Aircraft Downed and Totaled... With Only Minor Injuries
One of the developmental prototypes of the Maverick LSA/Flying Car went down this weekend after its parachute canopy suffered some mode of malfunction (as yet unexplained) and went down with minor injuries to pilot Ray Siebring and his passenger. The aircraft, which mates a small jeep-like ground vehicle with a pusher prop and a ram-air parachute canopy, for lift, experienced an uncommanded turn less than 10 minutes into the Friday flight requiring full opposite corrective control to maintain directional authority... but also produced an excessive sink rate which could not be arrested before the aircraft impacted the ground.