SonexBuilders.net

Hi all,
Sadly a sonex has gone down at KJES Jesup Wayne Co. Airport in Georgia. Pilot reported to be Mr. Paul Laurent, from WI. Life flight helicopter to hospital. Article April 8 in www.kathrynsreport.com
Fly safe guys. Fuel, weather, maintain yours planes in airworthy condition. No word on cause here. Let's bow our head to Mr. Laurent's recovery.

WaiexN143NM
Michael Radtke

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Hi Dale,
Thanks for adding the direct link. Some newspaper articles on direct links in the Kathryn's article may have updates tomorrow. Possibly Mr. Laurent was on his way to Sun & Fun to join up with the sonex guys. Very sad tragedy , I hope he recovers. I'm sure the sonex family is thinking of him.
Regards,

WaiexN143NM

That looks like a bad one. With one undamaged prop blade, may have been an engine out situation and stalled trying to get to the runway. Will have to see what reports show. Takes the fun out of Sun and Fun. Hope Mr. Laurent recovers.

David A.

Flaps are down, so might suggest a normal landing approach, and not trying to extend a glide.

Mike,

To me it was hard to tell if the flaps were down, or the impact jammed the flap lever back. It seemed like a significant vertical impact based on how the gear folded up. I hope Paul recovers. Seems like all the news is 2 days old.

I would think that no news about his health is good news.

He just bought the plane on April 5th in vero Beach FL. He was headed back to WI.

I am not speculating on the cause, but Thursday and Friday were very windy days in Georgia and the winds kept me on the ground. That had to be challenging conditions for a brand new Sonex pilot. In Atlanta we had gusts of 30 plus mph. My daughter was in Savanah and told me it was very windy there too. Also, I wonder if he took the Sonex transition flight training? Just a reminder that while these are fun simple and exciting airplanes, you need to treat them with respect. Please be safe out there my friends!

Jake

He said he had Sonex transition training.