Photos

This ultralight aircraft landed on the beach one afternoon. The pilot had a couple of drinks at the beach bar and then hopped back in the plane and, while trying to take off, was swamped by a wave which damaged the propeller blades. Some locals rushed to help him haul the plane to higher ground and it was left there for two days. Then early in the morning five guys arrived and began working on the propeller, changing the damaged blades. This took about four hours and then they fired up the engine (4 cylinder Rotax) and with one guy hitting the throttle and three of them keeping the plane from advancing, one held a device in the prop wash and measured the thrust. After some more adjustments, everything was declared shipshape and at this point the pilot arrived, hopped in the plane and took off. By the way, the plane only needed about forty meters to become airborne.