So now what

It’s no good, it’s happened and the clock can’t be turned back. This is a major setback but if I can, I won’t allow it to stop me. Now I need to find the best way forward.

I spoke to someone last night who’s well known in the microlight world and he told me about one AX3 that he’s familiar with that was damaged and fixed thirty or forty times while it was being worked as a school aircraft at Popham. At one time apparently it even had non-matching wings – there are two types, earlier and later, which I didn’t know – and it’s still going strong. He said if MYRO was only damaged enough that I could open the door and climb out it’s probably repairable, which was encouraging. So I’ve already arranged with my inspector to take a look at MYRO tomorrow morning before I take the wings off and take it away from Linton, as he wanted to see it ‘as is’ to get some idea of where the forces involved went. I’ve also already made some initial contacts to source the bits I will need if I do go ahead with a repair and in fact, if ‘what you see is what you get’ only about half a dozen tubes, the front forks, the prop and the pod might need replacing. It also seems that as the prop was a composite one that shatters very easily and as the engine was ticking over despite the prop strike it’s unlikely to have been badly damaged. I understand that 95% of shock load inspected engines are found to be perfect according to engine shops both in the UK and the USA so I have high hopes for that. Also, a shock load check-over doesn’t apparently cost that much according to my informant.

Anyway, all will be much clearer tomorrow, and in the meantime I’ve been trying to get in touch with Rosie, my old instructor to get an hour or so’s circuits and landings in in her AX3 before I allow the chance for it to start getting at me. Apparently she’s flying a gyro at Popham today so that’s out for a couple of days which is a pity as the weather is perfect today. But if the news is not too bad tomorrow, at least I’ll then be able to make some plans.

Thanks to everyone who has messaged me here and elsewhere. All of your kind comments and words of encouragement are truly appreciated and have been a great help to me. It’s great that there are friends out there who I didn’t even know about and it’ll be a long time before I forget the support and encouragement that I’ve received.