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N815RV(at)adelphia.net
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 Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 3:57 am Post subject: Relentless |
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Not about an RV, but a good read.
Relentless is still Relentless!
Thank you all for the kind words about my team, my plane, and me. You can
never have to many friends, especially when you're around to enjoy them!
I was returning from a tiring but exceptional week at Sun N Fun in Lakeland
Florida. I departed Tuesday morning April 11th from a wonderful night of
rest at my friend Mark Frederick's cool F1 Rocket Shop in Taylor, Texas. I
flew 2.5 hours to Las Cruses, New Mexico and stopped for fuel at about
9:30am. Blasting off from Las Cruses and climbing into the cool beautiful
skies at 12,500, it was hard to keep the smile from my face thinking about
how satisfying the past week was showing Relentless and enjoying such an
amazing aircraft. I was cruising at over 300 knots, 12,500 feet in the clear
smooth air for about 20 minutes when it felt like I ran over an elk! I hit a
pocket of wind sheer hard enough to knock my Bose headsets into my lap. Not
cool, but nothing more than I experience continually while chasing Darryl
Greenamyer around the pylons at Reno. Almost immediately I noticed smoke
entering the cabin. I looked out the window and realized immediately that my
direct route to Barstow had taken me right over the Mogolon Mountains and
zero options to set down. I slowly pulled the power back once I noticed that
the usual 190 degree oil temperature was now climbing through 235 degrees
quickly. I turned south seeing that it was the shortest route to an open
valley and possible option for landing. The plane however had a different
idea. The smoke was now turning noxious and the windscreen was now a
rippling medium brown color. At that point I knew the engine was losing oil
fast and the two turbos being red hot must be the source of the smoke. If I
was not on fire I was going to be soon. I declared an emergency with
Albuquerque Center that I had a possible fire and was expecting a forced
landing. Once Center confirmed they had me on radar I had the toughest
decision I have ever had to make in my life; keep the engine running until I
found somewhere to land risking being overcome by smoke that was now very
thick, or shut it down and hope that the source of the smoke would stop
while making my race plane a glider over a national wilderness area. After a
few very long seconds I made the decision to shut down the engine and
feather the prop. The oil temp was now 250 degrees, and the smoke was
unbearable. I later realized the aircraft had not started on fire but at the
moment I really thought it was. I pulled the mixture, feathered the prop,
and shut the emergency fuel shut off. To my amazement Relentless kept
flying! The prop almost immediately stopped and the silence was deafening.
At that point everything seemed to improve. The smoke started to dissipate
and I could see a small mesa of open golden grass appearing over the last
ridge of the wilderness area. I started feeling much better about my
situation and all I kept telling myself was to fly the plane! I remembered
the best glide for the NXT was 140 knots and lowered the flaps to about 20
degrees. After a few moments I realized that the glide would take me across
the last ridge and the open mesa would give me a shot at surviving. I
arrived over the mesa center at about 2000 feet above the ground and noticed
that there were a few roads and even a dirt landing strip at one edge of the
mesa. Glenwood Catron E94 was the strip I saw and man was that lookin' good.
Now, not only could I survive but if I didn't do something stupid I might
even save Relentless. I entered a high left downwind mainly because that was
the only space on the canopy that I could see out of, the rest was rippling
with oil. I remembered some great advice CJ Stephens drilled into me while
training in my Glassair, it was much better to slide these planes in on the
belly than to put the gear down and flip it over on rough ground. As I
started to turn a high base leg I realized that I was too high and that the
wind was coming from the south, meaning I would be landing down wind. I
rolled right and then made a pretty aggressive S turn to lose altitude and
position the plane better for a left hand short approach to the end of the
runway. Wow, everything was looking great! I checked my speed and it was
still right on 140 knots and made my decision that I would make the runway
perfectly. The landing gear on the NXT comes out fast, but I knew the drag
would be huge without power so did not put it down until I knew I was over
the beginning of the runway. I dropped the gear and in a second the
indicator showed down and locked. At this point I took one last look at the
runway from my slight left slip attitude and then lined up the nose on what
I thought was the runway. The oil made it impossible to see anything forward
so all I could do was keep the speed up until I thought I was about to
touch. Amazingly I actually touched down nicely at about 130 kts with about
a 20 kts tail wind. I started out straight down the left half of the runway
for about 500 feet; I kept the tail up and tried the best I could to keep
the airplane rolling straight by watching the horizon out the left side. The
quartering tail wind from the right and the fact I could not see, slowly
caused the aircraft to drift to the left until the left tire hit a football
size rock and it took the left tire off. I then slide along for another 1000
feet or so on the left tailing leg that remained and the right tire before
the aircraft turned to the right and then ripped off the right gear leg.
Once on the belly of Relentless I slid another 1500-2000 feet across the
field and came to rest without a scratch.
What happened? All I know now is the smoke started right after I experienced
the thud from the single air turbulence jolt. Upon investigation the FAA
inspector found the crank seal on the front of the engine partially pushed
out. Obviously the source of oil but at this point we still don't know why
it blew? The engine only had about 20 hours since it was run in and tested
at Lycoming and had run perfectly up until then. Everyone is eager to get to
the bottom of this and I am sure in time we will find out what caused the
seal to come out.
What next? I have taken stock and realized that I really loved that plane. I
have placed it in front of everything in my incredibly blessed life and
having a second chance to see my wife of twenty years, my two wonderful
kids, and share laughs with my many friends has made me think that balance
must become the priority in my life. Will I rebuild Relentless and keep my
enthusiasm for racing and helping others build these kits? Yes. I have not
flown a more amazing aircraft and flying is still my greatest joy. Will it
be first in my live again? No. My God, my family, and my many friends must
remain first and all I can say is how grateful I am that all three place me
so high in theirs.
So many of you have offered to do anything to help me and I ask only this,
close your eyes for 1 minute and visualize the top 3 or 4 things that occupy
the bulk of your time. I found in those six minutes gliding over the
mountains very unsure if I would make it that those few things that took
most of my time where no where in my mind.
See you all soon, I hope!
Kevin Eldredge
805-801-9183 cell
<http://sloair.com/> www.sloair.com
<http://www.relentlessairracing.com/> www.relentlessairracing.com
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djdist(at)bellsouth.net
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| Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 5:40 am Post subject: Relentless |
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Great job on getting it down Kevin! I met you at Sun-N-Fun 06 and you were
kind enough to show me the NXT. What a beautiful plane! Hope to see it
flying again soon!
Randy Utsey
RV-7 under construction
www.djdist.com
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