From Press Release...
Airshow legend Sean D. Tucker was forced on Tuesday to bail out of his highly modified 400-horsepower Pitts S-2S biplane, the Team Oracle Challenger, while practicing his routine near The Red River Airport at Coushatta, Louisiana, 38 nm southeast of Shreveport where waivered aerobatic airspace is available. Tucker was pulling on his control stick when he felt something give and went to his trim lever as a backup control. Using the trim adjustment control, he was able to put the aircraft in a climb while he evaluated the problem. The local sheriff and judge raced to the scene, closed down a road, and directed him to the I Hope Plantation farm when a bailout became inevitable. Tucker later said he felt, with an additional hour of fuel to evaluate the problem, he could have safely landed the aircraft. Tucker ducked his head and pulled release pins holding the canopy, but was still hit twice on his helmet by the canopy as it exited. After a brief tussle with a shoulder strap, Tucker jumped free and was careful to push himself away from the tail as it passed. Previous reports that he was hung up on the tail are incorrect. He landed uninjured and asked the sheriff to take him to the wreckage, and found that a torque-tube linkage controlling the main elevator had failed. Tucker expects it will take a month or two to re-engine a backup biplane and return to the airshow circuit. Meanwhile, he will continue to give upset demonstrations at Sun 'n Fun this week and throughout the airshow season in his new mount, a Columbia 400SL.