News : Rebuilding of Miss Underestimated will keep pilot busy several weeks

John Stiegelmeyer has begun repairing his plane, following a runway deer incident that damaged it.

Repairing the home-built plane will take several weeks, says pilot John Stiegelmeyer.

John Stiegelmeyer points out damage to the frame that must be fixed.

Instead of spending the summer flying Miss Underestimated, John Stiegelmeyer will repair it.

Fuel lines were damaged and the fuel tank punctured when the plane hit a deer.

The pilot points out parts of the frame on the plane's blueprint.

Almost art: John Stiegelmeyer removes one of Miss Underestimated's 200+ rivets he must replace.

John Stiegelmeyer said spending the summer repairing his plane is not the way he had planned or wanted to spend it, but his love of flying and his plane are motivating him to do the work. He will be fixing the frame, replacing damaged fuel lines and replacing the left wing and fuel tank.

Steigelmeyer said he had briefly contemplated retirement after the accident on Saturday, June 8, when his RV-7A hit one of three deer crossing the runway as he landed his plane at the Vinton airport.

Stiegelmeyer briefly explained the rebuilding process, discussing the rivets he must drill and punch out, then replace, as well as other damage he must fix before the plane can return to the skies.

A poem by a World War II pilot and the memory of the first two men to fly are inspiring him.

The first part of the repair project was replacing the left wing, which bore most of the impact.

“The wing has been removed, and although repairable, it is junk,” says the pilot. “Vans Aircraft had a quick build left wing in stock. This saves many hours of labor.”

Stiegelmeyer estimates that at least 200 rivets will need to be drilled our and removed and replaced in a new sheet of the fuselage skin.

“Drilling out a rivet is, as I have discovered, is an art form,” he said. “What we do not wish to do is to make the hole larger. We basically use AN3 (3/32 ) or or AN4 (4/32) rivets at various lengths in 1/16 inch lengths. There are FAA standards at to the diameter of the mushroom developed and also the height of the mushroom.”

After investing nearly seven years in the development of Miss Underestimated, Stiegelmeyer said that while he, of course, must “adhere to FFA standards,” the most important thing is repairing the plane to make it airworthy.

“My goal now is to see her leave the earth once again and give her pilot the freedom of leaving the earth that is only given to those who follow in the footsteps of Orville and Wilbur Wright. As one of my t-shirts says, ‘Two wrongs don't make a right, but two Wrights made an airplane.’ Where on Earth do we find such Men? Thank God for them and all who follow, challenging the blue skies.”

The paperwork process

Stiegelmeyer summarizes the conversations he had after the accident that helped him understand the terms of rebuilding the plane.

“We survived the investigation of the FAA FSDO inspections of licenses, medical, and proper flight and airframe log book entries, and, I think, the investigation of the NTSB. Our insurance agent visited last week - he bought lunch, can you believe it? There are certain things we can see that will need repair, but others that we will find when certain sheet metal panels are removed. I will be paid a set amount for labor as will anyone with the proper building credentials who helps out. Hidden damage is what we will find when we remove one fuselage sheet, which is quite large,” he says.

As he works, Stiegelmeyer is inspired by his love of flying, his memories of being at the controls of Miss Underestimated, and aviation history and literature.

As he discusses rebuilding Miss Underestimated, Stiegelmeyer quotes a sonnet written by John Gillespie Magee, an American pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Second World War. Magee had traveled to Britain, flew in a Spitfire squadron, and was killed at the age of 19 on Dec. 11, 1941, during a training flight from the airfield near Scopwick.) Earlier, he wrote the following poem, which has been quoted several times, including by President Ronald Reagan after the Challenger disaster in 1986:

"Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds -
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of -
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I've chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air. "Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God."

Stiegelmeyer said it will be several weeks before he can return Miss Underestimated to the skies.

"While I was building her, I was asked when will it be finished," he recalls.

He always had the same answer: In one month.

"And I would give the same answer the next month," he says.