At 1:00pm EDT, Monday, March 21, 2016, the body of Don's deceased Ultralight EZB was retrieved after it’s crash landing on the second atrium column clockwise from the Mineral Springs West Baden Hotel entrance. It appears that the initial weekend rescue efforts caused severe trauma and the subsequent death. The autopsy has listed the cause of death to be a severely broken main wing, a missing stab, a broken tail boom, and the traumatic amputation of both prop blades. Any of these would have alone proved fatal. The high-lift team was able to retrieve many of the body parts and all are being kept for transplant to other EZB’s to be built. The body was transported to the Bloomington airplane funeral home and balsa repository. Future visitation and services await the decision of the EZB’s immediate family.
The retrieval team worked diligently to recover four other planes that crashed or had forced landings in the same atrium area. All four were found alive with differing amounts and types of injury. All are at the Bloomington airplane hospital and workshop awaiting transport to rehabilitation facilities or their homes. One plane, the F1L, was found to have wandered from its initial hard landing location but the retrieval searchers found it in the upper dome area somewhat downhill from the initial landing site. The F1L was not injured and there are plans for it to fly again in a few weeks. The two LPP’s that had crashed into the crown moldings were each retrieved with some non-life threatening injuries. A second EZB was found on a balcony near the initial search area just clockwise from where the deceased EZB was found. That EZB suffered a severally broken stab that appears to require a complete amputation and replacement.
The search and rescue team work above and beyond the call of duty. One team member, Tony, deserves special mention for his deft handling of all the rescued planes. Jim, the team leader, showed great skill in navigating the high lift rescue equipment in sometimes tight confines.
With our condolences,
LeoP
Received on Tue Mar 22 2016 - 00:33:20 CET
This archive was generated by Yannick on Sat Dec 14 2019 - 19:13:48 CET