“Spirit of Artemis,” a Boeing Stearman biplane piloted by Tracy Curtis-Taylor, who was using the airplane to retrace old airmail routes across the United States, crashed in Arizona last week. Fortunately, Curtis-Taylor and her passenger, Ewald Gritsch, both walked away from the accident, but the airplane is in need of major repair.
In her own newsletter, Curtis-Taylor reported that the airplane suffered a partial power loss shortly after lifting off from the runway at the Winslow-Lindbergh Regional Airport in Winslow, Arizona, which sits at nearly 5,000 feet. Curtis-Taylor had no choice but to land on the desert floor.
About 20 feet after touching down, “the right wheel struck a dense sage root mound, which tore off the right landing gear and threw the plane onto its left wing. It then cartwheeled tail over the nose in a cloud of sand and dust,” Curtis-Taylor wrote.
For the complete story by Pia Bergqvist of Flying, click here.
Photo by Tracy Curtis-Taylor