By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

MT. VERNON — Owners and builders of the KR experimental aircraft are meeting this weekend not to only show off their projects, but to also gain knowledge and ideas.

The fifth annual KR Gathering, held at the Mt. Vernon Outland Airport, has become popular with both builders and pilots to hold forums, share pictures and talk about changes in design and ideas.

“I’ve got a partially completed project,” explained Allan Fink of Kansas. “I’m here to look at what these guys have done and how to make it safer because it’s going to be me and my wife in it.”

“It’s a fun learning experience,” said Mark Langford of Alabama, who spent 14 years building his KR aircraft and the last five flying it. “It’s the most inexpensive way to fly a plane that flies this fast.”

Langford’s aircraft averages around 180 miles per hour, he said. “We share information. That’s what this fly-in is about — to share information and knowledge.”

Fink brought parts of the engine he plans to use to the gathering, while others presented slide shows and some had other aircraft equipment on display.

The opening of the KR Gathering was overshadowed Friday morning by discussion of two plane crashes which occurred Thursday. An Indiana man sustained major injuries after his Rand Robinson KR experimental aircraft crashed on runway 5 at the airport at approximately 10 a.m. The second crash happened at about 6:45 p.m. that evening in a field behind the Industrial Park off Illinois Route 37 South after the pilot began experiencing difficulties with his engine. Both pilots survived the crashes, although their aircraft sustained major damage.

The incidents were the first time there have been any problems with pilots landing the homebuilt aircraft at the gathering.

“The aircraft will absorb a tremendous amount of energy and still protect the pilot,” said Jeff Scott of New Mexico, who has over 30 years experience in the aviation field and has been flying his experimental aircraft for 13 years. “Both guys are OK, we’re told. They have injuries, but they’re OK.

Scott said the investigation into the incidents by the Federal Aviation Administration is not only routine, but required by law. The FAA, he said, work like the police to determine what happened. The National Transportation Safety Board also investigates, he says, but has no enforcement arm.

The KR aircraft were designed by Ken Rand and Stu Robinson in 1972. The two engineers, who were working for McDonald Aircraft in California when they met, pioneered a foam and fiberglass composite construction method that is now the standard in homebuilt, commercial and military aircraft, according to Rand Robinson Aviation. The strength to weight ratio of the construction is superior to conventional construction methods, and the composite material make it easy to shape compound curves that produce fast, clean surfaces that a novice can master. The KR is lightweight and trailerable.

Langford said most experimental aircraft have no structural failure history as opposed to other planes like Cessnas. Made out of wood, fiberglass and foam, Langford said he believes the homebuilt planes to be very safe to fly.

“I know my plane inside and out because we build it,” added Mark Jones of Wisconsin. “You can fly a Cessna that a certified mechanic has worked on but you don’t know what he did. I feel safer because I know what I did.”

Scott, who spent six days touring the country prior to landing at the Mt. Vernon airport, said the planes provide better fuel economy than ground transportation.

“I flew non-stop, three-and-a-half hours, on 20 gallons of fuel from St. Paul, Minn.,” he said. “If you drove from Iowa, to Minnesota, to here, how many cars would you see? I saw only three planes in the air getting here. It’s relaxing up there.”

The KR Gathering continues throughout the day and will conclude with a program banquet tonight.