When good mornings go bad...

[Fallschirmjager]

It's sunny & clear here in St.Louis, MO this morning, so I thought I'd take the E-III for a wing-stretch. On taxiing, I hit a fault in the strip and broke my damn tail skid. Before I could blip, I had torn the crap out of the bottom of my tail assembly. I'm looking at moderate wood damage, as well as at least
5 yds of new cotton muslin (comes from a mill in NoCal, and it ain't cheap !),
not to mention probably upwards of 12 hours of work (not counting repainting & doping). I doubt I'll get her back up before the crappy Midwest
weather comes in. I'd just like to stick my head in the prop arc...

Fallschirmjager

[Laserlloyd]

Hi Fallschirmjager:

Well look on the bright side, you didn't hit any thing while in the air....

Lloyd...

[Roadhog]

Dear Falls, Where were you flying out of when the damage occurred? If you need help on the repairs, I could get a weekend off to serve as unskilled labor. Let me know i f you could use me. Scott

[Der Grüne Flieger]

Fallschirmjager,

Sorry on your mishap, but I think Llyod has it right,.... everything that got wrecked can be fixed. Nothing got damaged on you, except your pride.

Good luck with the repair.

Phil

[Epee]

That really stinks. I feel for you but it was fortunate that the mishap didn't result in injury. Plus think how this experience binds you even closer to those first aviators and their experiences!

[ONEALM]

Plus think how this experience binds you even closer to those first aviators and their experiences

I like it. Now I don't feel nearly so bad for some of my past, ahem, adventures.

Trust me FallSchirm... if you just broke the airplane, it's no big deal....

[crankcase]

i admire you guys. you maintain your planes without an "army" of ground staff who work all night to get things fixed and ready for ops the next day! Really an indispensable bunch of people when you think about it...
CC

[albapfalzd3]

Originally Posted by crankcase

i admire you guys. you maintain your planes without an "army" of ground staff who work all night to get things fixed and ready for ops the next day! Really an indispensable bunch of people when you think about it...
CC

They don't have to fly 2 or 3 combat ops the next day every day. I admire these fellows who do own these vintage aircraft (or repros) and keep them flying because they help keep the memory of these old gals (sorry if you don't like the feminine reference) alive. I would love to see an E.III flying (I would almost kill to see an Albatros D.V) around up close. Thanks fellas.

Roy

[Fallschirmjager]

... for the "Chin-up" 's and the well-wishes. You're right-- if the damage had occurred and I still got off the ground, I could have had a disaster on my hands. I spent the remainder of the day after yesterday's post stripping-down and removing the tail assembly, and the last metre of fuselage to check for any hidden structural damage. Thankfully, there was none. The strip I fly off of is private, and the owner, a friend as well as "crazy aviator
landlord", feels like $&@%*)$^#*&^ about what happened. As we speak, he has a local contractor regrading the strip. He offered to pay for all my damage, but I declined, seeing as how he's such a stand-up guy. He is giving me the rest of the year's hangar/strip fees for free, though. Actually, I'm glad I AM my own ground crew. I pretty much know what I'm doing, and if something screws up, I can only blame myself, and somebody else doesn't have to beat themselves up for their mistake. I will let you know how the repairs go (and if I can ever get this stupid Crapintosh to load my pix, I'll
post them for you to revel in the simple beauty of "Der Grau Adler").

Fallschirmjager

[Claudius]

I look forward to those pix!!!!

Heck, I would REALLY look forward to seeing it in person if you could get it up here to the EAA Fly In in Oshkosh, WI.! (But I know that craft doesn't have that kind of range.)