Everyone,
I've been in communication with the FAA, John Wheeler and the Europa staff
assisting
them where possible on the latest accidents.
In my aviation career I have lost too many fellow aviators, and the loss of Ken
and William hurt a lot.
One thing I have learned as an aviator, supervisor, and accident investigator,
we all must learn from these accidents.
The US Europa Fleet is not grounded but, it is imperative that we inspect our
aircraft
ASAP.
Ira Rampil mentioned to me about the Matronics site, and normally I don't keep
up with it as I get plenty of emails of my own from builders. I was glad to see
the important emphasis you all have about the need to check our aircraft
thoroughly
on pre-flights as well during building and periodic inspections.
In my building and flight testing, I have come across some great aircraft and
some
in need of TLC. One thing that can kill without warning, is flutter. I've
included below an email discussion with Ron Parigoris about flutter:
It is absolutely imperative that you have your tailplane torque tube pins
(TP-14s)
tight. Should the supplied pins not be absolutely tight, I ream the holes
and machine new pins to zero tolerance. I use dry ice to shrink the pins to
slide them in if necessary. ( A few firm taps is normally needed with warm
pins)
Any movement between the stabs is cause to inspect and remedy. Europa
has the Mod 62 which enlarges the holes to 3/8 inch giving the careful builder
a chance to get firm stabs and reduce the load on the pins, minimizing the
chance
of wear later on. Also, the TP-13 and TP-16 bushes for the drive pins and
trim tabs must be snug and well secured. Should flight be attempted with the
TP-16s missing, and or a sloppy torque tube or drive pin assembly, the trim
tabs could begin to flutter and the stab will cause such loads on the fuselage
and tailplane attach points that the aircraft could destroy itself. Remember,
the stabs are not individually balanced but are balanced via the torque tube
and mass balance arm. Imagine one stab fluttering exactly out of phase with
the other and the forces it would put on the fuselage. No glue joint or
stiffening
can hold up to that!
On a side note, I have also notice two aircraft where the TS-05 was left with
the
bearing nut loose. Again, a small amount of play in the TP-12 Drive Plates
due to loose TP-14s may cause a small flutter (all flutter is bad), and in
combination
with a sloppy TS-05 the trim tabs can begin to oscillate out of phase
with one another because of the T shape of the TS-05 rocking up and down.
Again,
causing the other stab to oscillate 180 degrees out of phase with the loose
one. A little flutter would eventually become big flutter and eventually
lead to inflight breakup. When checking movement on preflight and during
inspections,
the stabs and trim tabs are fiberglass and you can bend the stabs and
get movement. I am talking about movement where you feel a definite bump as
the stabs move. Call it a jiggle check. The slight movement of the hinges on
the trim tab feels like a lot on the end of the trim tab. Hold your finger on
the hinge pin and then check for up/down slop of your bushings.
To have the luxury of a removable stab and wing, we then have the responsibility
to ensure all the parts which affix our controls and move them, are inspected
and 100% serviceable.
If you have not seen the PFA FSBs they are also posted on my
customflightcreations.com
website. We will have more on the Europa website once reviewed by the
accident board.
As for the turning back to the runway. Speed is life. I'm committed to
straight
ahead (+-15 degrees) until 600 feet. All my patterns have lead me to the
conclusion
that an XS, with me flying it, won't make it back to the runway from
below 400 feet with a 3 second pilot delay time (yea, I'm old and slow).
Practice
at altitude, fully loaded, and test yourself.
Bud Yerly
Custom Flight Creations
US Europa distributer.
Phone: 813 653-4989
email: budyerly@msn.com
--------
Ira N224XS
Read this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=119833#119833
|