Supercat

[Yenn]

A good friend of mine wrote off his Supercat yesterday. He survived well with only a bit of a stiff back and a lump on his leg this morning.

 

He did a good job of flying the plane to the site of the accident, but unfortunately the paddock had large rocks hidden in the long grass.

 

The Rotax 447 engine reduced power when he was 4500' high close to Turkey, near gladstone. There was rough country and sea all around the area, but grazing country within gliding distance, but unfortunately the rocks made a mess of the fuselage. When he built the plane he substituted 2mm 5 ply for the ceconite in the cockpit area. That ply was cracked completely from top to bottom of the fuse. Both undercarriage legs were torn off and the tailwheel was ripped sideways. The wings are practically untouched.

 

The cause of the accident was a loss of power, it would only reach 3 to 4 thousand rpm.

 

Carby ice may have been the problem, but we think it would have stopped the engine completely in a 4400' glide. Another suspect is a failed gasket in the inlet side as there was some oil felt under the carbie. During the glide CHT and EGT appeared normal i am told, which rather rules out an inlet leak, which I would expect to raise CHT.

 

No doubt the pilot will be having a very good look at the engine and more info may be forthcoming. Luckily he is a 2 airplane pilot so will be flying his Borabee next weekend.

 

He did a good job of flying the plane to the accident site and walking away safely.

 

 

[Guest dracer]

447? could it have been internal?

 

gasket leak would be a reason to loose some power but not that much.

 

 

[Guest disperse]

Glad to hear he's ok Ian

 

This is the guy that showed me around Rodds bay at chrissy time