Relentless NXT Loses Prop During Qualification!

Courtesy of Airpigz
  

Kevin Eldredge's blog has more details on what happened during a qualifying run at Reno
photo: Kevin Eldredge

In the left and right corners of this amazing picture you can see parts of the prop from Kevin Eldredge's Relentless NXT that have left the airplane. Fortunately Kevin was able to make a safe deadstick landing on one of the runways at Stead Field. A small fire in the engine compartment broke out but was quickly extinguished. Get more details from Kevin's Reno 2010 blog.

 

The broken back end of the Relentless  NXT race engine
photo: Everyday Tuesday 

 The early report is that the engine suffered a loss of oil allowing the prop to overspeed, then the engine to seize causing the prop to snap off. Fortunately the engine stayed on the airframe and Kevin was able to get the airplane on the ground safely.

 This pic from the Everyday Tuesday Flickr page shows more of the damaged engine and some of the recovered prop parts.

 I'm still en route to Reno so I don't have a lot of details to offer at the moment. The Reno Air Race website shows both the Relentless NXT and the GP-5 that I posted about yesterday as NO TIME, which I understand to mean they are not qualified for racing. In fact, only four airplanes are qualified for the Super Sport races at this time. 

 

The Relentless NXT airframe with the damaged engine removed
photo: Everyday Tuesday

More info on the already very exciting 2010 Reno Air Races coming soon.