Aeronca Champ down out of KDLH

From the limited photos, really surprised that was not survivable, at least by the rear passenger. Have seen that before with Champs and Cubs, but it always puzzles me, given low stall speed. Maybe steel tube frames don't crumple and absorb energy like more modern aluminum aircraft?
 
"Maybe steel tube frames don't crumple and absorb energy like more modern aluminum aircraft?"

Mooney for years had advertised that its cabin had a steel tube roll cage design, unlike the competition. Foam planes simply fall into bits and pieces. Cessnas will fold behind the rear window. It all depends.

Don't think you can depend on the structure. I've seen so many wrecked planes where the cabin looks very survivable, but it was a fatal. Something in the interior or seat design or simple impact forces upon
these fragile bags of sea water we call our bodies. Blunt force impact often just tears the heart away from the veins and arteries, it's not held in place by much other than that, it floats in the body cavity. I've followed NTSB reports for decades and didn't realize that was a cause of blunt impact deaths until last year.

It's all about G forces, angles of impact, speed and length of deceleration. And luck.
 
Old Champs did not have shoulder harnesses. The upper body flies forward on impact and the head of the pilot hits the panel, which has steel tubing supporting it, and the passenger's head hits the pilot's seat back frame, also steel tubing. Brain injuries result, or a broken neck, often fatal.

Sad, considering what we know about sudden deceleration and head injuries, and the easily-obtainable STC'd harness kits from several outlets.
 
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This makes 4 or 5 in the last 12 months for Cirrus.
 
Most of us in the Aeronca field have retrofitted SH by now. This airplane had them too. Looks like a unsurvivable impact.
 
Dan Thomas said:
...Sad, considering what we know about sudden deceleration and head injuries, and the easily-obtainable STC'd harness kits from several outlets.
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Not sure about Canada but rules here were relaxed and no STC required to put shoulder harnesses in an old Cub or Champ, just a log entry.
 
Overhead view suggests CCW rotation and level wings at impact. Side view shows nose down. All consistent with stall/spin.

I'd be curious about W&B. Hard to mishandle this type of aircraft that badly, but aft CG makes it more likely.

Would also be interesting to see track of aircraft relative to pilot's private airstrip. He did a low pass and zoom climb just before the accident. Maybe he tried to milk too much out of the zoom. Or maybe a classic base-to-final stall.
 
Ed Haywood said:
Maybe steel tube frames don't crumple and absorb energy like more modern aluminum aircraft?
Click to expand...
Did a quick look at the fatality rates for a few high-performance GA aircraft. This is for 2008-2021.

Mooney: 350 accidents, 101 with fatalities: 28.8%
Cirrus: 380 accidents, 126 with fatalities: 33.2%
Cessna 210: 428 accidents, 109 with fatalities: 25.4%

One factor on the Cirrus: Been told that successful chute pulls are sometimes recorded as Incidents, not Accidents, and thus aren't included in the above statistics.

Ron Wanttaja
 
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