7/22 Pioneer Mishap

[WtrSkr]

Any information on the Sonex that crashed at Pioneer on Sunday, 7/22?

I was coming back from running and errand and was stopped at the light on the overpass directly west of 27. We see him take off but he was very low and was not climbing too well. I begin to think he may ditch it in our general vicinity, however he banks left and crashes it at the west end of Pioneer. It eventually landed upright.We didn't go over to the scene due to auto traffic, but we did see folks were quick to get over there. When we drove back to Scholler a bit later, there was a police car, etc. Any info? I have searched since 7/22 and can't find any info. It was the first time I have seen a plane go down and i hope to never see it again.

I have a pic but can't seem to post it from my iPad

[CarlOrton]

I don't know what time of day you were referring; I was at the Sonex Open House on 7/22 from 10:00 until about 1:30 and nothing was mentioned there.

There *was* a Sonex who broke a throttle cable (closed) right on short final to 09/27, but he just rolled off and was pushed over to the Sonex hangars.

Nothing has been mentioned on the Sonex discussion forums on Yahoo Groups, and these guys would be all over something like that.

Are you sure it was a Sonex and not a Sonerai? Now you've got me curious...

[WtrSkr]

Below is a pic, sorry for the poor quality. We were in the car. It was around 2-3pm or so.

Could have been a Sonerai.

[martymayes]

Looks a lot like this Sonex N292SX, invasion stripes, checkboard cowl:

[mcdewey]

Yep, I was working FLO and saw him take off. High power, nose high, not climbing, wings twitching back and forth. I remarked to the other volunteers next to me, "That doesn't look good!" We watched him turn off left off to Pioneer and he seemed more stable. I turned back to talk to the others when one of them said, "Oh my God, he just crashed!". She said he dropped a wing and went down. No smoke appeared. Shortly afterwards, ambulances, police cars, fire engines went over there. Even saw the little red Volkswagen convertible head over there.

I didnt' see anything in NTSB and from the picture, looks like not too much damage. Glad nothing bad came out of it.

[CarlOrton]

Another Sonex builder just sent me the FAA report; no injuries; pilot & passenger. Categorized as a hard landing after loss of power.

Glad all are OK.

[WtrSkr]

Thanks for the update Carl. I am glad everyone was ok. Quite something to see it happen.

[Bill Greenwood]

As I was driving out of EAA that eveninig, I saw that plane being brought through the gate into the homebuilt parking area on a trailer. It didn't look bad at all, the only damage I saw in passing was a bent prop.
Maybe some good flying,(don't stall, don't spin, do the best you can to glide) as well as luck.