gyro crash north of brisbane

[asra]

Anybody know what happened ?

[Bill Cross]

Only this bit from the ABChttp://abc.gov.au/news/stories/2010/08/21/2989495.htm?site=newshttp://abc.gov.au/news/stories/2010/08/21/2989495.htm?site=news

[WayneB]

tv news story .... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRsolp56kl8

[asra]

ASRA Secretary Paul Campbell crashed his Modified RAF yesterday morning. He was about 10 minutes into a long cross country flight.Paul managed to get a "pan pan" call out and indicated he was having control difficulties and was returning to Caboolture airstrip.Witnesses saw the gyro hit trees before coming to rest inverted on the edge of a paddock.Paul was airlifted to hospital and placed into an induced coma as his injuries are extensive.He has woken briefly today and from all indications will make a full recovery.Be careful out there.

[Greg Mitchell]

Paul is a real decent fella, I wish him a speedy and full recovery.

[asra]

Very very sad. I wish Paul well.

[aussie_paul]

How is Paul doing?Aussie Paul.

[asra]

Paul is now at home recovering. He will be sore and sorry for a while no doubt and will need to wear a neck brace for a month or so. We have done some serious testing on the components that failed on Paul"s gyro and this will be the basis for an AD in the near future.

[WayneB]

Best Wishes to Paul. Good to hear he is recovering.

[Disco]

Murray, What failed?

[asra]

Hello All,A swage on the rudder cable. It appears different brands of swage can be different ID"s and thickness material.Also a bit of human error involved.Please read the AD now published.

[asra]

I should add the "human error" was not in any way the pilot"s fault.

[asra]

Hi MurrayAfter a cable failure, the rudder should naturaly self centre if the trim tab is set right on the rudder, and you dont push on the opposit pedal. Is this a non fail safe design fault? if so can we advise of better fail safe designs/mods for other RAF owners?Regards SamL.....

[aussie_paul]

I should add the "human error" was not in any way the pilot"s fault.I guess the fault lies with the builder not building to the required ASRA specifications and the TA who signed it off not confirming the machine met the required ASRA specifications.Aussie Paul.

[Des Garvin]

Thanks to our ASRA officers for posting the AD. Having read the official AD posted, I would comment that the correct swaging tool was not used to swage the ferral on to the cable used. It may be useful to all pilots to have a close up picture of the said failed swaged heatshrink covered joint and cable used posted on the web site and in the next Gyro News so it is known to all members, and non members what is not acceptable to use. Is this possible Murray or Al. Cheers Des Garvin.