A beautiful day to fly, and then...

01/29/2011

On RWY36 at KBRL, 30yards from taxiway A2, a Cummingham Model 1 biplane struck the rear of my 601XL-B during landing and roll out.  The PIC of the biplane came straight in one hour before dark on a ferry flight.  The biplane was w/o radio and lights.  After entering the pattern, calling my positions & short final, I made a normal landing and roll out.  The biplane pilot said he never saw my 601XL-B land or roll out ahead of him.  The biplane prop struck my tail section and destroyed it.  I was rolling at about 15 mph and I estimate the biplane hit my 601XL-B at about 25 mph, both w/ power back.

At first contact, I thought that I had blown a tire until I looked to the rear and saw my tail section missing.  I completed the turn out passed the hold line A2 & stopped.  A commericial aircraft near the ramp saw and heard the collision.  Two other a/c where in the area and heard my calls.  I recommended to the others to use the other runway to avoid the biplane and possible broken pieces of my aircraft on the rwy.

We exited our a/c and look over the damage.  No one reported being hurt at the time.  The biplane pilot tried to restart his a/c but it did not start.  The FBO towed the biplane to their hangar.  I returned my a/c to the hanger.  The accident was reported to the NTSB and the area FSDO.  The accident has been posted by the FAA.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that the biplane pilot will be sited for his pilot error.  Mean while, I begin to recover in stage two of  the accident, trying to get repairs.  I have photos of the a/c damage and my passenger made a video of the landing & the accident were you can hear the prop eating the tail section of my a/c while we are jarred and then the video pans back to my missing tail and the biplane behind us.

15 Seconds earlier, the biplane lands on me, I'm dead.  30 Seconds earlier we crash together 50' above the numbers and burn to death on the field.  I was lucker than I feel right now.  As this is a good learning experience for us all, I plan to share more as the case continues.  I am learning a lot about the post accident issues.  When I rebuild, I will put a rear view mirror in my plane.