News - Rutan Rocket Engine Engineer Killed in Small Plane Crash

Engineer Killed in Small Plane Crash

By Associated Press

July 21, 2003, 7:07 PM EDT


TEHACHAPI, Calif. -- An aerospace engineer was killed when a kit
airplane he had spent years building crashed during takeoff on its
maiden flight.

The single-engine plane piloted by David Robert Thompson, 38, fell
back onto the runway and burst into flames Sunday at Mountain Valley
Airport, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.

His wife and two children were among the witnesses.

"His family was there, videotaping," said coroner Kelly Cowan. "It was
supposed to be a celebration."

The cause of the crash was not known.

Thompson was in charge of developing a rocket motor for a private
manned spaceship program that aims to some day launch a three-seat
spaceship on suborbital flights.

He worked for the aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan, who
designed the only aircraft to fly around the world nonstop without
refueling.

Rutan said Monday that Thompson was flying a Q2, a kit plane marketed
in the 1980s by a company that is no longer in business. He said
Thompson "was very private" about the plane and did not tell
co-workers about the flight.


http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-brf-plane-crash,0,282138.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines









--
Rusty Barton - Antelope, California |"Every so often, I like to
| stick my head out the window,
| look up, and smile for the
| satellite picture."-Steven Wright

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 23:29:49 -0700, Rusty Barton
wrote:

Engineer Killed in Small Plane Crash

The single-engine plane piloted by David Robert Thompson, 38, fell
back onto the runway and burst into flames Sunday at Mountain Valley
Airport, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.

His wife and two children were among the witnesses.

Oh, jeez. I know him and his wife.

Mary

--
Mary Shafer Retired aerospace research engineer

"A MiG at your six is better than no MiG at all."
Anonymous US fighter pilot

On Tue, 22 Jul 2003 21:10:33 -0700, Mary Shafer
wrote:

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 23:29:49 -0700, Rusty Barton
wrote:

Engineer Killed in Small Plane Crash

The single-engine plane piloted by David Robert Thompson, 38, fell
back onto the runway and burst into flames Sunday at Mountain Valley
Airport, about 70 miles north of Los Angeles.

His wife and two children were among the witnesses.

Oh, jeez. I know him and his wife.

....And there's something about that kit he assembled that's causing a
yellow alert in the back of my brain. Wasn't the reason the company
went under due to a lawsuit over those very same kits falling apart on
takeoff?


OM

--

"No ******* ever won a war by dying for | http://www.io.com/~o_m
his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
poor dumb ******* die for his country." | Human O-Ring Society

- General George S. Patton, Jr

...And there's something about that kit he assembled that's causing a
yellow alert in the back of my brain. Wasn't the reason the company
went under due to a lawsuit over those very same kits falling apart on
takeoff?


OM

Not a kit. It wasn't just "assembled". It was manufactured by the
builder from plans. That is, one starts with a set of drawings and bulk
materials. The particular model was derived (by another designer) from a
previous model designed by Rutan. A fair number of this particular model
and it's precedent design are flying. Many first flight crashes in kit
or plans built aircraft are due to weight and balance miscalculations,
not structural failures. In fact, structural failures are very rare in
factory or homebuilt aircraft when they are flown within the intended
flight envelope. Another reason for accidents is that many, if not most,
of the composite homebuilt aircraft are specialized for speed and aren't
as forgiving of inexperienced pilots as the garden variety Cessna or
Piper trainer.