On Thursday, November 11, 2004, "a day that will live in infamy", Charlie Avaritt was flying NX41CC at about 500' AGL on a cloudless, cold morning after the passage of a cold front in Zapata, TX. He was on his way to perform a fly-over in conjunction with a Veterans Day ceremony, something he has done in different airplanes each year since he's been airport manager of Zapata County Airport... probably some 15 years. This year, he never made it. Winds were strong and gusty from the north, but that was not the cause of the incident. While enroute to the ceremony, the engine began to run rough. Application of full and continuous carb heat did not improve the situation so Charlie set up for a precautionary landing to the only available open field in the expanses of South Texas brush country. While on short final to the field, the engine quit (a good thing, since the prop stopped in the horizontal position and saved it from damage).

The landing should have been a normal short/soft field landing to an unimproved field in a plane that can handle that pretty well. However, the roughness of the field apparently caused failure of a weld in one of the landing gear spring struts, which led to failure of the opposite leg. The gear having failed, the lower edge of the firewall dug into the ground, wiping out the air filter/carb intake box, breaking the carb body, damaging the lower cowl, and digging the "chin" into the ground. The plane went over on its back, leaving Charlie dangling from the seat belt and harness. His main injury was to the face, when his head pitched forward and struck the ignition key, breaking it off. We have not found the broken piece, so it may be inside Charlie's cranium ;o) Blood from the cut dripped onto the underside of the wing (he was hanging upside-down, remember).

Here's what it looked like when they got it trailered back to the hangar, using bungee cords and temporary cable bracing on the gear legs.

Here are the damaged landing gear spring struts that apparently began the failure and collapse.

Hardly any damage on this side of the cowling... some scratches and a wrinkle. The exhaust stack is bent back a bit though, and will need rework or replacement.

Here's the entire lower cowl, removed from the airplane. Two of the three panels have serious wrinkles and a gash, and will be replaced. Ditto the nose piece.

Ouch. Port side forward cabane, and the fork end on its brace strut, will need to be replaced.

Ouch again. Starboard side forward cabane, and its brace strut, will also need to be replaced. The good news was that the wing (center section and both wing panels) survived completely intact.

The carb and its airbox were hardest hit. The body of the carb (both top and bottom castings) broke as it took the brunt of the nose-over force. The filter and airbox were accordioned and will need to be replaced.

The bottom edge of the firewall also took a good deal of the energy of the falling fuselage, but Corky planned for such an eventuality and made the firewall in two halves... upper and lower. The lower half will need replacing, as will the bracket that holds the gascolator in place (and the feeder tube between the fuel tank and the gascolator). A bit of fabric on the belly, and one inspection cover on the belly, were also roughed up pretty good.

The rear seat support (thin plywood) was forced out of position and will need to be replaced or at least re-glued in place. The front crosspiece supporting the pilot's seat is broken in the middle and will need to be replaced too.

The vertical stabilizer leading edge is broken. The T-shaped leading edge piece (wood) will need to be replaced and the VS re-covered with fabric, but this will also give me the opportunity to offset the VS to eliminate the need for a rudder trim tab and also for holding right rudder at cruise.

The ELT was activated by the sudden stop, as is evident in this picture. Funny thing is that nobody responded to the ELT signal in the three days that it was activated. Good thing nobody needed immediate attention! Oh, and notice in this photo one of the wood verticals (near the starboard rudder pedal) was damaged by one of the wing struts punching through it. It will be cut out and replaced.

So now the disassembly and repair process begins. Wings are removed (a relatively simple task since Corky provided removable links in the aileron control cables). Here one wing is being lowered for removal.

...and here we are, New Year's Eve 2004, loaded up on the 16' trailer ready to head back to San Antonio for repairs. Looking on is "Bonk", Charlie and Shryll Avaritt's dog. The plane will go to Sal Hernandez' shop for the welding work. I wished I could have ridden in the cockpit on the way back Interstate 35 at 65 MPH; that's about a good cruise speed for the Pietenpol and I sure got the stares as I drove this thing around! More to follow... hope to be back in the air soon. I never did get my BFR ride from Charlie before the incident, so I'm still not current nor have I gotten checked out in 41CC!