WanaBNACub
Registered User
Off Airport
I have debated for a long time on posting anything online, but decided to do it after all... On Nov 6th, 2016 I was on a duck hunt with a good friend in western Alaska. I had a severe wind shear event on takeoff that quickly changed from a quartering headwind to a strong quartering tailwind just as I started to rotate. It pushed my cub over 30' off course just as the mains lifted off the ground and into a huge cottonwood log and then into a steep narrow creek bank. The right gear pushed up into the fuselage and tossed the plane sideways. As it came back down on the left gear, the gear leg collapsed under the side load. The resulting cartwheel did significant damage to my cub and changed my life for the near term... I have always tried to make the best of everything in life and have decided that with the help of a really great IA, I was going to try and do the entire rebuild myself with his advice, help and him looking over my work. My plan is to work on getting my A&P out of the rebuild and working with him on several other projects. The second objective lighten up my cub significantly and make it a more capable workhorse cub! It will be quite an adventure and will lead to a lifetime of adventures when it is completed! I also started a facebook group for those that are on there that is documenting my rebuild and also an open forum for other bush plane rebuilds. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1837244029862308/
It all happened in a flash and was pretty violent. I was able to keep it from flipping over and flew it all the way to the stop... Someone was looking out for me and I walked away without a scratch. The troubling thing to me is the 406 ELT was never activated... Didn't leave me a very warm fuzzy about their effectiveness... I always fly with a sat phone and an Inreach and my wife tracks every single flight with the Inreach. This reinforces its value to me! Currently I am about halfway done with the rebuild so I will be posting quickly over the next few days to catch up. We got started on disassembling it a few days after the crash so I could get it back in my hangar, but didn't really get to start the rebuild until Dec 1st.
The right side gear fitting and left wing took the majority of the damage. I started stripping the fabric off a few days later to see just how bad it was.
It all happened in a flash and was pretty violent. I was able to keep it from flipping over and flew it all the way to the stop... Someone was looking out for me and I walked away without a scratch. The troubling thing to me is the 406 ELT was never activated... Didn't leave me a very warm fuzzy about their effectiveness... I always fly with a sat phone and an Inreach and my wife tracks every single flight with the Inreach. This reinforces its value to me! Currently I am about halfway done with the rebuild so I will be posting quickly over the next few days to catch up. We got started on disassembling it a few days after the crash so I could get it back in my hangar, but didn't really get to start the rebuild until Dec 1st.
The right side gear fitting and left wing took the majority of the damage. I started stripping the fabric off a few days later to see just how bad it was.