The beautifully crafted Me-262 replica we detailed last month in its first flight was involved in a landing accident Friday.

According to www.stormbirds.com, the host site documenting this incredible effort to replicate a number of German jet fighters, the left main landing gear failed during a landing attempt at Washington state's Paine field. [This was the first flight on which the gear retraction system was tested --ed.]

It was the second flight of this aircraft. Test pilot Wolf Czaia was, thankfully, uninjured during the landing mishap which involved the Me-262 going off the runway and into the boonies alongside the runway. Damage is said to be "extensive."

According to Stormbirds, they "are currently assessing what repairs may be required to resume testing. The exact cause was unclear at the time of this update... While we obviously must view this as a temporary setback, such events are not uncommon in the early phases of any test flight program, and this is precisely why we undertake test flight programs to begin with. The project continues!"

A documentary film crew was nearby to catch the action and a camera was actually installed in the aircraft behind the pilot, allowing viewers to see everything from a pretty intense aspect (see link below). We'll have more information on this story shortly...

**   Report created 1/21/2003   Record 8  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 262AZ        Make/Model: ME62      Description: ME-262, REPLICA
  Date: 01/17/2003     Time: 2235
  Event Type: Accident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Substantial
LOCATION
  City: EVERETT   State: WA   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  ACFT ON LANDING ROLL, RAN OFF RUNWAY 34L, EVERETT, WA
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: METAR KPAE 172153Z 35008KT 10SM CLR 07/02 A3037
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Unknown      Phase: Landing      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: UNK                         Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination: UNK                      Flt Plan: VFR          Wx Briefing: Y
  Last Radio Cont: UNK
  Last Clearance: CLRD TO LAND
  FAA FSDO: SEATTLE, WA  (NM01)                   Entry date: 01/21/2003

FMI: www.stormbirds.com, www.kirotv.com/video/1917556/detail.html (video)