Draco is dead

[Shadrach]

Mr. Patey walked away but Draco parished.

https://www.flyingmag.com/draco-lost-in-takeoff-accident/

[RogueOne]

Talk about OWNING IT.  Respect to you sir.

Live and Learn.

[kerry]

I've seen the airplane several times this year in transient parking at the North Las Vegas Airport.  Sad to hear of its fate.  The plane definitely stood out.

[carusoam]

Also reported here yesterday...

Goofing around with strong gusty crosswinds can be extra challenging...

-a-

[Air pirate]

Glad Mike and pax walked away unharmed, saw his video and very impressed with his mea culpa. Airplanes can be repaired or replaced.  I was at KRTS all week (our team won jet gold ).

The winds on Sunday were pretty strong and getting worse throughout the evening. Monday was scary, high winds and gusts, dust. absolutely terrible conditions.

[kris_adams]

It's covered well including a video on Mike's youtube channel.  Watching the actual takeoff roll I was surprised to see the damage done to Drako.  What a cool plane it was.  Looking forward to seeing Scrappy.  I guess this gives him more parts if needed.

[Shadrach]

On 9/18/2019 at 2:12 PM, Kris_Adams said:

It's covered well including a video on Mike's youtube channel.  Watching the actual takeoff roll I was surprised to see the damage done to Drako.  What a cool plane it was.  Looking forward to seeing Scrappy.  I guess this gives him more parts if needed.

I too was surprised at how it came apart.  I understand it's a strutless highwing but the wings folded at the fuselage along the axis for which they were designed to be strongest. contrast with the cannoli wing of the 201 in the recent freeway incident. that wing deformed on impact but only failed in areas that made direct impact. The wing that did separate was impacted along the leading edge and failed along the longitudinal axis.  Perhaps someone smarter than me can compare and contrast the failures.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2019 by Shadrach

[SantosDumont]

Draco's not dead... just sleeping.

[carusoam]

Side track...

https://airrace.org/news/stihl-national-championship-air-races-gold-results/

AirPirate, is this it?

Congrats, on a job well done!

Draco's demise is mentioned here...

https://www.flyingmag.com/good-news-bad-news-reno-air-races-2019/

Best regards,

-a-

[xcrmckenna]

I got to see it twice, once in Vegas right after I passed my IR and most recently at Oshkosh. It was a thing of beauty. I’m a little heart broken. Mike and Draco did a lot over the last year to energize aviation!!!!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mark89114]

11 hours ago, Shadrach said:

I too was surprised at how it came apart.  I understand it's a strutless highwing but the wings folded at the fuselage along the axis for which they were designed to be strongest. contrast with the cannoli wing of the 201 in the recent freeway incident. taht wing deformed on impact but only failed in areas that made direct impact. The wing that did separate was impacted along the leading edge and failed along the longitudinal axis.  Perhaps someone smarter than me can compare and contrast the failures.

 

 

I agree, seemed strange how the right wing broke off when it didn’t even hit, that I saw.  And the specs weren’t particularly high for a modified ground loop.  

[steingar]

A pity, but I'm certain his next project will be even more spectacular.  You just can't keep a good man down.

[thinwing]

Looking at the video,it didn’t appear to be a ground loop...more like take off started in severe xwind.right wing low,airborne at very slow airspeed,continued right bank into ground with no aileron control 

[thinwing]

Years ago ,when I bought my Maule,the factory pilot checking me out ,made me practice xwind takeoffs .He pointed out ,that attempting takeoff in 3 point attitude in a severe xwind at low airspeed could result in what we saw on the Draco video.His method was to push the nose down on to the mains to reduce angle of attack and build up speed to increase aileron effectiveness and control direction (as best as you can )with rudder.We would basically takeoff crabbed into the wind.Some times pivoting on one main wheel.Draco sits 3 point with what looks like a lot positive wing incidence.Obviously we have all watched how slow it can get airborne.Ive heard 35 mph...in a 40 mph x wind that’s asking for control problem.I’m going to miss seeing Draco oct 17th at dead cow.There will be a few stol competitors happy they don’t have to compete against her I bet.

Edited September 19, 2019 by thinwing
Clarity

[Yetti]

He owned it, but why not just use all the horsepower and STOL and point it into the wind and go.    Then kind of fly runway heading.     It does not seem to be folded up well enough to be what I call a substantial design.

I don't think that is how you are supposed to park those things.

[thinwing]

Stead has 2 runways and a huge apron area that would have allowed for just that...

[GeeBee]

9 hours ago, Yetti said:

He owned it, but why not just use all the horsepower and STOL and point it into the wind and go.    Then kind of fly runway heading.     It does not seem to be folded up well enough to be what I call a substantial design.

I don't think that is how you are supposed to park those things.

Very often how I did it in my PA-18 Super Cub. Point her into the wind, even crossing runways. With that kind of wind, you would not roll 50 feet. The one time I could not do that due to construction, it was not pleasant.

 

 

[Yetti]

20 hours ago, thinwing said:

Stead has 2 runways and a huge apron area that would have allowed for just that...

He said he was having a hard time taxing so was not sure he could have made it to the other runway.

[Skates97]

In the video he lays out the whole chain of events and the moments when he could/should have decided to postpone the flight. I appreciate his candor, he explains all the points that he could have kept the accident from happening right up until he was just along for the ride. Glad everyone walked away and would encourage any new student or pilot to watch his video and everyone else to watch as a reminder that when that voice tells you "this might not be a good idea" we should listen.

I've always been a fan of saying things outloud, it makes it harder to ignore than that little voice in your head. I'm guessing if he had said out loud the things he said he was thinking in the video, ie: "I don't want to taxi to the other runway because I can barely control this in the winds, I don't want to ask the tower to take off across the runway because I don't want to possibly upset them, etc..." he would have probably made a different decision.