Ouch… I still have limited experience flying Extra but compared to other planes, I noticed that if she drops below the approach on final, she drops very quickly. Adding power to compensate works fine unless you add power a split second too long. With all that power on tap, you quickly build up speed again so you end up in a very distracting oscillation at 90-100kts on short final. Better to go around in that case…
I wouldn’t blame the aircraft for this one.
From SC POH:
One looks to the side on landing. No big deal.
Just make sure you don’t try to do something it cannot do well… like going to Helgoland.
One of last year’s crashes there was an Extra, the pilot of which didn’t judge his landing properly and made ground contact approximately 30m short of the tarmac. I don’t know whether this was due to lack of forward visibility, but could imagine this being a contributing factor.
The wreckage spent a few weeks there, until the ferry had cargo capacity for it.
I don’t know what happened to the plane afterwards, I only know the pilot quit flying.
Great tips, thanks! EBGB is grass so regular spats checks…
Things to look for on Extra’s
Cracked fuel / smoke tanks
Landing gear cracks , on the hoop, the saddle clamps and the centre location pin.
Cracks in the steel tubing in the fin post and stabiliser area.
Grass in the spats, the brakes are right on the limit for an aircraft of this power and get very hot, if you don’t keep the spats clear of dried grass it will catch fire and the rest of the aircraft will catch fire shortly after.
Brake units, due to the heat generation because of the energy they have to dissipate one they start leaking, change them. Renewing the seals is a waste of time as the leaks will quickly return.
Thanks for the food tips. Yesterday, the tail wheel control/steering wire snapped so the plane is back in maintenance for a few days. It’s always something!
Our experience is that we were offered our “write-off” by the insurance company. A Group member bought G-BHOL and had her rebuilt – not an LAA type at that time, but still a bargain.
G-AZWF was a certain write-off. We declined to buy. She was bought for fittings.
PS until 2000 the Group got more from Insurance than it payed. Three write-offs in ~15 years. A fatal accident doesn’t affect the premium, as the pilot, deceased, is no longer in the Group.
PPS A minor accident might be more economic as a write-off for the insurance, if on a remote place.
Back to an earlier question – ginger biscuits work for motion sickness both in humans and car sick dogs.
Yep, insurance companies sell planes at auction to the highest bidder. Bidders are usually pretty smart but not necessarily very skilled in composites repair or negotiations with FAA. I imagine the competing bids for this aircraft were based on the value of parting it out. As always being more skilled, harder working and more resourceful than the next guy makes money, in the end, in this case after a year of hassles.
They sold it for what is by definition the market price 
That the buyer just happened to be somebody with great expertise and the ability to work without accounting for his time, is a separate issue.
