NEW

WHAT ?.........WE ARE IN A GLIDER !!

Everything was ready on June15 2017, we had to reach the south of Sweden in less than 5 hours of flight for a Club Orion's meeting ar our friends the Nyberg brothers who built a G-802, but with twin propellers to forgo the long driveshaft. Pat had been refining the navigation for several weeks: purchasing maps, checking the zones, compiling frequencies, in short everything that makes up a scrupulous preparation for a good navigation.

So, on that day, the tanks are full, the weather forecast is taken, and for once it promises us clear skies on the whole trip and, as a bonus, for a few days.  We arrive at the hangar, load the luggage and take the plane out, after a most careful pre-flight check as usual. Now we are on board, we contact LFRK tower and on the way we are to Kristianstad ESMK, a city situated 61 kms northeast of Malmö.

We take off at 10:40 am and easily reach level 35, our cruising altitude, before Deauville which we contact so they can accompany us in their control zone. We flew between the Pont de Normandie and the Pont de Tancarville (a nice view of the Seine and its meanders)

We contact Rouen to continue on to Abbeville.

From there, I notice unusual vibrations of the plane and I try to correct it by playing with the MAP, then with the mixture and the pitch, but without much success, I must admit.

Having just passed Abbeville, we decided to call Lille Control as Rouen had still not released us. They tell us that we should have contacted them earlier, and ask us to give them our position because their radar was out of order (it is the day for that to happen!!) Pat rushes to her map to cross check and I consult my GPS to give them our position. I tell them that Merville-Calonne is in sight and slighty to our left. I don't have time to finish my sentence when, at this exact moment ........... total silence in the cockpit ..................... WE ARE IN A GLIDER!!!

I point out to Pat that we don't have propulsion anymore (because I personnaly think that the engine has quit) I annonce to Lille to I have to change quicly to Merville frequency to which I don't even say MAYDAY, MAYDAY MAYDAY as I should, but I inform them of my emergency and they kindly and promptly clear the approach. I remember the precious advice of my instructor in the ALAT (French Aviation of the Army) who said to me " whatever happens, you keep on flying the airplane"

Everything happens so fast!!!!

When all of this takes place, we are flying at 3500 ft (about 1000 meter) and in sight of the airfield. So it is just a question of realizing a nice pattern as I was taught. On final, I notice the offset threshold with its 3 large crosses and I said to Pat "If I miss the runway, I am sure to land on the offset threshold without any problem!" Except that at the time, I noticed, in the middle, the posts supporting the aproach lights and this option, suddenly, does not seem  very reasonable to me. Fortunately, I still have enough speed, so I push a little on the yoke to make a dolphin jump, enabling us to reach the runway without any difficulty. After a kiss landing, I let myself slide to the first taxiway on the left to clear the runway. And then I get out of the ORION to look for the possible cause of our problem, and then ...... big surprize, I say to Pat  :"We lost our propeller!!"

"What?" she replied to me.

It looks like a jet and the Co-pilot looks unruffled !

It was not exactly the propeller which decided to divorce without mutual conscent, but the mini-shaft which passes through the bearing box on which the propeller holder attaches that fractured just after the aft bearing.

Flyco pulling the distressed ORION.

Then FLYCO came to tow us to a hangar and afterwards we completed the various procedures required after this "incident". Our first concern, of course, was to make sure with the Lille Gendarmes de l'Air that the propeller did not fall on someone or on a building (but we were quickly reassured) So the only option was to look for the prop in the surroundly countryside.

Undaunted, we continued our journey to Kristianstad by Rent a Car (a Smart 4 at that and not very confortable !) 18 hours on the road instead of 5 hours in the ORION. But hey, I always said that since we started to build an airplane, we never had to drive so much!!!

Notice where we lost the prop and where it landed,

nevertheless almost on the flight path !!

The adventure continued a week later, because the GPS track quickly indicated the exact place where our propeller had decided to quit, and with the cooperation of Olivier Briand, President of the Club Orion, we decided to find the missing prop. So, here started many round trips to Merville for the search and the repair of the Orion...........which allowed us to visit the North of France.

During the following week-end, we criss-crossed an entire area  which could have hosted the object. We visited the surrounding villages and all the farmers because, with the approaching harvesting season, we wanted to warn them to be careful not to damage their equipments. So we walked through woods, corn and potato fields, to finish tired........... but alas empty handed.

   On the look out.

The next week-end, the President went back with a drone and he changed the exploration area but came back empty handed, spending more time looking for the drone. So we decided to wait for the end of the harvest and see if anyone found it.

Well, the following Monday, I received a phone call from the Mervile tower to inform me that a person, returning from vacation, had found the propeller stuck in a meadow behind his house and had brought it back to the tower where it was at my disposal.

The interest of being able to inspect it, was to assess the damages. Two blades were split but the one that was stuck in the ground was intact. After expertise, it turned out that the steel in which the part was made had not received the proper heat treatment.

The ORION wisely returned to its base on August 13. And has since been flown many times to the satisfaction of its pilot and co-pilot. The incrimated part was temporarely replaced by a kind loan from another homebuilder while waiting for the redesign and the fabrication of the new parts which were done in a specialized worshop.

Happily returned to LFRK.

It is evident that, on that day, our Guardian Angels were working overtime for us.

Homebuiding is a great and beautiful adventure!!