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I just got off the phone with Dale concerning his Ercoupe
ditching here in Washington State. He promised to post his account first
hand
when he gets more settled.
As I understood Dale's account, he had just taken off from
Tacoma Narrows Airport for the very short flight to Allyn where the airstrip
was. He applied carb heat and noted a power reduction with heat applied and
reduced throttle. While on approach he lost power. He applied full throttle and
obtained partial power back. The engine was running rough and he climbed up to
perhaps 700 feet. At this time it quit completely.
He no longer was in position to make the air strip and didn't
want to chance the very muddy beach. He arrived at the water indicating 60 with
the yoke full back. He had lowered the side windows half way. With no energy to
flare the plane struck with considerable sink. It immediately went over on its
back.
At this point, although the plane was on its back, it was
floating and according to Dale was very stable and remained afloat for 5-7
minutes. They were able to egress the plane , return to the cabin and extract
their flight bags (which had some floatation value) and then were assisted by
the chap in the kayak.
The news helicopter in its quest for some gory pictures
hindered the rescue rather than helping.
That's the account as told to me by Dale. I hope I
didn't leave anything out or change any part of his account.
They recovered the plane from the water Sunday the
21st.
Cheers:
Paul
N1431A
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