It happened at the "Joe
Nall" event during the last demo flight of the Electra ARF with
a developmental powerplant. Let us put things in
perspective. 1st - This powerplant is presently one
of a kind. There are no others in the field at this writing
and no other available fan system can push an Electra to
200+ mph. This particular model/EVF flew 9 times
at Joe Nall prior to the failure. Each time it
made 200 mph passes. The difference in the last flight
was not the speed, but the abrupt pull to vertical at
the end of the high speed pass. The two wing spar
carry - through formers failed.
This is the same power unit that Rob Lynch had in his
"Project Speed" Electra at the Top Gun 2010 airshow.
It was radar clocked at 197 mph on an upwind pass, 203
mph on a downwind pass, and continued to fly for 6
minutes.
2nd - Many thousands of
Electra flights have been logged over the past 4 years
with "Zero" structural problems. Your Electra is
safe to fly.
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