On Thursday Oct. 17, I experienced the loss of two great machines. On my way home from the flying field, I was ran off the
road by someone trying to avoid another car merging on him. The
Jeep Cherokee I was driving caught some loose center median
dirt and started spinning out. I swerved back onto the road and
when the tires caught the pavement, they grabbed and sent me
rolling across the highway. In the back was my pride and joy, a
new Sig Rascal 40 ARF that I had just trimmed out and was well
on it's way to becoming my favorite one. The rear hatch broke open and spilled all of the contents of the Jeep, (except me!), onto the surrounding area. The Jeep is totalled, and the Rascal
suffered bad "road rash". The tail feathers were knocked off, the
top header piece that the wing dowels insert into was shaved off
and various other breaks and scrapes exist. The engine appears
fine as the plane landed upside down. The damage looks like it's
repairable, but I will have to remove the Oracover to check for the
unseen damage underneath that I can feel. I guess I should feel
fortunate that I wasn't hurt and nobody else was involved. The
two other cars that first caused this kept going and no license plates were noted. Plenty of witnesses confirmed that they did initiate the accident, and I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Insurance will take care of the Jeep, but the contents
which are covered by a seperate renter's insurance, has too high a deductible. All of this goes to show that the flying field isn't the
only place that a plane can be lost in a "crash". At least I know
that the Rascal will barrel "roll" with the best of them!!