Marina airport crash / fatality

[Browncbr1]

20 minutes ago, jetdriven said:

There are two holes per station though. Does holding one pin up hold the other too ?

I don’t know.  All I know is that the pins were seated well enough to hold when I shook back and forth and took off.  It wasn’t until some moderate G-loading was applied in the steep turn for it to come loose.  

[nels]

20 hours ago, Browncbr1 said:

Big coincidental event today.   I took my F up for its minimum weekly workout for some steep turns, slow flight, stalls etc.    checking security of my seat rails is always before starting engine.  It was secure.  I took off and headed out of the airspace, set up for cruise and went into a steep turn.   Halfway through the first steep turn, my seat slid back about a half notch.   I re-secured the seat and thanked the Lord that it didn’t happen on takeoff.   I flew around for 30 or 40 more minutes, then decided to move the seat one more notch forward because I thought it would be possible that my usual notch could have something in it that wasn’t letting the pin fully seat in the hole.  After landing, I moved the seat and found a small piece of gravel in the hole.     Check the pin holes are clear guys!

Craig. I mentioned cleaning out the holes in the rails back on page two. No one responded and that surprised me as I thought it very worth while. So again, I dug debris from the locator holes in my old E model as I was having trouble positively locating the seat. If the pins are only partially submerged in the hole they can easily cam their way back out with just a little extra for and aft load. (The ends of the locator pins have a small lead on them which only gets larger with wear). Make sure there is no dirt build up in these holes or as Craig found out a small pebble that prevents FULL engagement of the pins!

Edited April 6, 2018 by nels

[Browncbr1]

2 hours ago, nels said:

Craig. I mentioned cleaning out the holes in the rails back on page two. No one responded and that surprised me as I thought it very worth while. So again, I dug debris from the locator holes in my old E model as I was having trouble positively locating the seat. If the pins are only partially submerged in the hole they can easily cam their way back out with just a little extra for and aft load. (The ends of the locator pins have a small lead on them which only gets larger with wear). Make sure there is no dirt build up in these holes or as Craig found out a small pebble that prevents FULL engagement of the pins!

Nels, i didn’t see your post, but glad our community has benefited from your comments and my scare.   I know I will be looking closely for pebbles often!

 

[Hank]

3 hours ago, Browncbr1 said:

Nels, i didn’t see your post, but glad our community has benefited from your comments and my scare.   I know I will be looking closely for pebbles often!

 

While you are on your head checking the seat rails, also check for dirt buildup and pebbles around your fuel selector switch . . . . I've dug some out on the ground that would have been unpleasant to do during flight 

[bradp]

I just cleaned a bunch of dirt out of my seat rail tracks today.  

[DaV8or]

I went flying on Thursday and I remembered to check out the viability of my PVC pipe seat safety idea. It looks very doable and it would be crazy easy to deploy and remove. When I get time, I may make one just for the hell of it and see how it goes... and yes I have cleaned out my seat track holes at annual when I vacuum the carpet.

[Immelman]

Some additional info added to the NTSB information on this incident:

https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief.aspx?ev_id=20180326X54912

I have refrained from this thread because the accident hit pretty close to home. RIP to a wonderful man.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Immelman

[kris_adams]

On 4/6/2018 at 1:54 PM, nels said:

Craig. I mentioned cleaning out the holes in the rails back on page two. No one responded and that surprised me as I thought it very worth while. So again, I dug debris from the locator holes in my old E model as I was having trouble positively locating the seat. If the pins are only partially submerged in the hole they can easily cam their way back out with just a little extra for and aft load. (The ends of the locator pins have a small lead on them which only gets larger with wear). Make sure there is no dirt build up in these holes or as Craig found out a small pebble that prevents FULL engagement of the pins!

Think I will be checking mine this weekend.  Thanks guys for the tips!

[kris_adams]

53 minutes ago, Immelman said:

I have refrained from this thread because the accident hit pretty close to home. RIP to a wonderful man.

Sorry for your loss...

[cliffy]

ditto

[zaitcev]

On 3/29/2018 at 5:01 PM, Hank said:

That's just not practical in a short body. To get in and out of the left seat, it really needs to be all the way back, which means touching the back seat. My wife always asks if she is clear to slide her seat back after I shut down, and its quick and easy to move anything on the floor out of the way.

I fly an M20E, I am 6'5" and I do not move my seat anymore. I move the right seat and then transfer my butt to it for exit. BTW, if my seat is in the unlocked position, I cannot reach pedals anymore (not without some good scooting), but yoke is no problem. Of course the individual results vary with a body type.

[Immelman]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/19/obituaries/lee-holley-cartoonist-of-teenage-life-in-ponytail-dies-at-85.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

[carusoam]

Thanks for sharing all the details, Immelman.

 Hoping we find a learning experience from Mr. Holley’s tragedy.

Best regards,

-a-

[mike_elliott]

Thanks to the generosity of the Mooney family, we have reached out to Patricia Holley last week.

[N213EJ RIP]

Hi all,

I am the daughter of Lee Holley.   Thank you for your kind words.

I know Mike said he reached out to the family, and I wanted to apologize for the lateness of responding.  

Thank you very much to the Mooney family for your generous donation.   

This was such a shock to the family, but I take a lot of comfort in knowing that dad died doing something he truly loved.    

I have many fond memories of flying up to Sunriver, Oregon, and the quick trips to the "Flying Lady" restaurant in Morgan Hill for lunch.    Dad absolutely loved flying, and he flew as much as possible.   One of his favorite experiences was renting a plane in New Zealand and flying from the North Island to the South Island.   (he kept the NZ pilot's license in his current flight log book)

He was also happy and proud to help the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Dept,  when they needed detectives flown on long trips.   I didn't know until after the memorial service that they had sent 2 plain clothes detectives to the service.

My father did everything by the book when it came to flying.   I used be so disappointed as a kid that he wouldn't "buzz" the beach when we were flying together!    And  it was always fun watching my dad trying to tell my mom that "he had to lighten the load" before we could take off for our trip to Sunriver.

Everyone has been so great, especially the NTSB agent, the Monterey County Sheriff's Dept, and the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's dept.     Having to deal with something like this so suddenly and unexpected was very difficult.  This was definitely not the way I thought Dad would go out, but it only seems fitting, and much as he loved flying.    

Rest in Peace Dad.   I know you are up there still flying around!

[N213EJ RIP]

[Skates97]

Thank you for coming here and sharing some thoughts.

[DonMuncy]

Thank you for your thoughts. I suspect I speak for everyone here in saying you are welcome for the small help we offered.

[carusoam]

Great follow-up!

Excellent PICs.

Thanks for sharing.

Best regards,

-a-