Scudrunners

Incredibly, that was on takeoff - NOT landing.

No one knows why he didn't take off at an angle on the runway, into wind.

Hell, he could have taken off on the ramp.  Winds were reported G40 knots,
about his stall speed.

Personally, I would have waited until the front went through.  Even with a
successful takeoff, it would have been violently bumpy in flight in an aircraft
with a light wing loading like that.  All the pax would barf, guaranteed.

I guess I'm getting old.  As Chuck says, you have to learn to say "no".

I have to respect the guy.  He blamed no one else but himself. Not blaming other factors, and he does say I could have waited, tried a different takeoff angle etc...

I wish him the best.

Did not understand the part where " making the tower mad" would even
be consider, when the safety of the flight is in jeopardy
I like what this guy does , I'm sure he is a very capable pilot
It is difficult to deal with the emotional impact of the accident and
what it does to your self confidence
I wish him well

I hope he builds another Draco but he is doing a lot of projects. I'm also looking forward to him finishing Scrappy.

I quite admire his work.

20/20 hindsight is not always the most helpful ...

See, the problem is that you don't know, for sure, if you will have
an accident beforehand.  He didn't know, before takeoff, that he
would crash if he tried to take off like a normal aircraft, down the
runway.  Otherwise he probably would have either not gone, to
avoid hurting the Tower's feelings with a weird takeoff from the ramp.

I would have taken off from the ramp, into wind.  Tower would have
written a letter.  The story of my life.  The tin is not bent, but a
prodigious amount of paper would be produced, with chairborne
bureaucrats asserting that my actions were not necessary, and
that I am a bad pilot, and a bad person, lacking virtue.

Hard to win at that stupid game, so I left the country.

A 21st century pilot would rather crash than get a letter in the mail.

I am from the 20th century.  I have never crashed, but I get lots of
interesting mail.  You make your choices, I guess.

As I said before, the best choice would have been to NOT try to
outrun the approaching wx.  Flight would have been violently
unpleasant in that turbulence, in an aircraft with that light wing
loading.

If you really really really had to take off - you're delivering medicine
to dying children, right? - I would pop it into the air on the ramp and
tell the Tower that a strong gust of wind picked me up, which would
have been as truthful as anything the Prime Minister of Canada has
said, lately.