Cal’s RV-9a (#2)

[cgeyman]

Starting new build. Sadly my just completed rv-9a crashed on hour 6 of phase one. Engine stopped. NTSB tear down end of month. Occurred two months ago and just now recovering enough to start over. A shame. But, enjoy the Van’s kits and precision. Wife still has banished me to the hanger. Not sure yet why engine stopped. Will have lycoming on hand.

[jneves]

Happy to see you have recovered to the point you can get back to building the new 9A. Best wishes on the next build, now that you know the 9A well should be an easy project this go around.

[cgeyman]

Safe flying in wonderful Bay Area 😊
Cal

[PilotjohnS]

Glad to see you are back on the horse.
Slider or tip up?
Any changes from last time?

[dwranda]

I'm probably about a month or maybe 2 from my first flight of my 9A and can't imagine losing the plane after 6 hours. Glad you're well enough to be building. Good for you!!! Do you have any details on how you set the plane down and where?

[cgeyman]

I think I ran the right tank dry but switching tanks didn’t help. I am thinking my lightweight composite prop stopped and I should have started the starter ( not on my mental engine out checklist). We will see. NTSB has full garmin g3x data so hopefully it will be definitive. The crash photos showed no prop rotation, meaning the left prop fragmented and the right prop was fine. Thanks for asking. The photos are grisly. 😊 . I lost LOC at 30 feet. My mistake. Trying to avoid civilians.

[cgeyman]

Next time I will fly with full tanks and do one gallon increment fills on my garmin g3x. Also forget the “ground” tank fill out calibration. This is for taildraggers. Should have used “in flight” tank calibration throughout. Live and learn.

[PaulvS]

Hi Cal,
The main thing is that you are OK and recovering, even though it must be greatly disappointing that the first build is lost. Hopefully some of the items can be re-used. Good on you for getting back in the saddle again!
Cheers
Paul.

[cgeyman]

i was a participant in the NTSB “autopsy” of my crash. it was an air lock in the fuel line after unporting the left tank. i was low to the ground and manuevered to land rather than switch hands on the stick and flip on the boost pump. Apparently in low wings you need a good fuel pressure head to clear an air ingestion- on mynext/current build I will place the boost pump right next to the throttle, so as to reach it in the blind and without changing hands. 😊

hard lesson to learn. the plane was a joy to fly.

on to the “re-do”

[PilotjohnS]

sorry to hear about the crash, but glad to hear about the restart.

Maybe for phase 1, we all should just leave the fuel pump on when lower than 500 feet? one less thing to think about in emergency.