Good Morning Brodhead Pietenpol!
I thank my fellow builders and concerned individuals for their support over the last six weeks. I suffered my worst nightmare at the end of 05 on 9 August as most of you know. It appears that as I've aged so has everything else, like my heart; it has what the doctors call a "leaking-valve".
So when I opened up the throttle to fly out to the Deck Farm, everything went black; I passed out, and the security video tells the rest of the story, for I have no memory of it , nor the elven days in ICU.
I'm on the mend and for the most part will heal. Lost the sight in my left eye, broke my neck , L1, slit my throat, crushed my voice box, knocked out six teeth, put a couple of teeth in my sinus cavity in my head, broke the left arm a couple of times, broke the left shoulder again, broke a few ribs, and managed to get stitched-up in a whole bunch of places. The importance of this is that unlike me, please remove any "racing harness" safety belt system and replace it with excellent quality belts stronger than 9 G my weight, or somewhere in the 1500-1600 pound stress.
The end of my hip four point belt ripped out; NO Not the fabric, the steel clip. Had that not happened, I would have left the accident scene hurt, but not in the condition I find myself in today; It was my decision, and I take full responsibility for it. You can avoid this by making sure the belts you use/used are safer than the ones I did.
The FAA/NTSB has informed me that I should be most proud of my build, for there was no "causation/failure". in my build which attributed/caused NX709HR to crash that day. We have a good idea of that and after the hallow is removed from my broken neck we will further investigate the root cause; hopefully, that should be by Thanksgiving. However, some have informed me they were in theirs for eight months. I sure hope not.
As for the Pietenpol NX709HR with 150 HP Subaru EJ2.2, it flew like a dream and I really enjoyed discovering the quirks of my build. While not proven entirely, I think the plane would have been a great dependable platform, but as they say that's history.
Typing is a real bitch one-eyed, and if I can help anyone in the process of building email me at
hdr0614@hotmail.com, or get my phone number from Pat or Earl......I'd be happy to help.
Fly safe, gravity sucks!
Herb Rose
Bendigo Field 74N