The Dracheklaue Crash
by John HareIn AC 992 the light warbird Dracheklaue was commissioned and taken out on its maiden cruise. However several mishaps on board forced it to return early. Including the fire in the galley which destroyed most of the stores either through the fire itself or the water which was used to put out the fire. Several crewmen lost fingers when adjusting the sails. During manoeuvres the rear catapult was discovered not to have been fixed to the hull and was lost overboard with one crewman trying to hold it on board. All in all it was a disastrous 2 weeks for the crew and so most were overjoyed with the captain's order to bring the ship back in. However when brought in the captain ordered the sails trimmed and one of the spars came loose and struck him unconscious. The crew quickly gathered him up and put him in his quarters. Unfortunately the helmsman kept on his course and the sails were still not trimmed properly. The helmsman had seen other warbirds returning low and fast over the city and decided to do the same. Unfortunately he forgot about the extra clearance required for the landing claws. As such when almost at the dockyards the left claw hit a chimney which lurched the ship throwing the helmsman from the wheel. Before he could recover the right wing struck a building and the ship flipped over crushing several workers below and killing several crewmen who hadn't fastened their safety lines.
As a result warbirds were no longer
authorised to fly of the city except at 1000' and above. The
helmsman had to have a safety strap securing him in position and
all personnel on deck should have safety straps hooked in when ever
possible. The captain was reassigned to a far northern commanderie.
And the Dracheklaue while repaired never took to the air as a fully
manned ship. Instead it was moved to a training location, where it
is used to familiarise crews on the equipment before being sent
into the air.