Hey Savannah-Tom..Was This You???

[SixTwoLeemer]

Looks like a Zenith 701 or Savannah. Ouch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNFdLOm ... re=related

How do I make this vid appear (ready to play)?

[58Skylane]

Here's part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qxin0XA0Ro&feature=related

[kevbert]

This happened in Brazil. Here's a Google translated version of the Portuguese text that accompanied the video:

A single-engine plane trying to make a forced landing in the late morning of Tuesday, flipped at the airport Joaçaba city, located 340 km west of Florianopolis. The pilot and one passenger escaped with only minor bruises throughout the body.

The pilot and journalist William Mark Brollo Deczka did a flyover in the city of D'Herval West to conduct aerial photos in the area where the plane had technical problems. The joystick would have had some defect, which caused the pilot to return to the airport to Santa Terezinha attempting an emergency landing.

During the descent, the pilot landed on the grass beside the runway, hit an embankment and rolled over, getting completely "upside down". Deczka said the aircraft would have "lost the stick." "I just went to the side and had no control whatsoever pilto. So we stopped on the grass instead of going to the track," he said. "He was very calm to return to the airport to make the emergency landing. We are born again," sighed with relief.

Although the aircraft was completely destroyed, pilot Mark Brolo suffered only minor injuries. He was rescued by a team from the Fire Department to be hypertensive, but is doing well.

[Savannah-Tom]

Nope, not me:

the plane is a zenith 701

it is clean and painted

I can't speak Portuguese

the pilot looks like he lands like I do, though

tom

[Zzz]

DRIVE IT ON!

According to the story, it sounds like he had a partial flight control failure. If so, he did well getting it on safely.

[Stol]

The plane is/was a bastardized 701. They removed the leading edge slats, and it looks like they didn't even add the VG's to suppliment the loss of low speed traits the slats give.... From the sound of the wind blowing in the mic it was gusty. The plane mantained good roll control and on short final exibited proper pitch control......

To me it looks like a POOR landing and the pilot is using a mechanical excuse to draw attention away from his 'less then steller' flying abilities. If ya look at one shot where it shows the plane laying in a crumpled heap there appears to be 3000' or more of useful runway left.

Ruined a nice looking plane too.

Word to the wise................ Leave your slats on...............

Ben

[SixTwoLeemer]

Stol, I usually claim mechanical failure when I do the same cartwheel on my motorcycle....are you trying to tell me that doesn't work on airplanes??



I think the shark painted on the front ( 0:47 on the 2nd video ) tells me all I need to know about why this plane bit the dust..

Him was hungry-

[dirtstrip]

Nope. Not a 701 and not a Savannah either.
A 701 has the full flying rudder, not a standard vertical stabilizer with a hinged rudder like this one, but the Savannah does. Its not a Savannah either because a Savannah wing goes straight across the top of the cabin without the noticeable dip above the cabin like the 701 and this one. This plane is definitely based on the 701, but is a Brazillian knockoff with a Savannah style rudder and its own wing design with no slats.

It is this plane. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40RUJ5_GJdE

Sebastian Heintz of Zenith aircraft will tell you the ease of copying their plans is the reason they quit selling them. You have to buy a kit now.

The crop is all in. I only have three building projects on the house, the new cowling, the MT prop, tuned exhaust installation, and of course this site to occupy myself with for a little while.

dirtstrip

[Savannah-Tom]

Nope. Not a 701 and not a Savannah either.
A 701 has the full flying rudder, not a standard vertical stabilizer with a hinged rudder like this one, but the Savannah does.
dirtstrip

Good job on noticing the rudder.

Watching the movie in slow motion, it looks to me like the nose gear collapsed about half way across the taxi way. That was one of the mods Savannah has that is supposed to be better than the original 701. I've tried very hard not to test that with my plane, though.

tom

[dirtstrip]

Right about the weakness in the nose wheel/firewall area on the original 701. Mine was a 1988 model with the lower gross wt of 960 instead of the 1100 that it is now. The factory came out with a firewall reinforcement kit in the 90's to beef up the mount area of the nose wheel and a taller spring gear. Mine had both updates on it when I got it. Not that it is of much interest to most people reading this but it should be some comfort to the guys who are just finishing theirs on this forum that the nose wheel system is much stronger than it was. Unfortunate of course for those still knocking off copies of the original 701 fuselage plans down in Brazil.

I tested that nose wheel reinforcement kit on my first steep uphill landing, or should I say wheel barrow style landing. Landed on a hill above the HOT Spot at Bristol SD one late afternoon with my son for steaks. Slower and lower on the approach is what I learned on that first one. Rode the nose wheel half way up the hill before the tail quit flying. What a ride, glad I didn't have a Brazilian nose job waiting for me at the top. Then stayed too late and came home guided by the yard lights of the farms I knew. Thank God for moonlight landing on the dirt road.