Sun, Sep 21, 2003
Disaster Narrowly Averted
A $500,000 replica of
the 1931 record-breaking Miss Veedol, a modified Bellanca
Rocket, had a landing accident at Falcon Field in Peachtree
City (GA), Wednesday. The aircraft was a painstakingly replicated
version of the bird that pilots Pangborn and Herndon
flew around the world, completing the first nonstop
Pacific Ocean crossing, in the process. It flew from Japan to East
Wenatchee, Washington on October 5, 1931.
Miss Veedol was on the circuit with the National Air
Tour when it went down. Neither the pilot nor his passenger was
badly hurt.
The Fayette Citizen newspaper reports those on board
Miss Veedol were lucky. The aircraft upon which this
replica was based had a 900 gallon fuel capacity though the
locals seem to have inferred that this replica was flying with
a similar fuel load... it wasn't. A misinformed Peachtree City Fire
Chief Storry Lohr said, "It's a flying gas tank." The replica, as
part of the "The Spirit of Wenatchee Project" had intended to
fly the original Pangborn-Herndon round-the-world route in the
summer of 2004--though those plans are now,
obviously, doubtful.
The pilot and passenger declined a trip to the hospital to get
checked out, Lohr said. "They were more worried about their
aircraft."
The original Miss Veedol became famous for its
record-breaking journey from the United States to Japan in
1931.
The National Air Tour was scheduled to leave Peachtree City on
Thursday. But the accident and Hurricane Isabel conspired to keep
the tour grounded until last Friday. The FAA is investigating the
incident and the tour is, once again, underway.
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