I picked up a couple of messages on the RV-List (or see the message browser) about a forced landing by Tim Lewis. It seems that he was flying his RV-6A cross country and got into enough snow that it blocked the air filter, causing a forced landing. He did an excellent job getting the aircraft on the ground, and there were no injuries, nor was there any real damage to the aircraft.

This incident highlights the importance of an alternate air system, which is a design mod that I intend to make on my aircraft.

Read on for more details of Tim Lewis' incident.

The following info was extracted from a message on the RV-List.

"Tim Lewis (USAF), his wife and 4-year-old son were flying (IFR?) on Christmas Eve in his RV6A from Washington, D.C., to spend Christmas with his parents who live at Marshfield, Missouri, near Springfield.

Tim told me that he had been cleared to land at Scott AFB (Mid-America?). Snow had been packing in his intake filter, and he had no alternate air source since the RV did not have one in the design. He says that his next priority is to change the design and have one. His engine quit or was quitting. He said that he broke out of the clouds at 200 ft with some high-tension wires in front of him, but plenty of snow-covered field past that. He did a great job of landing the RV with only some minor damage to the wheel pants probably caused by the mud and snow. Tim and his family were met by some volunteer firemen from Mascoutah and taken to Scott Inn where they spent the night.

He put out an email to an RV group in Washington. I don't know how Rick or someone got the message to our eaa32 group list, but it was there with an email address and a phone number to call. I called Christmas night, but he had checked out. I then emailed his mother and Tim called me back asking for help. He said the FAA had advised him not to take off from the field because of a possible prop strike on the plowed ground. I put out the call for eaa32 volunteers.

Tim and his father came back for the plane and brought a trailer, but the weather had warmed up and the field was too soft to haul the plane on the trailer.

Our crew joined them at 10 AM this morning in making a plywood sled to load the plane on. A local tractor retailer volunteered to bring a tractor to pull the sled and plane about 1/4 mile across the field to a highway where Tim could take off. (What a tractor! This thing could have pulled three houses behind it without a sled!)

Thanks to our building expertise, :-) , the pull went without a problem. The firemen blocked the west end of the highway for us, while Tim's father blocked the east end about 1/2 mile away.

After a warm-up and run-up, at about 2 PM, Tim took off, looking like the excellent pilot that he is. He headed for a local airport, while we gathered the sled and wood and loaded them on his father's trailer."