B-29 Replica Mishap Final Report Issued

The pilot and builder of a one-third scale B-29 hit a dip in the grass runway and lost control of the big homebuilt before it hit a golf cart and injured a female videographer at Glenndale Airport in Kokomo, Indiana, last November. In the very short final report on the unusual mishap, the NTSB says Tom Hodgson was on a test flight of his elaborate project and was rolling out after landing when he told investigators the nose gear hit a "depression" in the turf. "The airplane yawed to the left, departed the runway surface, and struck a golf cart with a spectator, that was parked on the edge of the runway." She suffered minor injuries.

The aircraft, which Hodgson had spent years building, incurred damage to both wings in the mishap. The aircraft uses four Honda Fit car engines with belt drive reductions for power. At 35% scale, it’s about 35 feet long with a wingspan of almost 50 feet. The aircraft was built from scratch by Hodgson.