Back in Feb of this year, I found myself in the position oif reporting about the loss of a friends aircraft due to a crash in the river which runs under the approach of runway 13 at Courtenay Airpark......
Well, yesterday at work, we were treated to the SAR Cormorant doing circuits just to the south. We see most aircraft turn base and final when they are arriving on runway 13, but today all seemed fine but for a bit of random turbulent shifts in surface winds. Little did we know, there was a reason for the rescue heli in the area.
The story as I got it, seems to indicate that an Ultralight homebuilt A/C had been departing from runway 31. The departure from the surface was clean, but an aggressive climb angle was observed and the resulting slow flight climb was also noted. The wings were seen to rock quite visibly with a constant correction necessary, when it appeared that a stall had occurred. The reports don't verify whether or not a wing dropped first, but the nose did and with no altitude or airspeed to effect a recovery, the T-Raptor fell from flight into the river edge........what follows here are some shots of the location and recovery of the sad days events........
A momentary lull may have indicated no wind at the airpark, but the general direction for morning had been arrive/depart on rwy 13.
In my estimation, due to the prevailing winds of the day and the general direction of arriving traffic, this would have been a downwind take-off.
First the way it was in earlier times........
This is where she landed in the river
Dragged to the bank...
After wing removal, its time to get back across the river...
Last trip starts with a boat ride...
It was raining last time on this floatplane ramp with a bent plane......thats Hal (RV-6 crash) in the center with arms outstretched...
On the trailer and off to the shop, I assume to dismantle....
And finally the wings are removed on the mill side of the river.......
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