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World's only Patchen Explorer lost in crash
A light aircraft belonging to the SA Air Force Museum has reportedly crashed while landing at Swartkop Air Force Base, south of Pretoria. The aircraft, a single-engine Patchen Explorer reconnaissance aircraft, was reportedly on final approach when it crashed short of the runway and burst into flames. (www.news24.com) Ещё...
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Sorry to hear about this tragedy. From pictures of this design it appears that the elevator is in the prop wash especially low airspeed.
"The Patchen Explorer was reported to have a very high CFG which had to be well managed especially in gusty winds. It was also noted the large deflections of ailerons required large stick inputs due to the 'barn door' design of the aircraft. With a very low cabin seat position in the aircraft the new pilots often flared out too high on landing and ran out of airspeed causing very hard landings."
I'm sure that investigators will identify the cause in time, but it sounds like it was a pretty unforgiving design. Thoughts with the families of the aviators.