Hello and thank you for all this information. I congratulate you for this extremely instructive video for all pilots - it shows that in all operations of preparation and control of the aircraft, one must not accept to be disturbed. Bravo for your humility concerning your explanations and recognition of your errors. I will provide this information to all my French pilot friends. Questions: was your aircraft equipped with a parachute like the vast majority of French ultralight aircraft or the altitude would not have allowed it to be used. Joël from France.

The root cause is way, way to common. Gotta be a better way of dealing with this issue. My friend had it happen - landed gear up on grass - far less damage. We of course must endeavor to use our superior aviator skills so we don't have to use our superior piloting skills.

a little turtle wax and that will buff right out

also try to have reasonable fuel in both tanks if possible

Think you for teaching us the importance of using a checklist properly….I wonder if the bird flipped over could you have remove yourself out of the bird? Canopied ac scare me for this single issue…regards

I watched the intro several times, and on 0.25x speed... He aviates, is calm and composed till the very last moment! (One big lesson to learn - don't have lose things in the cockpit that can fly around and hit you in the head...). Otherwise, as Chuck Yeager said: "If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. (...)" [ If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing. ] Also worth noting the outstanding positive attitude, that should define any good pilot -- crashed plane still in the field and he says "rebuild is gonna begin shortly"... Solid pilot and great character (making this video and posting it!)

Larry --what does Jeff of JR Aviation do for a living? Because that is what l want to do for a living.

Thanks for posting this video I am really glad you are okay!

I am glad you didn’t kill or hurt yourself. Everything else is recoverable with time and efforts

Stop flying!

Thank you for sharing this experience, man!!! You are alive and not damaged at all!!! You family is happy! Enjoy your live!!!

Thank you for sharing your experience. I'm dreaming of getting a ppl and these kind of videos help me understand aviation better.

Fluids are the first items on my pre-flight inspection before I even get into the airplane. With my airplane, I can't take off if either wing tank is below 1/4 take (let alone empty). I'd understand taking off with an empty tank if your airplane has more than 2, but other than that, dont see why you would operate on one tank?

Every time you wipe away metal shavings with your bare hand I cringe a little. A soft glove would be safer. Good luck with your build, hope it’s up soon!

Larry --what engine?

Great video, great honesty and a great lesson. But, how did you film the outside shots of you flying???

Thank you for the video/lesson! Glad you are okay.

Larry--does your repair work have to be signed off on by an A&P?

An upgrade lets go! 🛫🔥

Awesome project, very cool

Reminder Fuel is very important .

Honest. But I am not going to fly with you. No excuse for this accident..

Larry! are you looking for a video editor? let me know, I can help.

I like watching videos like these, but the music drives me nuts.

Terrible landing maneuver. The cultivated land was ideal to not damage the plane so much. But the worst thing was interrupting the checklist twice. You have not had an adequate flight instruction.

Farmer’s field trashed. All because of a phone call.

I always takeoff with full tanks. Problem avoided. Prop strike usually requires engine teardown.

3:24 - Third mistake you make, when that fan up front stops turning, you don't immediately put your nose down to maintain speed above stall. In fact, you immediately make the deadly turn back to base, and 5 seconds later do even worse, pull your nose up at 3:29. You're lucky to be alive. Please take some gliding courses and learn to fly the wing, not the engine, before you destroy any more planes :-)

these are cheaper planes but that is very weird to me that there isnt a auto switch valve. For something as flying that boggles my mind even in 2024 that isn't a thing.

I don't understand why you would have one tank empty in the first place assuming you have a left/right tank setup. I dip my tanks prior to every flight with a calibrated stick.

Wow thanks for the insight. Really inspirationnal. Hope it will be good for you

Thank you, THANK YOU for positing this. It takes courage, but it saves lives posting this kind of content.

my first thought was how in the heck do you not even think twice about fuel. i would think fuel is the first thing to think about. now coming from a guy (me) who left his wallet on top of his car and lost it twice in my 40 years of driving I'm first to admit these things happen.🤣

Amazing Video all around. Also - great piloting. not trying to turn back to field, apparently already committed to a landing in the field if necessary when trying to restart the engine, stop that in time and land safely. And the biggest part, a pilot that reflects on his errors and shares them with others is so important! As we all should learn in training, there is no room for Ego in flying.

Glad the rebuild is going well. Any chance on making a video of the bungee replacement on wing landing gear?

I hope your goal is the Zenith Homecoming in Sept 🙂 Hope to see you there again this year.

KILLER ITEMS BEFORE FLIGHT:FFTT=Fuel, Flaps, Trim, Transponder, Cycle control surfaces. Post checklist motion BEFORE take-off.

I'm almost convinced we are attracted to conflict or misfortune is in order to increase our imagination of ways of how to respond. So hearing about your accident and humility and responsibility gives us something to learn and model. Glad you are safe. Thank you.

Be careful about rebuilding your plane. Don't repeat the story of JAL 123. when after a bad repair it's tail was torn off mid flight and it's all ended as a crash.

Corvair engines are not to be trusted. Maybe in a pietenpol with a big slow prop. But I know of 3 people that have put a corvair powered plane in.

Thank you for posting this repair. I am so sorry about the incident. What a learning experience this is on sheet metal repairs. I feel after these repairs your plane will be safe to fly. If the AC 43 says three rows of rivets I would go 4. May your plane be airworthy soon.

I did not learn the lesson that distractions can be fatal until it happened to me. While rock climbing, I was tying a rope into my harness, looked down and saw my shoe laces were untied. It's a natural instinct to see your shoes untied and to stop and tie them up so that's what I did. Because of that I forgot to continue to tie the rope into my harness and began to climb with a half-tied knot. I was lucky because after climbing a few metres, my rope detached from my harness and I noticed that immediately and climbed back down. If the rope hadn't detatched itself naturally, I would have surely taken a ground fall. Now I make sure to let nothing distract me from tying my knot. If something urgent comes up, I untie it so I can retie it fully when I'm no longer distracted. I believe pilots need to be trained in dealing with distractions. Maybe instructors need to notice when it happens and ensure the pilot starts their checklist again from item 1.

landing on the wheat field with chassis down.... what can go wrong?) you lucky man, your plane didn't flip upside down with down landing gears

Please consider a less sole crushing music during the fast forward.

This man is definitely not a politician. He spoke the truth all the way from start to finish. The best and most important thing is he lived to tell the story. This is a win-win for him and his family. The plane will be rebuilt and able to be airborne again. Just find the parts and remove and replace. Respect to this man for being a stand up individual. We all will look forward to the rebuild video(s) of this bird. Like a Phoenix, it will rise again and do what it does best. Stay safe and learn from this very important and valuable lesson. 👍 ✈️

I’m sure you have been told you misspelled crashed in your thumbnail

Hey Larry, glad to see that the rebuild will be easier than you thought…. What’s the fuel capacity of those wing tanks that you have?

we learn frm everyones mistakes good too see u not expensive can see u talking tc

Did your insurance cover any of your costs, or are you not filing a claim?

Are we gonna be able to see the whole in cockpit video from the crash? Is there anything we can learn from it?