Windshield fabric issue

[Spdcrazy]

60B794B0-CAE1-4387-B81F-BFCF90025BFA.jpgDamn cell phones. I’ll try this again.

I wrecked my pa22/20 on July 4th this year. I was at 1000ft agl when I heard a pop. The decision was made to land as I couldn’t maintain altitude. I pancaked in on a curvy residential road pretty hard. Now I am working on a full rebuild to included just about everything minus a stretch and a 360.

what was deemed the issue by the NTSB (and I concur) is the fabric over my windshield came up and blanked the elevator. Upon further inspection, the fabric was not cotton or linen. The fabric also was tucked in the channel like it should have been. It had a lot of life left also. I did not have the metal strip that is common. What gave up was the glue that held it in place and it worked it’s way loose, then up.

what saved this situation from becoming much much worse was multiple things. Shoulder harnesses are a big one. As is the 29” Alaska bushwheels/airbags. They took a lot of the steep decent inertia and absorbed it. I also contribute being able to walk away without a scratch by the experience I had in landing off airport in my Pinto Bean. When it all happened and I had seconds to pick a landing place, I saw 5-700ft of curvy road and made it happen. It definitely didnt look promising but it was better than the river, or the marsh. A42EF3FD-E3C4-4768-B4E4-570465457364.jpeg

[Spdcrazy]

Sorry. Not savvy with this platform using my cell phone.

might enjoy my YouTube channel. Many prior off airport fun with the pacer and the last video shows and explains what I just wrote.


The Pinto Bean Wreck
https://youtu.be/4WkNuHniM0g

[moto657]

I was so bummed to see you were in crash with your Pacer. I was enjoying the YouTube vids you were making, great to follow along on your Alaskan adventures.

Glad that you walked away unscathed, and can’t wait to see the rebuild process! Thanks for taking the time to share!

[Steve Pierce]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope it will get others looking at the fabric above their windshield and check for the metal strip. Hope you will make some videos covering the rebuild of your Pacer. Glad you walked away.

[smcnutt]

Nice job putting it down even if it wasn't as smooth as you wanted. Glad you walked away because that's all that matters. As soon as you heard that 'Pop' you no longer had to worry about the airplane because the insurance company was the new owner from that moment on. All you had to do was walk away once it was on the ground...and you did. Good work.

Saw the video including the interesting coincidence at the end. Did you ever ask your Dad if "you" happened before or after his crash?

[MrBill]

That is a great story and well done. Very strange coincidences happen all the time...bigger than us.
I am very interested in the way your plane acted. How do you feel it would have reacted to a no power glide? Did you feel that power was necessary? I am adding more screws to my strip!

[Spdcrazy]

Nice job putting it down even if it wasn't as smooth as you wanted. Glad you walked away because that's all that matters. As soon as you heard that 'Pop' you no longer had to worry about the airplane because the insurance company was the new owner from that moment on. All you had to do was walk away once it was on the ground...and you did. Good work.

Saw the video including the interesting coincidence at the end. Did you ever ask your Dad if "you" happened before or after his crash?

Thank you! I didn’t think about insurance at all until way after I was on the ground. But all I knew was I wasn’t going to make it to an airstrip.

i am afraid of what he might say!! I know I didn’t conceive any children that day.

[Spdcrazy]

Looking back, if I had more altitude (says every surviving crash pilot) I would have added power, and trimmed. Maybe tried a notch of flaps. But in the moment it was obvious what I needed to do. I had no up elevator authority. I pulled the mixture in hopes of saving the engine and didn’t have time to add flaps to be able to slow it down. I just quietly glided to the road. I kept it straight and centered on the road. One wing tip touched a tree after I was solidly sliding on the pavement and it rotated the pacer about 110*. It only took a friends truck and trailer, plus the help of a neighbor with an extending forklift. It was out of the road in about an hour.

I am beginning to believe the AD needs updated. I believe that metal strip should be mandatory on any pacer without a skylight. Regardless of fabric material or age.

[Old3pacer]

Very brave of you to share your story! I think you made the best of the situation. Can't wait to see your progress. Sorry for your pain - looking forward
to the future and your newer better plane. Glad you are safely on the ground.

[Gilbert Pierce]

File a SDR (service difficulty report) with the FAA. If everyone that has had that problem lately does so the FAA will investigate it.
Especially since it is a safety of flight item.


https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/...orm_8070-1.pdf

https://www.faa.gov/forms/index.cfm/...umentID/184424