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1. 02:37 PM - Re: Canopy seperation Discussion Separation-- the true story! (JChesbrough)
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Subject: | Re: Canopy seperation Discussion Separation-- the true |
story!
Nick,
I am the one who experienced the canopy problem in Australia. It
happened in my MCR-01, VH-SIP, on November 6, 2003 near the village of
Tintinara in South Australia, about one hour east of Adelaide.
I was cruising at 134 kt IAS (about 153kt TAS, or 176MPH) at 4500ft when
I ran into moderate turbulence. Then suddenly the plexiglass broke up
in front of me. Hit by such a sudden breeze, glasses blown away,
headset torn off, charts and all departed the cockpit. I pulled back on
the stick to reduce speed and snap rolled into a spin to the right. The
wonderful MCR responded to my spin recovery input (you all know that,
don't you!!) and after a few turns she pulled out at about 1200ft. I
was now piloting a vibrating machine with gauges hard to read through my
tearful eyes. My loving wife was by my side, very anxious to get on the
ground!
.
The spin recovery was over dense "tiger country" and I desperately
sought a place to put her down. A green field appeared after about 20
miles so I put her down. It was a soft sandy wheat field. The nose
wheel dug in and we flipped onto her back.
For the rest of this story, find my article titled "Spin Doctor" in our
"Crash Comics", the Australian Air Safety magazine ( I think about Feb
2004).
Canopy description: The 0.084" thick Plexiglas was bonded to a 0.75"
dia aluminium tube. The assembly is hinged at the front, and near the
rear is held down by two over- center latching hooks that hook onto a
lugs riveted to the tubing with 0.125" al pop rivets. The hooks are
approx 0.75" displaced from the center of the tube, thus impose a
twisting load onto the tube.
The Failure: The rivets in the left rear lug (near my shoulder) failed.
The canopy lifted a bit ( substantial lift force). It twisted,
overstressing the plexiglass which broke into many pieces. (the
adhesive bond held completely).
The Defect: Rivets were up to 0.25" off center on the tube thus were
not in pure shear.
SB Note A mandatory service bulletin was issued by Dyn Aero a few days
later requiring that the 3.1mm al rivets be replaced by 4mm steel
rivets and check that they are centered.
(too late for me)
A comparison with Lightning; Shoot bolts at the rear of the canopy are
on the centerline, thus no eccentric load). Lots of shear area. Frame
is stiffer. (Nick may comment further)
I have purchased a lightning kit. I studied the canopy details
carefully before committing.
Personal problems have stopped me from starting assembly so far.
Flying witout a canopy. Don't even think about it!
Fly safely folks, and plan for the unexpected . . . . .
John Chesbrough
Unit 9, 10 Victoria Street
South Perth, WA
Australia
Phone 61 (0) 8 9474 4440
Fax 61 (0) 8 9474 1949
Mobile 0407 446 869
----- Original Message -----
From: nick otterback
To: lightning-list@matronics.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 11:52 PM
Subject: Lightning-List: Canopy seperation Discussion
To Lightning Group........
There has been discussion of a canopy seperation in flight from a
lightning. After a short discussion with the australia dealer he has
said that there are no flying lightnings in australia for this to be a
possiblity. The incident which took place 2 years ago was on another
type of aircraft with a smilar style canopy. This post is only to inform
of what is really the case. We have had many phone calls and concerned
customers relating to this discussion. Arion Aircraft took great care in
the design of the frame, latching systems, the adhesive and manner in
which the canopy is bonded. I would urge no one to fly the lightning as
an open cockpit type aircraft as we have not tested it and based on this
incident and other similar ones the aircraft flight capabilities would
be unknown.
Nick Otterback
Arion Aircraft
nick otterback <vettin74@yahoo.com> wrote:
Sure can i will send today......thru info@flylightning i can send
bigger photots with that..
nick
Ernie Pritchard <ernie@epritchards.com> wrote:
Hello Nick,
Could you e-mail me some close up pictures of your TrueTrak
pitch and roll servo installation.
Ernie
----- Original Message -----
From: nick otterback
To: lightning-list@matronics.com
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 2:41 PM
Subject: Lightning-List: Aluminum Spinners For Lightning.
To Group:
Some may have gotten this e-mail already , but to let everybody
know;
The Aluminum spinners from Cummins are
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