That's Why They Call Them, 'Test' Flights

No matter how much work goes into a project, there will be things that will happen. A case in point was made on Saturday, as the brand-new Adam A500, which had its maiden flight Thursday, hit a glitch, on its fifth, as the nose gear folded up on landing rollout.

The pilots for first three flights were Bruce Barrett and Glenn Maben; the fourth and fifth were flown by Glenn, with Steve Martin.

Adam Aircraft President John Knudsen told ANN, "On rollout, the nose gear just folded back on them. We're still looking at that. We don't know exactly what happened, yet." Damage was minor. "We did the cowl, and dinged the prop. There was really very little damage," John said, early Monday. "We'll probably be flying tomorrow."

The gear had not been cycled yet, in these early test flights; it was pinned in place. John continued, with the pilots' reports: "Other than that landing, the pilots said it flew like a dream. They're very happy with the handling, so far. The initial tests are going great -- no reason to make any mods, that we know of. It rotated right on speed; approach to stalls were as predicted -- we're really happy with that." The flight manners of the A500, as the M-309 CarbonAero is now called, are looking to be all the designers and builders predicted -- and that's a very good thing.

Luck seems to follow John Knudsen around. The finish painting was scheduled for this week, so the new lower cowl can get paint, along with the flaps, rudders, and the fuselage stripe -- no time lost, as the minutes trickle away before Oshkosh. "They're painting it today -- the timing was perfect," laughed John.

The new (spare) engine was already installed, before breakfast on Monday, as the flight engine gets a routine check. "The plane will most definitely be at Oshkosh," said the prez. "This was a minor hiccup" in the schedule. 

Although the FAA Preliminary (below) says there were two "passengers," that's not what happened. Only two were aboard; they were the test pilots, Maben and Martin.

**   Report created 07/15/2002   Record 14                                    **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 500AX        Make/Model: EXP      Description: EXPERIMENTAL A500
  Date: 07/13/2002     Time: 0102
  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
  City: ENGLEWOOD   State: CO   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
  AIRCRAFT ON TEST FLIGHT, NOSEGEAR COLLAPSED DURING LANDING, ENGLEWOOD, CO
INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  1     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Pass:   2     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: L 0129Z 09010KT 10SM FEW090 BKN140 28/06 A3016 VIRGA DSNT ALQDS CB DSNT WNW
         ACSL DSNT SW
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Other      Phase: Landing      Operation: General Aviation
  Departed: ENGLEWOOD, CO               Dep Date: 07/13/2002   Dep. Time:
  Destination: ENGLEWOOD, CO            Flt Plan: UNK          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont: RIGHT DOWNWIND RWY 35R
  Last Clearance: CLRD FOR TOUCH/GO RWY 35R
  FAA FSDO: DENVER, CO  (NM03)                    Entry date: 07/15/2002

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