My crash was due to pilot error. I was practicing some stuff I’ve been doing in Realflight all week, and while I can report immense progress with inverted flight, the rest of my suite had some issues.

I was in command, I had a plan, and I was having a good time.  I was practicing knife-edge flight with the T-28, and Larry was photographing the results.

I had done a few good passes, and in a North->South pass I rolled left.  For some reason I cannot explain, I failed to apply reverse rudder, and sticked the rudder left instead of right.  Not so good.

I entered the manuever at ~40 feet, and if I had come in even 10 ft higher, I would have been OK.  I was grandstanding for Larry’s camera, plain and simple, and the result was predictable.

 Humorous detail:  Nearly everybody who observed this crash saw the canopy leave the aircraft in a way that would resemble a scale ejection.

Trojan Man lives, but only sort of.

I am pleased that the wing survived with minimal damage.  No electronics were damaged in the crash, and I didn’t even break the prop!  

I was really close to pulling this out when I contacted terra firma, so i did not hit at the traditional ‘lawn dart’ angle of attack.

Phew.  I guess I had this coming for a while, considering the experimental nature of the project and the level of comfort I have with the bird.

New, improved T-28 to be developed this week.

- Eli