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Larry, I’m curious, did you have to compensate the land owner for damage to the field or crop?

And this is why you always fuel up when you’re done flying, so the next time you fly you can’t make this same mistake. Take the extra hour or less to get fuel and don’t be a cheap bastard. Lucky for him it’s a cheap experimental with good parts availability. Any other certified plane would have been 10X the cost to fix and just a right off.

I love how honest and open you were! Could you post the entire video from the time you hit the throttle for take-off through the crash? Seeing how you responded to each thing that happened would be interesting and educational. Thanks for considering!

derp

Well, one thing I know is we’re all humans and we make mistakes. I appreciate your honesty and sharing your story. I hope your able to fly again soon. Take care and safe flying!

I'm confused on why the fuel tank is switched *after* the run-up. Typically we do our run-up on the tank we intend to takeoff with. As a result of us taking our time checking our mags at a higher RPM, we're also making sure that any fuel contaminants we may have missed on our preflight are gonna be dealt with on our run-up. On another topic, I always fly with my devices on Do not disturb, maybe add it as a part of your preflight. Happy your safe and the plane is rebuildable!

Why are you taking off with an empty tank??

Doesn’t the FAA have to give you permission to move the airplane??

Kudos to you sir, thanks for this video, very informative.

Question: Do you have an emergency parachute on board? Would that have been an alternative? With less damage? Such incredible mistakes can happen, but thankfully rarely.... I was a glider pilot and then I have been flying paragliders for over 30 years. You often chat with people at the launch site or are otherwise disturbed. Starting without hooking in is fatal, which is practically impossible when paragliding. But it rarely happens when hang gliding. Unfortunately, it happened once in my flying area... fatal. I myself noticed that after about 25 years of experience I became more sloppy, I could always correct mistakes, etc., then I clearly noticed the effects of my sloppiness and went back to carrying out the "checklists" very precisely...

Wow! I’m glad you are ok. Things can be replaced or fixed. 👍

Unfortunately all the best lessons are expensive and school of hard knocks.

I thought it was a basic to fill the tanks whenever you fly. Is that wrong? Genuine question.

I shit miself……nightmare

The real question is you were flying the plane before with two minutes of fuel The last time you used it. 😬

I would never fly in a rebuilt aircraft. Sorry too risky.

respect for your honesty, all the best to you

I'm just glad you're not another trevor jacobs

I’m disappointed the pilot didn’t address the root cause and explain what he’s changed in his procedure to ensure he doesn’t repeat the mistake(s).

Thank you for sharing 🙏🏻 But I don’t understand why the engine did not restart in a matter of seconds once you switch the tanks.

I rarely comment on TH-cam videos, but this sir, is an incredibly valuable lesson for all pilots and even day to day life. Incidents/accidents are a sequence of events that, at the time get lost, but if the line up in a perfect storm, they can lead to things like this. I’m extremely glad you’re okay and taking this as a learning experience, and sharing it with the community by being honest with only facts. Cheers to you.

It has become too common to interrupt everything one is doing, just because the phone is ringing. If it's important, they'll call again or send a text message. And you can call back later when you have free time. Besides, what is more rude? Not picking up the phone or ending the conversation with the person right in front of you to answer the call? Answering is not mandatory, everyone, and it certainly doesn't supersede any safety concerns. Glad the damage is only material.

Good video sir!!!

WELL DONE CAPT! Thanks for sharing and being vulnerable and honest about things that happen daily.

Huge respect how honest he is! His mistake, no excueses

If you are standing in front of your airplane and it's still in one piece you didn't crash it. You had an accident or an off-field landing. I've seen people crash airplanes. For the most part they don't walk away and the one I saw required multiple black plastic bags to recover the occupant. I don't think you should be such a drama queen

Are there not warning indicators? I mean i always check the fuel level when i drive my cars everyday.

Balls of steel to make this video. Respect!

No humans are perfect. Glad you made it down safe! The important thing you are still alive, and you can fly again! Sir, your honesty is astounding, not a lot of people are willing to admit their own faults. Amazing job, sir. God Bless. 🙏🏾

Thanks for the share. Safe landings

😢

“Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.” He wasn’t wrong. This qualifies as all three. Shame. At least it ended well this time.

I used to take a lot of friends to fly in my Ultralight, down under Brazil, but at the same day I got a field land like yours, that was the same day day I lost all those friends... none of them even tried to help me took the wings off and load it onto the truck.... Bless you cause you are Ok and didnt got hurt... you will be flying very soon... Best wish to you Cmte...

You're alive, that's all that matters, full-stop. I've had a few close calls, these things happen.

“I fucked up and here’s how” Honesty is the best policy

Respect to you from germany ✌️

I wonder if keeping the gear up (or raising it) would have been better or worse in terms of damage. Sounds like there wasn't enough time to raise it in any case... It always seemed to me that distributing the load would help, but only if you can land perfectly wings level. Most likely you would just have less damage to a larger area of the plane.

Add a checklist item: Have some $ on hand for the farmer for his crop. Good thing there wasn’t a fire. Could have been very bad

Amazing plane. I don't know much about them or can fly them either but one thing for sure If I ever won lottery getting pilot licence and a plane like this one would one of the first thing I would get. Hope you will get it fixed in no time. Good luck and stay safe

im glad your safe brother, planes can be rebuilt, we cant

Thanks for sharing. I need new floats thanks to a stupid distraction. We all do mistakes!

I think an important change that can be taken away from this, is to complete each checklist uninterrupted. As someone that struggles with maintaining focus i actually use the following technique often, I concentrate on one task until it is complete. Otherwise i get distracted an may forget something. If you are unable to complete the checklist due to an interruption, redo the checklist. I also think that this is a good opportunity to do checklists a different way. Maybe instead of having a plasticized copy of the checklist(which seems the norm), print it off and put it on your kneeboard or clip board so you can visually mark with a pencil that each task has been completed. Or some other similar way where you can visually check quickly what has and hasn't been done on the checklist.

That is the reason why I always restart my routine if I got distracted if that does not have a checklist. I also creates checklist to make sure if I missed something.

It takes guts to be open about this, but this is a huge huge error and not just a small thing.

Dunno why all the downvotes. Maybe people expecting far more damage and drama. Thanks for sharing this unfortunate incident.

Amazing honesty here! I'll follow you to see your plane get up in the air again.

Glad you're safe, well done on the landing! You will build to fly another day! God bless you.

That is why you do your runup on the tank you will be taking off on! What is the point of doing the checks to confirm everything is in working order if you then go and change things immediately afterwards? A lot of things can kill an engine, such as water in the tank you just switched to, and it takes about a minute or two for the engine to die, which as you found out, is just enough to have an EFAT. Start and taxi on low tank, before runup switch to the full tank, then DON'T TOUCH THE TANK AGAIN until within a gliding distance of an airfield.

You might have just saved a whole bunch of current and future pilots, experimental or not, from making the same mistakes you did. Props (no pun intended) for owning your mistakes like a champ and informing people.

The lesson here I feel like is less to check your checklists, but to check fuel before takeoff. If unsure if you will have enough fuel, fill it up. Checklists are without a doubt important, but the preflight would have caught this earlier. I am impressed and thankful for your honesty, but fuel level should be adressed before you turn the engine, not in the run up. Even if one tank had enough fuel, before the engine turns, you need to ensure that you are in the correct tank for a short flight. I am thrilled you are okay, and I'm glad this was simply an expensive learning moment, as your life is worth more than any amount of money. However, the amount of comments I've seen talking about checklists is concerning. Do not take off without checking fuel and ensuring the correct tank is selected. Please do not be distracted in the cockpit, but also start your "emergency" or "flying" mindset before you rotate. Good luck with aviation to anyone reading this, and please, check your fuel before your taxi. Tailwinds.