---------------------------------------------------------- Lightning-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Sat 06/02/07: 1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 02:37 PM - Re: Canopy seperation Discussion Separation-- the true story! (JChesbrough) ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 02:37:31 PM PST US From: "JChesbrough" Subject: Re: Lightning-List: 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 wrote: Sure can i will send today......thru info@flylightning i can send bigger photots with that.. nick Ernie Pritchard 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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Don't be flakey. Get Yahoo! 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