Lambada Crashes in Western Texas

[Steve Sliwa]

Small plane crashes in Northwest Bexar County

By Eva Ruth Moravec - Express-News Article Link


The 50-year-old pilot of a small, single-engine plane said he landed gently on the far Northwest Side Tuesday afternoon after parachuting to safety when he lost control of the aircraft.

Steve Cima, a retired U.S. Army officer, said his ride turned frightful just before 1 p.m., when the aircraft went out of control. Realizing the plane was damaged, Cima pulled a lever that releases the plane's red and white parachute, then glided down to the ground.

Cima said the UFM-13 Lambada motor glider, which weighs about 700 pounds, is equipped with a parachute that ejects from the plane when the lever is pulled. The parachute is connected to the pilot's harness and remained connected to both the plane and the pilot while Cima glided down.

Ron Heller, a developer who was near the site meeting with a client, said he saw the damaged plane in the air and then called 911 as Cima glided downward into a neighborhood close to Interstate 10 and Boerne Stage Road.

“I heard the pop and the parachute started to fly down,” said Heller, who used to fly Cessna aircraft. “The back of the plane had broken off, and he just spun down. It was awesome to watch; awful, but awesome.”

While slowly spiraling downward, Cima, who has been flying for 20 years, said he carefully watched his shadow on the ground so he could tell Federal Aviation Administration authorities exactly where he crashed.

“I got real lucky,” Cima said, noting there was little wind during his short descent. “I'm very happy that the aircraft has such an amazing parachute system; that's why I was able to walk away.”

Authorities have yet to determine what caused the aircraft — which Cima rented from Boerne Stage Airfield — to fail. The pilot, who lives near Kirby, said the extensive training he received to be licensed to fly light aircraft prepared him to know exactly what to do in situations like these.

[John Lawton]

Wow! Sounds like an inflight boom break. I would be curious to know if this Lambada was ever repaired.

[Tom]

Yikes! Good thing the Czech BRS worked.

[John Lawton]

Hey Guys,

I heard some new poop on the Lambada that lost it's tailfeathers. My partner talked to another Lambada owner recently and it was apparently elevator flutter that caused the tail to sheer off of the one in Texas.

Regards,

John Lawton
Whitwell, TN
Ximago #135

[tomjjlcu]

Originally Posted by John Lawton

Hey Guys,

I heard some new poop on the Lambada that lost it's tailfeathers. My partner talked to another Lambada owner recently and it was apparently elevator flutter that caused the tail to sheer off of the one in Texas.

Regards,

John Lawton
Whitwell, TN
Ximago #135

I'd be curious to understand if the Lambada was ever fixed.

[John Lawton]

We did a factory service advisory on a Lambada some time ago that involved wrapping each elevator hinge fixture on the horizontal side with carbon thread and sealing it with epoxy resin. Essentially, the hinge is a molded carbon fixture that looks like this: >O The "legs" on the left side are glued onto the rear closeout of the horizontal with a blob of cotton flox. The round part encapsulates the hinge pins on the elevator. Pursuant to the factory advisory, the carbon thread is wrapped around the junction between the > and the O. This tells me they have had issues with the fixture splitting from hinge load. I don't recall the exact number, but there are about 8-10 of these fixtures that hold the elevator on. I really did not like the way Urban Air did the elevator hinge on the Lambada at all.