Quickie Aircraft - , It was a beautiful day for flying. A light wind was blowing from the northeast, and a few clouds hovered at 5000 feet. I was very excited because for the first time in my eight months of owning the Quickie Q1, this would be my first air-to-air photoshoot. The plan was simple, meet my friends in Zanesville, Ohio, catch a few flights and come home that night to see my friends in Cincinnati! Little did I know that this perfect day for flying would be my biggest challenge…

Around 9:00 am, I get ready for the day, drive to the airport, and run with my typical smoothie when I'm on this side of town. The airport is about 45 minutes away from me, so I had time to think about the new battery I just bought and how it might affect my experimental aircraft.

Quickie Aircraft

Quickie Aircraft

I had been with the plane the day before to practice spot landings in preparation for Oshkosh, but I was frozen with a dead battery. This plane is always supported by hand, but requires charging to operate with the spark plug igniter, not the spark that drives the engine from the magneto. So I charged the battery with jumper cables and was able to start the plane. Before flying again, I decided to call it a day and remove the battery. I ended up taking the plane apart to get the battery out and bought a new one later that evening.

Aircraft Photo Of C Gdhk

So after my smoothie, I installed the new battery, tested the connections and got 13-14 volts compared to the previous 8.5-9.5 volts. With the new batteries ready to go, I reinstalled the tail section of the aircraft and put the engine through its paces.

Feeling reassured by the plane's performance—and trying to stick to my commitment to arrive in Zanesville around 1:00 p.m.—I hopped onto runway 11 and exited. My takeoff, flight, and landing all the way to Zanesville were uneventful; With arrival no later than 13:00 for collection. The only unusual part of this trip was my tendency to turn left due to the newly installed Go Pro on the canard just above my left main tire. The camera did not perform well and was subject to frequent vibration, causing the housing to crack and the mount to fail during parking taxis.

With 1.6 hours and another landing in the log, I met up with Nick and Tony from Janesville Aviation to shoot and prepare for our photo mission. Seeing that the Stinson (our photo boat for the day) needed some fuel, I hopped off while Nick made the short flight to Richard Downing Airport. I stayed with the plane while Nick loaded everything and then boarded to return to Janesville. Along the way, I spent my time playing with the camera I had brought along for the photo flight to adjust the settings as best I could.

After we got back to Zanesville, we discussed the photo flight and decided that Tony would fly, Nick would take the photos, and I would exit the right wing early. We will meet north of the area where the terrain of rolling hills and wooded areas will provide the best backdrop for shooting north, standard rate 180, then south back to the airport. In total, this flight should only take about 30 minutes.

Aircraft N32ll (1982 Qac Quickie Q2 C/n 2016) Photo By Blake Uhl (photo Id: Ac94429)

After a quick walk around and an easy start, I went to runway 16 and took off climbing to head north. After reaching 2,500 feet (about 1,500 AGL), I joined Nick and Tony for the mission. Everything went great and we were able to maintain a good formation while Nick took some great photos of Quickie and me.

At the end of the flight, we decided to head back to the airport and I waved Nick and Tony at the wheel for a job well done. Soon after, my power setting dropped above 1000 rpm (3700 rpm vs. 2600 rpm) and I started using almost double the fuel (1.8 gph vs. 3.0 gph). I was able to maintain my current airspeed (about 80 mph) and altitude (about 1000 feet AGL), so I announced that I was having engine trouble and was planning a strait for runway 16. When it started, I was about 4 miles north of the airport and spotted interstate 70 which I planned to use if I couldn't make it to the airport. A moment after announcing my intentions, my RPMs began to drop even further. Losing a steady 20 rpm, I knew I wouldn't be able to make it to the airport. Looking out into the neighborhood between I-70 and my current position—now about 3 miles from the airport—I looked to my right, saw a forest, and looked up to see a street dog running across the fields ahead. the air with After deciding this was my best bet, I told Nick my intentions on the Zanesville Unicom frequency and began to turn my way. Barely missing a few trees and not seeing any traffic, I sprinted down the road with a great deal of energy and although only a few inches off the ground, I knew I couldn't stop in time.

Seeing the turn signals on this road, I decided to ask the engine for all the power I could muster. Fortunately I had enough to clear the obstacles and cross a large drainage area. Seeing nothing but fields of corn in front of me, I thought, "Okay, this is really happening," turned off the power, and flew over the corn as fast as the wind could.

Quickie Aircraft

The landing was sudden and abrupt, I have a very distinct recollection of the canard taking out the corn in front of me and striking nose down. It happened while traveling approximately 45 miles per hour and struck the corn less than 100 feet away. The speed and angle of descent continued to slowly roll the tail of the plane before coming to rest upside down with me trapped in the cockpit; The canopy was broken around me and I hung in my seat. After unhooking from my harness; I couldn't get out of the wreckage. I checked myself and couldn't believe nothing was broken on me... I had bruises on my shoulders, cuts on my hands from holding the controls and eggs on my knees from hitting the panels But I was fine! It was to the point; I noticed fuel leaking from the tank cap opening and my electrical system was still on. I secured the plane as best I could and then yelled for Siri to call Nick. I was only able to talk to him for a short time before I switched off, but he knew I was fine.

Qac Quickie Q2

After fumbling around with my phone for a few minutes, my next call was to Jen at 911. The call lasted about 30 minutes and she stayed on the line until the EMS team was able to locate me in the cornfield. At only 300 pounds, the plane wasn't too heavy to pull me out, flip over to stop the leak, and free me from the wreckage. Nick and Tony were with the search party and after the press releases, local and state officials offered to give me a ride home to Cincinnati on 182-RG.

Of course I took this opportunity to put them back in the air! Before I had time to freak out, I wanted to get up again. So, in the right seat, I flew the three of us to Cincinnati for dinner. We discussed our plans to trailer the next day and fix the plane and they took off for the night.

This was my first full day flight with the Quickie after its conditional inspection, so I was caught off guard to say the least. During the inspection, the cracked exhaust manifold was rewelded and reinstalled. Upon inspection of the wreckage, the same exhaust was found to be broken in a different location, which appears to have been the cause of my initial loss of power. This braking occurred directly below the fresh air intake to the engine and the recycled air forced a richer mixture and an early reduction in rpm. I believe the vibration of the broken exhaust loosened the mixture screw on my carb and caused the rpm to drop continuously as it was unscrewed. The combination of these items is still under review and will be reviewed by the FAA in the coming weeks. As a low powered, highly maneuverable kit aircraft. Its tandem wing design featured an anhedral front wing and a slightly larger dihedral rear wing. The forward wing has full-span control surfaces and is therefore similar to the canard wing, but is significantly larger. The aircraft has an unusual main landing gear

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