so, in what country? What sort of damages were you thinking of?
How did they let you fly the aircraft? There must have been some arrangement between you and the company...

[sycamore]

H800xp, was there ever an accident report filed/investigated by your CAA? What was the result ,if so?As you were injured there must have been? During your time with this company,as helper,etc,did they pay you for your time/did you offer to do it free,as perhaps a lot of people do,and then it is taken for granted that that is the end of their obligation?Do you know if the a/c & company was insured;did it get paid for it`s loss?If it did then it must be on record/available..Is the company still in existence;is the aircraft flying? Were you approved to fly the a/c by your CAA? Any proof?
Sorry, I`m no lawyer,just thinking about all the things that may cross one`s mind,as I do occasional testing after o/haul,I make sure it is legal/proper and paid for..Do you know anyone in the company/former employee,etc who can assist? Do you have an AOPA(Aeroplane owners and pilots association) who may help with information?
Was the a/c an indigenous design,or copy/licence build?
Was it approved?
Was the company approved to build it?
Did they have approved technicians?
Who approved it`s flight/engineer to sign it as airworthy?
Was your flight test approved by your CAA?
There must be a `papertrail` here to show responsibility..

It may be suggested that you send a PM to `Flying Lawyer` as he is a good chap and may be able to give you some advice,probably on how things would work here,but he may have a contact or two.....
I wish you all the best,and recover well,just remember,keep the ball in the middle,and `blue`up......Syc....

What was the Company, and the aircraft type,just so we all know!!!

[The Beer Hunter]

Sorry to keep asking questions but I'm trying to grasp this. As I understand things from your posts the situation is as follows.

You are a test pilot, ATPL holder with at least one jet type on your licence and 3500 hours. You were testing a prototype (?) aircraft for a South African company with no contract or agreed terms and conditions. The single (piston?) engine failed spraying oil over the windscreen causing you to 'fall' five thousand feet and hit the ground at 120kts stopping in three metres. It's too late at night here for me to calculate the 'G' involved but I'm surprised you're still with us.

Any company worth its salt will have proper insurance to cover such eventualities. A 'legal' letter telling you to go away? From whom? Why would they do that? Clearly there is a larger story behind all this and I'm wondering what you hope to achieve by posting in here. Shouldn't you be consulting a lawyer? If I were in your position, had been injured as seriously as you intimate and to the point where your debts are so serious that you "... will never be able to pay back working the rest of my life when I work again" I certainly wouldn't be posing questions in a forum. I'd be speaking to legal professionals.

As a matter of interest how long ago was this? You say two years, is that exactly? I'm just wondering about how long you would have to submit a claim, there are deadlines for these things.

[Genghis the Engineer]

What was the Company, and the aircraft type,just so we all know!!!

Could this information please NOT be posted here, to avoid legal complications, it would be best to keep a degree of vagueness to the discussion. Of course, anything anybody wants to discuss by Email or PM is fine.

Genghis
Moderator.

N.B. A quick back of envelope calculation says 120kn to zero in 3 metres is 64.7g.

N.B.B. What test flying experience/training/qualifications/FTE support did you have?

[Hawker 800 xp]

A little about myself

I don’t want to spend the whole day talking about myself so am going to keep this short. I am a very passionate person especially at what I enjoy doing. I am somebody that takes everything I do, I push to the extreme. I was brought up in gliding as my number one hobby, going solo on my sixteenth birthday and by the time I was 25 I was representing South Africa in the junior world Gliding Championships in Nitra Slovakia. My favorite place is to be alongside the majestic mountain cliff face of the Drakensberg Mountains souring with the birds away from all the stress and worries of normal life. I raced Super bikes and got very good at it in such a short time. Flew Radio controlled aircraft as my smaller hobby. I always wanted to fly as that was my biggest passion in life. I didn’t know how I would do it as a career but was determined. I met very big challenges getting started in this flying career. Once I was Qualified as a commercial pilot it still felt like I was walking into a brick wall every day trying to get ahead in the game. I became an instructor and also completed my airline transport licence. I was a test pilot and an aerobatic pilot. Flew a few air show Displays in gliders. The feeling and rush of throwing an aircraft around in the sky. Making the blood rush and the adrenalin flow, watching the scenery flash around you as flick the aircraft around is something to experience and can’t replicate on earth. I spent time flying around Africa getting experience and building my way up the career path. I spent much time flying in Game reserves. I slowly moved onto Jets which was magnificent. I was very fortunate to fly some of the most modern of corporate jets. I spent a year and a half in Nigeria flying VIP’s around to all destinations in Africa and much into Europe. At the age of 27 I was at the peak of my life. I had just come back From Nigeria and beginning to settle again. I had saved enough money and bought a house. My car was paid off and was living pretty much stress free. I was loving my work as I was doing some freelance flying out of Virginia airport flying all sorts of aircraft. I felt I had made a whole new bunch of friends
I have written this book as I have learnt a lot in the last couple of years and would like to share with you some of my experiences and maybe some things that you can learn from.

Accident

Before we crash straight into the accident, let me fill you in on the background of the situation at the time. I had just come back from Living in Nigeria where I was based from flying VIPs around the world in a nice corporate jet. Was just settling in Durban Where I had bought a nice little house and enjoying a normal lifestyle .At the time I was doing a lot of freelance ( No that doesn’t mean my name is Lance and I worked for free ) charter flying work which involved flying clients around South Africa and nehbouring countries for business meetings. Spending a lot of time at Virginia airport I came across a funny looking design of an aircraft in one of the hangers. There are not a lot of these types of aero planes around that you see everyday as it is a very unconventional flying design. Getting closer to it I felt an exciting attraction to it as I had a very good knowledge of this type of small aircraft. In the past I had done a lot of research on the way this type of aircraft fly’s. I was approached by a friend who knew the owners and told me that the owners had started a company manufacturing these aircraft locally. I was surprised and wanted to hear more. He said they needed a pilot to do some test flying for them on it. I am a very enthusiastic person when it comes to flying and as I had a good knowledge on the design characteristics and am a qualified test pilot I offered to help. It wasn’t long before I was introduced to the owners and started to assist where I could. I took this aircraft for a couple of successful test flights and came back with some reports about its handling and what needed to be changed and re designed to make this a better aircraft.. They took the aircraft away and started working on it. I then had a successful interview and psychometric testing with a nice local airline. I was very excited about this as my Goal has always been to work for the airlines. I had a call from the airline to give me plans of when they expect me to start. Things were all falling into place. It was arranged that I would be leaving for Paris where I would be attending a flight training school to do the training on the aircraft I was going to fly for the airline.
I also then had a call from the dragonfly aircraft owner asking if I would test fly the dragonfly again and take it down to East London for an air show. I didn’t really want to do the flight but felt obliged to because now I was the only person that could do it for them. Now I am not a very religious kind of guy but for some reason before I flew this plane that day, I didn’t feel comfortable about the flight, something inside my gut feeling wasn’t good. I even Preyed to God which is not something I often do and said, “you know I’m not feeling good about this flight and would you please keep me safe” Well it’s a bit of a mind blow for me but think that that is why I’m here today to tell you this story.

On June 16 2006 was the day that the comrade’s marathon was on where runners were doing a run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. I was up early to avoid the comrade’s traffic on route to Virginia Airport. It was a lovely morning not a cloud in sight and crystal clear. Arriving at the airport I met some people there to help get things going. Started opening the majestic hangar doors revealing the Dragonfly aircraft at the front of the hangar. Its mean looking fetches in white with blue stripes down the side. I could feel the butterflies in my stomach. Some from Nerves and some from excitement. We wheeled the Dragonfly out of the hangar and onto the apron in front of the fuel bay. A good pre-flight which involves giving the aircraft a good checking over to make sure the right fuel is on board, the oil levels are good and the airframe looks good for flight. Opened the canopy and climbed into the snug seat. Giving everything inside a good check over. Once ready, flicked a couple switches turning on aircraft lights and systems. Turned the key bringing the engine to life. It felt smooth and ran nicely. The oil pressure came up and the engine temperatures came into the normal operating temperatures. Switched on the radios and gave a listen out to the air traffic controller’s voice talking to the other aircraft within the airport control zone. It was a very quiet morning with not many other aircraft flying in the area. I gave a call to the tower saying good morning and requesting taxi instructions for a flight out to the general flying area for a test flight. I was cleared to taxi out to the holding point by runway 05. Being a tail dragger aircraft with its two main wheels in the front and a small tail wheel at the back makes the engine in the front point slightly upwards when taxiing on the ground making it very difficult to see where you are going. You have to taxi in a zig zag style to keep checking out the side of the canopy as to where you are going and to see that it is clear and that you not going to hit anything. At the holding point I performed and engine run up to check that it was ok for flight. Went through a checklist to make sure the aircraft was configured and ready for takeoff. The tower controller cleared me to line up on the runway 05 and take off with a short after departure clearance and the present wind speed and direction. On lining up on the runway I switched the landing lights on and smoothly opened up the throttle. The turbo was making the engine thrust lots of power giving a good acceleration. Before long the tail had raised putting the aircraft at a level attitude and reaching flying speed. Off into the smooth air over the calm coastline of Durban north. I went out to the La-mercy area where there was a small private airstrip and did a few touch and goes (take offs and landings) on their grass runway. Feeling really comfortable with the aircraft and happy with its performance I returned back to Virginia airport to prepare my journey for the day. Upon returning at Virginia I was cleared to land on runway 05, the same runway I left from. I did a greaser of a landing which means I put the aircraft on the ground smoothly hardly feeling a bump. Taxied back to the fuel bay to where the others were waiting for me to tell them what it was like. After a brief discussion and a few smiles on our faces,
We topped up the fuel tanks and packed some chips and cold drink for my journey to East London. Climbed into the cockpit again and started the engine. Without any hesitation the engine purred smoothly. A small wave to fellow helpers not knowing that it could have been my last. Taxied out to the holding point 05 again at Virginia. Another engine run up and was ready to go. Was given my ATC (air traffic control) clearance and lined up on the runway. Smoothly applying the throttle and accelerating. In no time the tail was up and was on my way. On departure from Virginia I routed to East London I had to stay clear from Durban airspace as I was not equipped with a transponder. This is an instrument onboard that shows up on an air traffic controller’s screen showing where you are and what your altitude is. The air traffic controller can then give you information about other aircraft in the area and keep a good separation between aircraft so we don’t crash into each other. I had to stay clear of his airspace so as not to interfere when he can’t tell where I am. By doing this I routed up the north coast then inland to Cato Ridge and then down towards Hiberdene .It ended up being a scenic route seeing the rivers and the sun reflecting off the Ananda Dam. . Once I Had worked out by looking at my maps that I was clear of the Durban airspace I started a climb to a flight level. The aircraft was a very powerful plane and didn’t need to add any power to start the climb. I only had to reduce the speed a few knots by raising the noise into a gentle climb attitude. There was no rush to climb high. Being a nice clear morning it was giving me a lovely view of the Drakensberg. At the time I couldn’t think of a better place to be. Looking onto the cliff faces of the mountains with the sun shining onto the rocks. Could start to feel the winter chill in the air. On climbing through 5000ft
I changed frequency on the aircraft radio to the Durban approach frequency as I had to let them know my whereabouts and my intentions of my routing. Before I could start my call I was stunned with a sharp crack of noise which sent a shock through the aircraft followed by a rough vibration. Oh @#$# was my word not that anybody could here me. I don’t think I had the PTT (press to talk) pressed on the microphone. Looking ahead I could see the propeller at a wind milling speed, only still turning due to the airflow of the passing wind keeping it rotating like the blades of a windmill. The sound was very different as it was no longer the comforting purr of the engine but rather a shuddering knocking and vibration I could feel. I was very calm still and figured with my much gliding experience and many out landings I have had to perform from flying gliders. I have done this before and this was going to be ok. Looking down to my right I could see the cabin filling with smoke and what looked like steam, becoming very thick and white. I could feel the intense heat filling the cabin the canopy in front of me started to cover with Small black Dots of oil. Soon after sprays of oil started covering the canopy greatly reducing my forward visibility. All I could see now was runs of dark brown ahead. This was a bad recipe for any pilot and I had to deal with it.
I thought that at this stage my flying skills were not there to save my life and rather focused on my communications, contacted Durban approach and gave them my Mayday Call. “Mayday Mayday Mayday, This is Zulu Uniform, Delta Yanki Foxtrot. Which was my call signe. I am a dragonfly aircraft on route from Cato ridge to East London. I’m presently at five thousand feet just outside your TMA. I have had an engine failure and preparing for a forced landing in the area. I started a descending turn to the left as I could only see out of my left side of the cockpit window. Searching for a possible place to put this thing down. Durban acknowledged my Mayday call but didn’t have much else to say to me. During my decent I Received a call From an SAA (South African airways) flight that was inbound to Durban from Port Elizabeth. The Pilot from the SAA flight asked me what my Radial and DME was from East London. Which is a radio bearing and distance given on some onboard aircraft instruments which I didn’t have. I kind of laughed in my reply and said, you don’t understand I’m in an experimental aircraft and have a hand held GPS (global positioning system) and a map. I could only give my distance from East London and roughly how far inland I was from the coast. Out of the window at the side of the cockpit I could only give small details of what I saw on the ground to describe my position. I had told him that I was over some sugar cane fields with some red buildings around it. Another building that may have been a church.
I had about 5 minutes to think about my impact and knew it would be ugly. Not being able to see forward. My eyes started burning as the smoke was intense. My body was sweating and I couldn’t take the heat coming into the cabin. The oil was hot. Struggling to find any more ventilation. There was the thought of ejecting the canopy but the fear of hot oil in my face put a stop to that. I was battling to see my instruments to try and work out how much time I had left. I remember something flashing past me to my left making me realize my time in the sky was nearly up. Grabbed hold of my safety harness and made sure they were tight. I pressed the PPT and said “Guys I think this is going to hurt”. I took one more breath as though it was my last. I don’t even know if I closed my eyes. Not having any flaps on this type of plane to slow myself down I impacted the side of a bank at around 120 mph. The de acceleration, I don’t know how my body survived. The composite structure held the basic shape of the aircraft quite well. The structure folded initially slamming my face into the instrument panel and my legs crunched up under the dashboard. The canopy had ejected and broken up. There were small pieces of broken aircraft everywhere.
The pain I have had to deal with I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel. I am known for living life on the edge but this caught me by surprise. I was conscious throughout the whole episode but don’t remember much about the time I spent sitting in the cockpit awaiting for any assistance. A local doctor was not far away and came to assist putting me on drips and taking me out of the wreckage. I had to explain how to get my very broken body out of the mangle wreck. The SAA Pilot in his Boeing 737 800 full of passengers diverted off his course and came flew to where he plotted where I would be and found me. He circled low overhead. Most of his passengers got to see the little dinky toy plane mangled on the ground. They took my GPS position and radioed them to Durban to forward to a rescue team, which first was a Police helicopter that came to the scene. After about an hour and a half of sitting wondering if I was going to die or not a 911 helicopter arrived from Pietermaritzburg where they were on Comrades marathon duty. There was a good paramedic on board that got to work on me straight away preparing me for my flight to the hospital. I have always wanted a helicopter ride but didn’t remember much of this one. The rescue team took me to St Augustine’s hospital where there were concerned friends already waiting. At this stage I was already on so many drugs I don’t remember much. The doctors were getting everything prepared for me. The orthopedic surgeon from what I heard took the situation under his control and got things on the go to start putting me back together. Starting with giving me blood and preparing me for the long surgeries to come. I spent a long time in ICU and 7 weeks in the ward. Went into theater many times to have much reconstruction done to my bones. The hospital staffs were great. Couldn’t have asked for better. They were at my every call to try make things more comfortable for me.


Most of the next six months I spent at home flat on my back with 24 hour parental care.
My injuries start with two shattered ankles, have had 3 pins and a plate put in the right ankle and also some dead mans bone to fill a gap. My left leg the Tibia and the fibula snapped and exited the side of my leg and into the dirt., cracked my pelvis, broke my coxes cracked a couple ribs, second degree burns covered my whole back, (this was caused by impact friction of a fraction of a second,) had my right elbow reconstructed, it now works on a metal frame, broke my left wrist which has now had a pin put in, cut my tendons which stopped my fingers from being able to close, I have had a tendant graft done which ties up all the existing tendants to make my fingers move. Displaced my jaw to the side and flattened my face needing my nose pulled out and plastic surgery, 3 Pints of blood. Many staples over my head I had a blood clot removed from my lower back, which was caused by splintered bone from my spine piercing nerves in the center of the spine creating damage to my nerves. This is something that is taking a long time to recover from. I had initially lost partial movement in my left leg and foot. Lost feeling in my bum and around my waist. Parts of my left leg and foot had no feeling either. I had lost all control over bowel and bladder.

[Hawker 800 xp]

I was in the daily newspaper the next day. There were sign boards up on all the posts alongside the roads about the accident.
I do still feel that aviation is a safe sport and career. I am very comfortable with the principles of flight and what keeps us in the air. This cant be tricked. The one aspect though is that your life is relying on a mechanical devise and the whole aircraft is as strong and as reliable as the weakest link. My accident was in the statistics of one hundred and fifty six million flights to one. It was just my unlucky draw. Since my accident I have been used in a few presentations on ways to improve the search and rescue system to get medical helicopters out to the scenes faster. I have written articles to magazines explaining my story and giving out positive advice to other fellow pilots.
.





Recovery
Hospital:
ICU. Not remembering much of that. Apparently I was talking a lot of rubbish from the drugs I was on.
Called people names. One lady I called a cigar. One thing I really don’t like doing is letting people down. In my mind I new the next day I had a charter flight to do and wouldn’t stop talking about it until somebody called them to let them know that I couldn’t do the flight for them. I wanted to give them as much notice to find another pilot to do the flight instead of me. Not knowing that like two weeks had gone by already and the flight was taken care of long time ago nevertheless even in the state I was in I had to get someone to make a call as not to let them down.
It was like a strange feeling looking at all my external fixators on my body and bandages. I kept thinking to myself, ok I have learnt my lesson, can we reset now and go back to my normal life. It took a while for this to settle in and realize I was in for a long ride recovering from this one.
The last times I was in a hospital bed was when I was in Nigeria where I had suffered from, Salmonella, typhoid. And malaria Malaria. That was also very scary but now was in something very different.
It is very hard for me to explain the pain I went through with all the broken bones I had. You have all experienced pain sometime in your life so you can imagine what I was going through. I learnt to deal with pain quite a lot but some was to the extreme. I had Ghost pains due to the spinal nerve damage I had. I would get surging pains like my foot was being cut off with a steak knife. This really boggled my mind as I would be lying there and one of these surges came about. I would tighten every muscle in my body with my back arched back and clenching, Gritting my teeth. After a few seconds I would brave the scrutinizing pain and look towards where my foot was being sawn off and to my shock and couldn’t believe my eyes my foot was fine. This really played tricks with me. I would feel a knife stabbed through my foot and then twisted tearing up my flesh while looking at a normal foot. I got well introduced to Morphine; this drug was my savior, waiting desperately for my next injections. I ended up having so much of this that my body started to get immune to it and wasn’t taking away the pain anymore. They decided to take me off morphine and put me on a new medication. The New medication took 3 days to start taking effect. My psychiatrist told me that there is no point in me being around for the next three days so he gave me medication that put me to sleep. Woke up thinking it was the next day not realizing 3 days had gone by. Found a note pad next to my bed where visitors had written notes that they had come to see me and I was asleep. Some tried to wake me with no luck. My sister came out from Australia for three weeks to show her support. It was nice to have her there and the support she gave.
The nurses were great and were at my attention for everything. They had to bed bath me in the early mornings as I was always flat on my back.
In the beginning I couldn’t eat anything and was relying on a drip. Later was being spoon fed with mushy food as I couldn’t chew due to my jaw being dislodged out to the side. I could only taste and then swallow.
I was starting to loose movement and feeling in my left foot. I couldn’t move my toes at all. Next thing I’m wheeled off in my bed to have an MRI scan. The nurses placed a magnet onto me and moved it around my whole body to see if any of the many metal plates that were inside of me were magnetic as I wouldn’t be able to go into the MRI machine if the magnet stuck to me.
The MRI scanning machine is very Claustrophobic. Nurses lifted me onto a tray and slid me into a small tunnel where there was hardly enough space to breath. Clunking sounds that the machine made while doing its scan. Were nerve-racking.
Later the news that I had a blood clot in my lower back behind my spine. A new operation had to be done. One of the first challenges the doctors had was they had to lay me down on my stomach to operate on my back. With all the fixations I had attached to my body this was a task on its own for them. When I woke up back in my bed I noticed that I had no feeling in my backside and lower legs. My toes still not moving and was in a bit of fright. The doctor came to me and said that he had to go through my spine to get to the blood clot and that the cause of the blood clot was made from the splintered bone from my damaged spine had pierced my nerves causing the damage. With time I started to regain small movement in my toes.
For weeks after that operation I didn’t move an inch. I was so scared that my back was brittle and lay there stiff.

Setting goals and sticking to them. I knew I had to have full range of moving my arms to pass my flying medical. Well actually I had to be able to extend my arms and bring them in to touch my nose with my finger. Every day I would have to push my arm further and further to reach this goal
I had to set many goals in my recovery and stick to them. I became very stubborn and was going to keep working at it to reach my goals. I had to get myself into the front seat of the cockpit
A friend of mine brought a wing of a large scale model aircraft I had and put it above my bed for me to look at and dream about. I dreamt about what it would be like to be out in the open field and flying this big scale aircraft, Breathing the fresh air and feeling the surroundings. This kept my mind sane and focused on my recovery. It gave me something to look forward to and get excited about.

In hospital laying on my back. My Doctor would come in and I’d be screaming about my pain. He asked me where the pain was coming from, when I told him it was in my foot he shook his head. The problem wasn’t in my foot but was in the damaged nerves in my back. It took me a while to understand this and believe him.


I had physiotherapists come in and help me start moving my joints and getting me in a wheel chair. It was good to be upright but felt so faint as my body wasn’t used to keeping the blood up to my head. It was a sad feeling though as I was taken to the window so I could see outside at the fast track of life. I was sitting in a wheel chair and wasn’t sure how long it would be, this is the first time I felt sorry for myself as it was all sinking in..
Letting me out of hospital was a relief and excitement to go home. I had had enough and was getting bored of counting the flowers on the curtains for seven weeks on my back. I had to leave my lovely little house and go and live with my parents. It was very challenging to get me into a car and home. I remember entering into the lift in the wheel chair was the first time I had seen a mirror. I was shocked. I looked terrible. I was white, as all the blood had run to my toes. I looked really ugly. My face was scared with red lines. My hair was shaved in places and still staple marks from the torn skin. I was really horrified.
At home: Being at home was great. My parents had brought my bed and placed it in the lounge so that I could be in the attention of what was happening on a daily basis. If I was in a bedroom I wouldn’t have seen anything. I lay in that bed for a few weeks having the difficulties of bathing and living in bed. Support I had from family and friends: People sent me post cards with get well wishes which were put up on the wall in the lounge for me to see everyday. I had get well cards from people I didn’t even know.

The pain I went through at home was horrific. I used to look at the clock all day checking how much longer I had to wait to take the next pain killers. It was very difficult to get to sleep at night even with all the drugs I was on and had to take drugs throughout the night for my pain.

Drugs became a specialty. We had plastic containers full of different boxes of medication. It took far too much time taking them one by one that I learnt to take them by the shooter glass full.

I had a Catheter still inside my bladder with a bag that had to be emptied regularly. I couldn’t sit up even to eat initially. I had to just lie on my side to eat. I had to work at sitting up for short periods to start to eat upright. I was so scared to sit up as I was worried about my spine from what they did when operating on it. My jaw with time started to move back into place and allowed me to chew easily for short times. The new eating challenges I had was quite frustrating. My left wrist still had an external fixation on holding my wrist together hardly allowing me to move my fingers to hold a fork. My right Elbow still didn’t allow my hand to reach my mouth. This drove me to work harder on my elbow forcing it to flex further.
Every morning before my bed bath, my father would lift me up and move me across onto a commode to go to the toilet. Daily taking laxatives to allow me to go as I had no control of this
Nappies became a new part of my life. It was really tough to get through but had to focus on being positive
The feeling of Helplessness was horrible, The Frustrations and uncertainty about my recovery was very depressing and very sad. I had so much anger and frustration within.
When you feel you have loads of friends in your life it takes something like this to really tell them apart. People you work with and deal with in your every day life that you feel quite close to because you are always in their circle. Let me tell you, when you are out of the rat race of life and they don’t see you anymore. You are as good as forgotten about. It takes your real true friends to see you through something like this. The saying “out of sight out of mind” is very true. You have heard before that you can count your true friends on one hand.

Spending so much time on my back in bed I developed bed sores over my body. My feet had blisters flaming up on them due to the sliding of them over the sheets. I had to twist up Towels into rings and bandage them to my ankles to keep them off the sheets. Blisters oozing fluid was very stingy,

My parents were the best I could ever ask for. They did everything for me. They were at my call 24/7. The smallest of tasks they had to do. I don’t know how I would ever be able to thank them enough. I suppose the best thank you I could give them though is to show them that I am going to get back into my life and make a success again.

When I was feeling a bit braver, once a day. Had to get into the wheelchair with much help and be pushed to the window to see the view. At first 5 to 10 min was all I could handle being upright in the chair. The bed was a big comfort zone for me. Due to the operation I had on my back I was scared to sit up initially as I felt my Back was very week and wasn’t sure how it would hold my weight. When I positioned in an arm chair for the first few times, I would rest on my elbows against the arm rests of the chair to support my weight to reduce the strain on my spine.


When I could maintain at least 10 min I would be taken outside in the late afternoon when the sun was going down to sit in the nice cool air and look at the view across the valley. It became a daily event to go out into the front garden by the garden chair and table. My mom would bring out tea and little cup cakes. That was the highlight of my day. It was a great achievement when I made my first few meters along the paved pathway by pushing myself along by moving the tops of the wheels forward on the wheelchair with my own arms. I could only initially move a few centimeters at a time as my arms were so weak.
The entrance to our garden was built up with a new gate entrance so that I could be wheeled into the house from the cul-de-sac at the top of the driveway. Had a door as a ramp from the front door down the two steps into the lounge where the bed was kept. It was great to have the bed in the lounge so that I could see what was going on and kept in with the daily activities. It made it easy for friends to visit.

After a few weeks at home I went to a rehabilitation center at the entabeni hospital as I was now addicted to morphine. No just kidding. I went there to start regaining strength in my body. I spent a lot of time sitting up in a wheel chair and doing the smallest of exercise to get some strength back. I was there for three weeks working hard to make progress. I was noticing small differences daily in my regaining strength. There I had my first shower. Yes three months after the accident I was up for my first shower. I had to be wheeled under the showering water in a water chair. It was so strange to feel the water sprinkle onto me and run all over my body before running off onto the floor. After being dried off and put back into my bed, it did feel good to be clean. Leaving the rehab center was when the catheter was taken out and I was in the shock of not being able to go to the toilet on my own, I was absolutely horrified. This was too much for me to handle. What made it worse was that I had to be shown how to intermittently self catheterize myself every three hours. The thought of having to do this for the rest of my life. This was the first time I cried and I sobbed hard about it. Not having control over my bowel and bladder is terrible. I think I would rather be stuck in a wheelchair then have this problem.


Some of my difficulties were in taking a shower, I had to wrap up my external fixators in plastic bags and tape to prevent them from getting wet, and it was quite a task getting me up out of the wheel chair and onto the plastic chair in the shower. My dad having to stand next to me and wash me as I couldn’t do it myself.
The cry from deep inside from the anger that kept building up of how cruel the dragonfly people were to allow me to suffer and deal with the loss of control of bowel and bladder and the rest of the restrictions I now had . I wanted somebody to blame but most of all just couldn’t understand how I had put my life on line for the sake of helping others and not getting any form of support from them.
I suffered from bed sores. MY skin on my ankles and the back of my legs. From the friction of sliding around on the bed sheets caused blisters to form on my skin and couldn’t heel as there wasn’t a hell of a lot I could do to take the pleasure off them. I tied T towels in a shape of a ring and bandaged them to my heels to restrict the contact as much as possible. When my Jaw came closer into alignment I Started to eat mushy food that was spoon fed to me. When I could start eating more solids I had to have my food cut up into small pieces as my right arm was in a frame and didn’t have much movement in my elbow and my left wrist held at an angle with the external fixator I had it very hard to get the food onto a fork and into my mouth. In the early part I couldn’t sit up to eat as the blood wouldn’t stay up and used to drain to my feet. Not having the strength to hold the blood up to my head. Slowly over time I would sit up for a few more seconds at a time till I could at least sit up for a minute and try eat a bit sitting up. My face used to go white and my feet swelled up and turned purple from the blood falling straight to my feet. Food became a big comfort factor for me and was always after something nice thus resulting me putting on a lot of weight which I spent months later working it off.
People used to say well you are so lucky to be alive, at least you are still here. I just used to think to myself with all the depression I was going through. Really, I don’t feel so grateful for being here as I didn’t have any interest in life or being alive. I was so down and full of hatred I didn’t even want my life. I spent many months in this state. It’s a sad thing to say but with all the pain I have been through and mental frustrations, if I had known all I would have had to go through to recover I would have chosen to die in that wreckage. In the long run now I am grateful I have been strong and fought and pulled through everything I have had to deal with. It’s been a very good learning curve to better my life.




At a bit of a later stage I had to have an operation on my hand as I had cut the tendents to my fingers at my wrist. This preventing my hands from being able to close on my left hand. The muscles in the fore arms were no longer connected to my fingers to pull them down. By opening up my wrist and using a spare tendent to tie up all the loose ends. Was going to fix this. This I feel was a fantastic job. I had my hand in a cast for a few weeks again. My fingers could not be moved they had frozen in one position. I had great difficulty in showering at home. Had to wrap up my hand and also my leg that still had fixators on in plastic packets and tape so that they wouldn’t get wet. My Dad would come home from work every morning at 8am to help me shower. It was a task to lift me into the shower and onto a plastic chair. I couldn’t wash myself. My father had to stand in the shower next to me and clean me up. It used to take me about two hours to get ready in the mornings as I was also so slowed up from the drugs I was on, everything took time. Just to dry off was something I had to do lying down on a bed and needing further assistance to putting on clothes.



When the cast came off my hand. It was very stiff. My wrist had become very stiff by the break and my fingers couldn’t move at all. I had to go back to the Re had center and see an Occupational therapist who worked on my hand and fingers daily to get them to move again. I had to stretch my fingers with force to stretch the tendents as I didn’t have much travel. Some of the tendents were very stuck and we spent many days working at them. There was a thought of having another operation to try and free them up. In time most of it gave in. Till this day and I think it will always be is that the tentent to my thumb and first finger are still stuck together. I don’t notice it in everyday use but those two fingers move together and can’t move individually. I can’t hitch hike because I can’t extend my thumb without straightening my index finger.

It was frustrating having to get up every morning at about 2am, Climb out of bed and into the wheelchair that was by my bedside. Go through to the bathroom half asleep to self catheterize. Clean up whatever bowel movement mess I had had.

Spending so much time in my wheelchair on a broken coccyx wasn’t going so easy. I got to a stage that I couldn’t sit as the pain in my coccyx area was to sore. I bought a sponge donut that I had to sit on to help relieve the pressure while sitting. I was not seen without it for a while.

Piles was something I developed which was very ugly and a horrible thought to know I had. Luckily after 2 years they went away. A small relief

[Hawker 800 xp]

The most hurtful thing that I went through in this whole episode was the fact that the people I was doing the flight for to help them get their new business going hadn’t even called me to see if I was ok. Never mind coming into the hospital to see me for the first six weeks. One of the company representatives came in after six weeks for five minutes. He was very cold and showed no signs of thoughtfulness or care. His aim of the visit was to try and get me to sign some paperwork so that they could get their insurance money for their aircraft. and then left. The relationship I had with them before hand, they were over excited that I was going to help them with their project. I had met one of the owners and had dinner with him and spent much time with the other over the phone and in the office. I wrote them letters and didn’t even get a response. They basically turned their backs, Later to only receive an attorney’s letter to say I could never contact them again. I was left to my own to battle with the coming financial difficulties I was to encounter. I was very fortunate that I had very loving parents that stuck by me and helped me all the way. I had a very close beautiful princess of a girlfriend that helped me through all the bad times and never left my side. I had a couple of very close friends that helped me out on a daily basis. Always kept in touch and showed their support (Thanks Guys)

Learnt about people: I didn’t know people to be so cruel after I had risked my life and got seriously injured in helping them, to just turn their back. I suppose you get all kinds of people on this planet. I used to get calls from people all the time saying they will come and visit me and I just used to think to myself. No you are not, your are caught up in the rat race of life. You not going to come round and they didn’t. I didn’t hold it against them as I know what it is like when you are caught up in the modern life. It’s hard to go out and do something that is out of your normal pattern. I cover more about that later in the book.

This was something that I had to fight through and not let it get to me too much as it was really hurting my feelings. I know now that no matter how injured your body is the pain you feel from a broken heart or bruised soul is the worst feeling you can go through. I kept fighting with myself to think through it and be positive where I can. It took a lot of courage but eventually managed to turn all my anger and pain into a positive outlook and just put my energies into getting better and healing my body.

I got to know doctors and nurses quite well. Whenever I had to go back into hospital for more operations. They used to say”hi Dave, here’s your kit of clothes. You know where to go, off you go, they are expecting you in 20 minutes.” I used to have a laugh when I went into theater as it was becoming second nature to me. My anesthetist showed me what all the probes were for and what he was injecting me with. They always used to joke about me being back again. My orthopedic surgeon comes in saying. “Ahh today we take the me Cano sets off you “and before I could reply, Lights out. I now have shares in the hospital





For over a year afterwards I Had very pale skin. The normal colour I used to have took ages to come back, it was literally like I hadn’t seen the sun. It wasn’t the lack of sun though it was the body taking time out to repair itself. My scars on my face took a long time to heal. I used to rub Vitamin E oil onto my scares every opportunity I could. That did wonders for my skin. My scars have healed up so nicely.

At a later stage I started to feel sharp objects coming out of my gums in my mouth. I thought it was wisdom teeth trying to come through. It was very painful, also the pieces were very sharp and made my tongue bleed from rubbing against them. It turned out not to be teeth coming out but from when my jaw bone had broken up. Splinters of bone had come off and were sitting under the flesh. This was the way the body rejected the pieces by pushing them out through my gums.

I had many Lacerations and cuts to the face from when parts of the instrument panel penetrated into the skin on impact and also when the doctors had to cut through the skin to make repairs. There were some nerves cut under the skin making me lose some feeling in my face and also muscle movement. Which prevented me from being able to smile as my mouth would go off skew. Luckily the nerves in my face grew back and all returned to normal.





People used to crack jokes at me for wheeling my wheelchair and that I am going to fall over backwards.
The only thing I could respond was that if I spent most of my life wheeling super bikes I’m sure going to wheelie my wheelchair.I have a whole new respect for wheelchair drivers. People permanently in wheelchairs don’t have it easy. There are still a lot of places that aren’t wheelchair friendly. You can’t go up or down stairs. Car parks are terrible. The handicapped parking are always blocked up by people who shouldn’t be there. It is really hard to socialize with people in a croup as you tend to get left out. Even people that know you tend to avoid you. Maybe it’s because they are not used to it and don’t know how to handle the difference. My father made a few alterations to the house to make it easier for me to get around. He had put in a new garden path. Made ramps for me to get up and down a couple of stairs in the house. I made a mess of the house as not used to using a clumsy wheel chair I made marks all over the walls from the rims and foot rests sticking out. For a while I had to have my left leg out straight on a bracket. This made things harder. Getting around corners always involved sticking the foot rests into the wall corners taking the paint off. Not having the use of two hands at times didn’t make it any easier.

In the late afternoon, evenings I used to look at the time awaiting 8pm to come by, as that was my escape and knew I could go to bed knowing my cat would join me and I could say good night to this world. In some ways in hope that I wouldn’t have to wake up to it. Just to wake up was very depressing to me and had to start my day with anti depressants


Much later in my recovery when I was starting to walk and leave my crutches behind I hardly had any feeling in my left foot. When I took a step forward I had to look down slightly as I had to make sure my left foot was in front of me to catch my weight. Not feeling the pressure on my toes made it very difficult to balance. It was like I had a wooden peg leg. I had gotten used to it for a while as using my sight as a reference helped a lot. I really enjoy flying RC planes and when out at the field I realized another problem as while standing for a short time while taxiing the plane out for its take off, I was ok. I’d take the plane off and keep it low as I flew around for a while. Then decided to make it climb high. The little model went up vertically. Looking up and focusing on the model. This was great fun for a short while before I found myself with a great thud hitting the ground on my back. Slightly dazzled and trying to work out what had happened and realizing that I was still in control of this little plane and attempted to land it. Realizing what had happened, without having the balance sensors in my feet and also looking straight up I had no visual reference to the horizon I just fell over backwards. Well this was something to learn.

Having to self catheterize to empty my bladder, sticking this long probe up inside of me used to cause infections which used to stay in my bladder. Not having any sensation I couldn’t tell and only used to find out when I went for checkups. I used to go on long term medications for this to allow my bladder wall to recover

[JTea]

I don’t want to spend the whole day talking about myself so am going to keep this short.

There's a longer version?

[Pilot DAR]

Hawker,

Certainly your story causes me to really appreciate 35 years of flying, without crash or injury, and having my health. I'm certain that you did not go to the effort to write what you have so I could appreciate my life, but I do anyway (even a little more now...)

It is obvious that you're looking for a little support from your peers, and who could blame you, but I'm not sure what I as a peer could do to offer support, other than some kind words, and you got them early on.

Judging from my limited knowledge of the type, the aircraft you were flying was not intended or built to comply with prevailing design requirements for certified aircraft. As we live in a free world, it is generally permitted to build (and test fly) aircraft which do not meet the design requirements. In the countries I know, the aircraft in such cases is required to display a warning that it does not meet the certification requirements, and there are a lot of those requirements. One of them defines a maximum stall speed (or, to some degree, how it's going to glide), and lesser known, pilot visibility (or, what you're going to be able to see when the liquid goes from where it is supposed to be, to your windshield). The aircraft may still meet these requirements, but you are on your own to make this determination, the authority has not done that for you.

Tempting as it is to get into these fast little glass backward foambuilts, there are some downsides, of which you are now all too well aware. It sounds like the "test flight" you undertook, was not so much a purposeful investigation of a particular aspect of flying qualities, for a serious aviation manufacturing team, as it was a test of your willingness to do a favour for an aircraft owner/builder, who for what ever reason would not do the flight himself. I have no idea the terms of the flight authority you flew under, but somewhere in there I'm sure that there was a message reminding you that to some degree, you were on your own. Regrettably you have a much more clear idea of what that really meant. Even after your accident, it's not going to change. The authorities of the world will still let these amature aircraft fly, and people will still fly them. We wish them the greatest safety and success, but know that someone will repeat your event, with the same, or worse consequences. It happened today 30 miles from where I live. Two people are not with us any more.

Engine failure and oil on the windshield are not nice, particularly together, been there, done that, but the wise engineers at Cessna provided enough windshield that I could still see out to land safely, and I did, on a runway no less! When I was asked (more than just invited) to test fly a Quicky 2 (very much like a Dragonfly) I declined. I think that I insulted the owner, but neither he, or the Q2 are with us any more. I decided right!

We each have our personal limits. To some degree, they will be governed by the motto: "If your life bores you, risk it". My personal limits are based on a life I love, so I don't risk it. I test fly many aircraft, but they are all aircraft which were eligible for a C of A before the modification I am testing. My test flights are all done in accordance with a Transport Canada accepted test flight plan. Is that a guarantee, no, but it's a "check and balance" in my favour. I'm not knocking amateur built aircraft, many are excellent, but my personal limit is now "the tried and true". I'd be silly to say that I'll never be hurt in a plane, but here's hoping not, and I'm still following my plan.

I'm not sure what we can do for you here. I'm sure everyone would like to help you out, but speaking personally, I don't see a path to do anything other than write something supportive. Do also know that other searchable postings on the internet really do contradict what you have said in your first post. The truth can be seen in different ways by different people, but to get the best support, give the best truth…

My best advice, is join in, enjoy the PPRuNe group, share your WISDOM, offer ADVICE when you think that you can help a less experienced pilot, and otherwise find a path in your new life, where others can come along side, and meet you on common terms. There are lots of good people here (and a few who lack tact for time to time) and there's a lot to share. Concentrate on what you have to share, not what you can get. You will be amazed what you will get, when you share what you've got.

Hasty recovery,

Pilot DAR

[Brian Abraham]

JTea, a prat of a comment to make in the circumstances.
Hawker, a sad story and I full well understand your feelings. Some of us have been far more fortunate in surviving the travails that our love affair with life, and flying in particular, has visited upon us. I have some scars to show. You seem to be full of fighting spirit and of positive outlook, which is half the battle won.
A chap I worked with had an engine failure (Volkswagen) on take off in his Dragonfly. Fortunately he had enough runway remaining in front to put it down without any damage. Result of carb icing. As a matter of interest, what was the type engine involved in your accident and the cause of its failure?
I have no advice to offer, other than to say I wish you the very best, and God speed with the remainder of your lifes journey.

[Flying Lawyer]

Totally agree with Brian’s comment about the moronic post by JTea.

Hawker

Thank you for posting the extracts from the book you’re writing. It made interesting, and very sad, reading. Whether or not the book is ever published, I’m sure extracts on the internet and in magazines will be of interest to fellow aviators who may find things to learn from your terrible experience

From what you say, it appears you have been treated disgracefully by the directors of the company for whom you did the test flight – regardless of whether they have a legal liability to you.

Unfortunately (in this context), I am no longer permitted to give legal advice, either professionally or informally. If you’d posted within a year or so of the accident I could and would have done.

I strongly urge you to obtain legal advice from a specialist aviation lawyer. If you don’t do that now, there’s a risk you’ll always wonder if you could have obtained compensation for your terrible injuries, pain & suffering, medical expenses, loss of income while unable to work in consequence of the accident etc.

I don’t have any personal contacts amongst aviation lawyers in SA; I did a case some years ago in which a SA firm was involved but I no longer have any documents and can’t remember the name. However, it should be relatively easy to find out who has a good reputation.
eg
Ask your (former?) Hawker employers which lawyers they use for aviation work.
Ask SA aviation associations/organisations. AOPA?
Ask in PPRuNe’s African Aviation forum if anyone can recommend a good aviation lawyer to deal with a personal injury claim arising from an aircraft accident.
Ask on one of the SA aviation websites.

An aviation lawyer who deals with fatal accident/personal injury cases will be able to advise you if you have a cause of action against the company for which you did the test flight and/or any other company/person involved directly/indirectly in the design, manufacture and maintenance of the aircraft.
You need to take advice as soon as possible. The time limit for bringing legal actions, particularly personal injury actions, varies between jurisdictions. I don’t know the limitations in SA.

Insurance is a secondary consideration at this stage. You first need to find out if you have a cause of action against anyone and, if you have, start the proceedings within the relevant limitation period.

I assume this is a photograph of the aircraft –

Link to reports of the accident here -
ASN Aircraft accident 16-JUN-2006 Dragonfly Mk 3 ZU-DYF


Good luck.
I'm sorry I can't be of more help. If I could do more, I would.



NB:
Questions about your flying experience, training, qualifications, whether you were paid for the flight etc etc are understandably of interest in this forum. However, the crucial issues are whether it can be shown that any person/company who owed you a duty of care was negligent and whether any such negligence caused or contributed to the accident in which you were injured.


FL

[Hawker 800 xp]

Thanks guys. yes thats the pic.

I aproached this aircraft with enthusiasm to just help out. There were no money discussed. only when they left me to myself I invoiced them very little. (normal freelance daily rate) just to get something out of them.
It was powered by a Subaru engine


The last 2 years have been as you can imagine very tough. That writing is from my book which is coming on very well. I have written 53 000 words now and hope to publish soon. I just need to complete one more chapter and thats of how I come back into aviation. I have become a very positive person and still have big ambitions.

The good news, I have reciently re gained my class 1 medical and have done my ALTP flight test. I now have the little green book ICAO ALTP in hand which is a huge thing for me.

Legal wise, thats really dragging me down. The best thing for me now is to keep focusing on moving forward.

My dream is to fly long haul. Freight or passengers.

Maybe you guys may not be able to help me out legal wise.

What would be the best help is helping me move forward from here. getting ahead. If anyone knows of a company or a contact that can help me reach my dream. that would be fantastic.

[Pilot DAR]

Hawker,

Who had converted the Subaru engine for aircraft use? Homebuilt conversion or a company product?

Pilot DAR