Gyro Accident Tasmania

[gbw]

OP, POP.......CLATTER, CLATTER, CLATTER ALL THE WAY TO POINT OF ENTRY. BLADES WERE SAID TO BE SLOWING AND GYRO SPIRALING AND ROTATING, SAID TO BE AT 90 DEGREES/INVERTED OR NEARLY SO ON POINT OF ENTRY.IF SOMEONE CAN GIVE ME ANOTHER POSSIBILITY I"D APPRECIATE IT.OK Mitch,One thing that has not been mentioned, is the drive belt in the prerotator. In my youth, radiator belts were always failing. I know it should not be moving in flight, but if somehow it did suddenly catch, that would be the pop, and the clatter could have been the overspeed belt. This would have slowed the rotor, and given the slack feel to the controls that was reported. Under such stress, the belt may have broken, and jammed under the rotor head, slowing the rotor. This would have put a counter rotation on the gyro, which which was observed by some. If the belt did break, it would have taken out that spring, allowing the rotor head to tilt forward. Thus the dive.There was talk about the splice, but worst case would have been a bend, which would have allowed some control.In my TR6 days, I once went a little wide whilst braking for a corner, and my left wheels were braking on short grass. It felt as if I had suddenly hit the accelerator. (I found a farmer with a tractor to remove me from the hedge).In my scenario of a rapidly slowing rotor, I am sure it felt like the controls had disconnected.We have here a very experienced pilot, flying in unpleasant conditions, but nothing like the stresses that the musterers talk about. So that rules him out.A very carefully evolved machine, double checked by an anally retentive Mitch. The weak link had to be that piece of rubber.Graham

[Greg Mitchell]

G"Day Graham,All this was discussed at length with the manufacturer and others. I"m not sure how a broken belt with all the guards which are in place, could then become stuck under the rotorhead.I"m not sure if I posted pics of the MLS setup before. Framkly I"m rather more interested in getting to know my knew tip weighted Goodwin Blades. Hopefully the pics will give you a more comprehensive view of the system and how it is operated.I rip my MLS up to 245-290 rrpm with the 76 lb Pat"s and as I"m still getting to know the GG"s at 62 lbs I"m staying at 245-255 rrpm, I"m in the air in 5-7 seconds, very little ware on sytem components, belt still looks new. ;DTruth is I fly over where Allan went in often. I have never seen the craft and no diver, who has tried has recoved it. Harbour and Marine dont care, it"s too deep to be a threat to shipping. We will never know with Allan"s Monarch.He and I are still firm in the belief, that given,

[aussie_paul]

G"Day Graham,All this was discussed at length with the manufacturer and others. I"m not sure how a broken belt with all the guards which are in place, could then become stuck under the rotorhead.I"m not sure if I posted pics of the MLS setup before. Framkly I"m rather more interested in getting to know my knew tip weighted Goodwin Blades. Hopefully the pics will give you a more comprehensive view of the system and how it is operated.I rip my MLS up to 245-290 rrpm with the 76 lb Pat"s and as I"m still getting to know the GG"s at 62 lbs I"m staying at 245-255 rrpm, I"m in the air in 5-7 seconds, very little ware on sytem components, belt still looks new. ;DTruth is I fly over where Allan went in often. I have never seen the craft and no diver, who has tried has recoved it. Harbour and Marine dont care, it"s too deep to be a threat to shipping. We will never know with Allan"s Monarch.He and I are still firm in the belief, that given,

[Greg Mitchell]

No Paul. Talking 9 degrees each side effectively reduced to maybe 6 degrees each side with install of teeter stops, to stop contact of bolts to pre-rotator bendix housing. Add to that extra length on strap bolts, thus reducing available teeter angles even further. I"ve email Graham with a couple of lengthy responses.I have no real desire to attack this subject matter any further here....by all means, the rest of the membership have every right to

[gbw]

"I"ve email Graham with a couple of lengthy responses."Yes, thanks Mitch, much appreciated. Really seems like a once off thingy.Graham