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Antoine:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but just saw this:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/04/as ... cials.html

Steve

As Antoine has made abundantly clear, it is a no messing around Real Airplane and requires a lot of training and discipline. We'll see what the NTSB has to say.

The Extra 400 that was based at our field KJYO went down in a field in North Carolina earlier this year due to an engine failure. Fortunately the pilot walked away with no injuries.
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/03/e ... urred.html

Steve: thank you for the precaution in your post.
I was already informed and talking to other E400 pilots.

The owner and pilot of this aircraft was a close acquaintance and was leading the US arm of our Extra 400 Owners Operators group. He was a generous and friendly man and we are all very very shocked and sad of his brutal loss.
Out of respect for Tim and his family I will not comment on the accident.

Dave: indeed the other Extra 400 you mentioned went down due to an engine failure. The pilot decided to land with the gear retracted which I think was a very smart decision. The airframe suffered minor damage.

Another Extra 400 had a runway overrun in Ireland due to an aborted take-off caused by the presence of birds.

From my own experience, an Extra 400 is a handful on a hot summer day. Engine overheating is the main issue. One takes off with coolant temperatures already in the yellow arc, and if OAT is very high and fuel flow is not where it should be, the heat generated by turbocharging can very quickly become destructive.
I am very glad that mine has enough temperature probes to preemptively detect and act upon looming overheating. I believe all turbocharged aircraft should have an inlet air temperature sensor at least.

break break: Cary: I am very impressed by your wisdom and wish you a quick recovery so you can be back in the air with us.

RIP Tim and family. And thank you for all you did for us. I will not forget.

Lance Murray wrote:the best safety device in an airplane is a well trained Pilot. I think that is very accurate. Add to that quality maintenance and you are just fine. Be involved in your maintenance and you can mitigate many risks.

Words of wisdom. I intend to do even more of both so that when the moment of truth comes I will hopefully be able to quickly diagnose the issue and act in a determined and quick way.

I will also write down and thoroughly rehearse my "engine failure" actions before each take off. I will make sure that I know where to put her down and how (gear up or down?) in case the worst happens and that's obviously airport specific, so it needs to be done before startup.
Think about it. Being ready with the decision making tree can spare 3-5 seconds of thinking time - an awful lot of time to be wasted when you only have 10 more seconds to glide...

I admit that I have not done it for a long time - it is a bad habit for a DA40 pilot and a deadly mistake in the Extra 400. I am not implying this is what killed Tim, but certainly his crash made me think of how easily this could happen to me and what I must do to proactively minimize the risk.

robert63 wrote:Antoine, you can submit it to Groundspeedrecords. Current record is 272 knots.

Thanks Robert. I am now the official holder of the new record! 300 knots
(actually hit 304 but picture was shot too early and I got busy after that)

I now have more factual data on both accidents

CFIDave wrote:The Extra 400 that was based at our field KJYO went down in a field in North Carolina earlier this year due to an engine failure. Fortunately the pilot walked away with no injuries.
http://www.kathrynsreport.com/2018/03/e ... urred.html

This was due to a disconnect of the turbo to intercooler duct at high altitude, causing engine stoppage (overrich). The same happened to me but I managed to restart the engine at lower altitude and land safely with a little bit of available thrust.

The recent accident in Oklahoma was most probably due to a loss of control following an engine failure. It was avery hot day and the plane was heavily loaded - I heard more but it is unconfirmed and will not publish it until it is certain.

I guess it is now my turn to ask: What comes after a DA42? My cardiac issue was treated a couple of months ago and I have had no problems since so I am safe to fly again (I just got my BFR in a SR20). Since I can't stand renting (plane is not available when I want it, inside always looks beat up or left a mess, etc) I am about to pull the plug on a "new" plane for me. Sorry it isn't a Diamond. In fact, it isn't even a twin. I have my eyes on a 1964 S35 Bonanza (turbo normalized and with TKS) that I will be looking at next week. Since I am much older than the plane, I get to think of this as a new plane. Unlike Antoine, I don't plan on doing much to the panel, and will have to continue flying with a cannula in my nose, but it is much faster than my DA42. If I get the plane I will give a Pirep.

carym wrote:My cardiac issue was treated a couple of months ago and I have had no problems since so I am safe to fly again (I just got my BFR in a SR20).

That's terrific news, Cary! Glad to hear you are back in the air. Looking forward to hearing what you decide upon.

Cary, Hope you stay here with us in the DAN.... even as a Bonanza enthusiast.