"I'm Thinking, 'Maybe I Can Still Fly It"
Less than 48 hours after
he was forced to bail out of his beloved Oracle Challenger
aerobatic biplane in the skies over western Louisiana, Sean Tucker
was in the media room at Sun 'N Fun, recounting the event for the
reporters gathered.
An obviously relieved -- and still slightly adrenalized --
Tucker described the events leading to the bailout Tuesday
morning.
"The wings were flying, and the aircraft was going like this,"
Tucker said, his hands displaying a steep climb attitude the
Challenger took moments after the incident occurred. "Then it's
getting ready to stall, then I push it down... soon I'm over 1,000
feet, and that's a pretty good feeling. I've got some time."
Tucker had lost all pitch authority over the Oracle Challenger
through the control stick. Using trim, he was eventually able to
put the aircraft into a stabilized climb... during which time he
explored his options.
"I'm thinking, 'maybe I can fly it," Tucker said. "I was trying
to figure out how to fly the airplane, because this airplane was
absolutely the most magical piece of equipment I'd ever gotten to
fly in my life."
"But every time I got it to about 100 miles per hour, it just
kind of wants to stall," Tucker continued, as he seemed to fight
back tears. "The trim just couldn't keep up."
Listen To Today's ANN Special Feature --
Sean Tucker's Tale, In His Own Words
Tucker had an almost excruciatingly long amount of time -- 25
minutes, he estimates -- to consider his options. His ground crew
guided him away from areas populated with people and obstructions,
and was able to close down a major highway as a possible landing
site.
It was clear to Tucker, though, that landing wasn't an option...
and he prepared to bail out.
"I was able to get her to descend slowly, and that's when you
start thinking about a lot of stuff... like "I could die from
this," Tucker said. "Before then, it's all instinct."
Tucker gave his ground crew a message to relay to his wife and
kids -- just in case -- and he also had to confront the fact he was
about to lose his airplane.
"And I still don't want to get rid of my lady," said Tucker of
his beloved airplane. "She was such a fine piece of equipment."
Following the emergency checklist ("I distinctly remember, 'turn
off the mags in an emergency!'" Tucker laughed) time seemed to slow
down for Tucker. "I wanted the dream to end," he said. "I was
waiting for God to come along and say "I fooled you!"
Tucker ejected the canopy -- which hit his head, thankfully
protected by a helmet -- and prepared to bail out.
"When I left the plane, the only mistake I made was the left
shoulder harness was still dragging on my shoulder, which kind of
tripped me," Tucker said. "So when I left the plane, and I kind of
rolled [to the left] and got stuck on some flying wires underneath
on the tail."
"The interesting thing," Tucker said, his voice quieting,
"because I was going the same speed as the plane, we were totally
together... and it just took one hand, it wasn't a big deal,
I just kind of pushed it like that... and she said 'okay,' and she
pushed off to the right."
And that was it. As Tucker pulled the ripcord on his parachute,
the Oracle Challenger rolled back to the left, and fell. He didn't
see the plane impact the ground... which was probably just as
well.
Tucker was able to make a safe, controlled parachute landing
("unfortunately, I didn't stand it up -- I slid") in a field.
"First I just really want to go home," Tucker said about his
future plans, before adding he would stay through the week at Sun
'N Fun as part of his Columbia 400 safety tour. He hopes to
continue this show season with his backup airplane, while the team
looks to build a new primary aircraft.
Tucker believes a rod end bearing connecting a modified torque
tube linkage on the aircraft's new tail failed.