Aircraft Breaks Apart In Midair, Pilot Parachutes To Safety

Reno (NV) pilot Ross Loudon didn't think he'd make it. When his homebuilt 1975 Wallace Skybolt (file photo of type, below) came apart in the sky near Cold Springs, he was inverted at just over 2000 feet AGL.

"I just feel really lucky," Loudon told the Daily Sparks Tribune from his hospital bed at Washoe Medical Center. He flew as much as five times a week and said he practiced bailing out just about every time he went up.

But "I never really thought if it came apart that I would have much hope of getting out," he said.

So what happened?

"It shook for a second or two, and then it just came apart. I honestly don't know why," he said. The biplane's plastic bubble canopy came off and hit him in the face, "so I was pretty much blinded. After I got hit and the plane just started falling toward the ground, I knew I needed to get out," he told the Tribune.

He almost didn't get out fast enough, however. Loudon said, as the aircraft spiraled toward the ground, he unfastened his safety harness and pulled the rip cord on his parachute. It opened only partially, just seconds before the aircraft hit the ground. But that was enough. "It slowed me down just enough to keep me (alive)," he said.

Loudon said he purchased the aircraft from a man in Florida who had rebuilt the aircraft "from the ground up."

"I thought it was a... solid plane right up until it came apart," he said.

FAA Preliminary Report

IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 41BB        Make/Model: EXP       Description: WALLACE SKYBOLT
  Date: 03/17/2004     Time: 1520

  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: Serious     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Destroyed

LOCATION
  City: RENO                        State: NV   Country: US

DESCRIPTION
  ACFT CRASHED DUE TO AN INFLIGHT BREAKUP DURING AN AEROBATIC MANEUVER, ACFT
  WAS DESTROYED, ONE PERSON ON BOARD PARACHUTED OUT AND  RECEIVED SERIOUS
  INJURIES, RENO-STEAD, NV

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:   1     Fat:   0     Ser:   1     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:    0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:           Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   

WEATHER: UNK                                                                        
                                                                                    
                                                        

OTHER DATA
  Activity: Pleasure      Phase: Maneuver      Operation: General Aviation

  Departed: UNK                         Dep Date:    Dep. Time:     
  Destination: UNK                      Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: UNK
  Last Clearance: UNK

  FAA FSDO: RENO, NV  (WP11)                      Entry date: 03/18/2004

FMI: www.ntsb.gov