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April 7th, 2006, 10:42
| #1 |
| Banned  Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 630
|  Sean Tucker Bailout Tucker Safe after Bailout Wednesday, April 5, 2006 Veteran air show performer and ICAS member, Sean D. Tucker, safely ejected at 8,000 feet from the Oracle Challenger during a practice session today near Shreveport, LA. Tucker made this precautionary bail out after approximately fifteen minutes of troubleshooting what appeared to be a mechanical malfunction with his plane at 10:45 CDT today. Sean experienced no injuries and the plane impacted in an open field. All airshows will continue as scheduled. |
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April 7th, 2006, 11:07
| #2 | |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Fort Lauderdale
Posts: 2,822
|  Sean Tucker Bails Out SEAN TUCKER BAILS OUT FROM AIRSHOW BIPLANE  Airshow legend Sean D. Tucker was forced on Tuesday to bail out of his highly modified 400-horsepower Pitts S-2S biplane, the Team Oracle Challenger, while practicing his routine near Coushatta, Louisiana, 38 nm southeast of Shreveport. Tucker said he was doing a 7.5-G pull at 225 mph when he felt his control stick give. He went to his trim lever as a backup control and was able to put the aircraft in a climb to more than 9,000 feet while he evaluated the problem. Tucker wanted to save the airplane, but it was oscillating dangerously. "This was the most magical airplane I've ever flown," he said. Tucker thought he might die and passed along his love for his family to the ground crew. The local sheriff and a judge raced to the scene, closed down a road, and directed him to a farm when a bailout became inevitable. "The last thing you want to do is save your life and kill someone else," Tucker said. He ducked his head and pulled release pins holding the canopy, but was still hit twice on his helmet by the bubble as it flew off. After a brief tussle in getting free from the aircraft, Tucker popped the silk. He landed uninjured after a 25-minute ordeal and asked the sheriff to take him to the wreckage, a tangled bright red mess in a freshly plowed field. Tucker figures the airplane hit the ground at 250 mph. He found that a torque-tube linkage controlling the main elevator had failed. Tucker expects it will take a month or two to re-engine a backup biplane and return to the airshow circuit. While visibly shaken, Tucker said at Sun 'n Fun, "I want to build a better aircraft, get back to being the best aviator I can be, and start spreading the magic."
__________________ Secret line of text. What you resist, persists. - Carl Jung Quote:
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April 7th, 2006, 11:14
| #3 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: El Forko Grande
Posts: 2,577
| This wasn't his first bailout either. I bet you he is glad he wears a chute!! It's good to see him alive, I know that from reading the IAC Aerobatics Magazine there are only a couple sucessful bailouts a year. |
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April 7th, 2006, 13:01
| #4 |
| Junior Member  Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: CA
Posts: 30
| Sean Tucker Press Conference Here's the Avweb article about the bailout. There's also links to video of the press conference at the bottom of the article: http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#191942 |
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April 8th, 2006, 01:04
| #5 | |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Inside your OODA loop
Posts: 6,849
| Quote:
__________________ Commercial Pilot, ASEL/AMEL/IA 900+ TT/25 ME Mountain-qualified Search & Rescue/Disaster Relief Mission Pilot, Civil Air Patrol B.S., Psychology, Univ of Utah | |
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April 8th, 2006, 01:14
| #6 |
| Old Skool  Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 2,077
| It doesn't. Its got a bright red handle that says "PULL TO RELEASE CANOPY" pull and the canopy leaves and you....well you bail. |
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April 8th, 2006, 03:38
| #7 |
| Old Skool Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Inside your OODA loop
Posts: 6,849
| Feeling a slight breeze through your 'do, man? 
__________________ Commercial Pilot, ASEL/AMEL/IA 900+ TT/25 ME Mountain-qualified Search & Rescue/Disaster Relief Mission Pilot, Civil Air Patrol B.S., Psychology, Univ of Utah |
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April 8th, 2006, 22:16
| #8 | |
| Banned Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 630
| Quote:
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