Record?

[Waddles]

Gentlemen,It grieves me to some degree to have to report yet another incident involving myself.Flying from Watts Bridge to Caboolture last Sunday, a "different" vibration manifested itself. My passenger immediately relinquished control and gave it to me. Can't understand why!!I closed the throttle whereupon the vibration ceased. Bugger. Sounded like a re-drive problem to me. Oh well. Just find somewhere to set down whilst there is still some power.As luck would have it, there was a private strip right below us, so an approach and landing was carried out. Taxied off the strip and shut down.Initial inspection revealled that when the prop was moved, the power pulley moved a very abnormal amount. The drive belt was also very slack. Bearing failure in the re-drive crossed my mind. Difficult to tell without a strip of the re-drive. The property owner turned up very curious. He turns out to be a good bloke, and after a cuppa, offered to fly us back to Caboolture in his C 172. Problem. The strip is not real long, and he was not happy putting 2 extra blokes onboard for takeoff. Solution? His missus drove my passenger to Watts, whilst the owner and I flew there. From there it was an easy flight to Caboolture.I recovered the machine the next day and stripped the re-drive. Bugger. The re-drive was fine, but the crankshaft was broke. (Is this double bugger?) Further inspection revealed that the bolts securing the support brackets that hold the steady plate to the power pulley were loose, and there were aluminium filings around them.Conclusion? The loose bolts allowed the steady plate to move excessively allowing the crankshaft to flex resulting in the failure.Solution? Order a new EJ 22 engine, and, as there will be a time delay in it's delivery, modify the airframe to accept a gearbox and tall tail. This means lifting the whole machine a significant amount with the associated complications. A kind of homebuilt Sparrow-hawk conversion.The upshot of it all is that I will not be available for in-flight training for a while.It is my intention to identify all the owners who are known to be operating the standard RAF re-drives, with a personal recommendation to add to the 25 hourly maintenance schedule ,a check of the these attachment bolts.The next question is..... Is there a prize for the most incident reports filed in a year, or even a month?Please email me privately if you require more information.Regards,Waddles.

[asra]

G,day.I read a report on the yank forum this morning about RAF-Subarucrankshaft failure !Would this be similar to what they were talking about ?PS: The joy comes from being able to post an incident report.Cheers.Robert DunnMackay. Qld.Growing old is good while it lasts.

[asra]

Congratulations on a factual and honest account of an 'event' that has been well handled.Far from being the subject of a 'chortle' this should be an example of the professionalism culture that we are trying to foster in ASRA.I don't know if the Guinnes Book of Records has a spot for you Allan, but we could always ask. They do have some odd records, the daughter is going for one this northern summer, she's helping to run one of these yank summer camps. The record they intend to attack is the one for passing an orange from 'neck to neck'. Perhaps you could arrange to join that team if they don't cater for you otherwise.[]John EvansThink logically and do things well, think laterally and do things better.

[asra]

"your aircraft" was the call. At this stage all I knew was that the new vibration was certainly not normal. Allan calmly took control and then started to test for the cause of the problem. From my perspecitve of an almost zero timed gyro pilot, not being able to get a good look behind at the engine area was a little daunting, but a quick glance at Allan from time to time, gave me confidence that we were okay. Even landing on a sloping runway with an almost 90 degree cross breeze didn't seem to phase him.The experience is on one hand welcoming, in so far as it helps to build an understanding of and more importantly faith in gyro's, whilst on the other hand I wish it didn't have to happen because of the expense involved.

[asra]

G,day.Someone on the yank forum had heard about a number of other shaftsbreaking on different Subaru models. I've been wondering if these failures had differentcauses or were they of a similar nature ? If they were similar, then what is it about the RAF design that brings this about ? Have the shafts been breaking on other brandsof Gyro ? There are lots of them, light and heavy.A 25 hr maintenance check would probably keep it under control,hopefully, but there must be an underlying design fault to begin with.Is it the mast or the engine mount itself or something of thatnature that could be corrected.I wonder how AAI have theirs setup and Paul Bruty's Firebird for instance. Where do they differ compared to RAF ? Bit early to speakof these two tho, I guess, as they have little or no hours on themas yet.I know nothing of Gyro setups but I imagine the thing wouldneed to have as little vibration as possible and have everythingbalanced and in harmany. I wonder if these failures are occuring onstock RAF's or modified ones ? The RAF certainly needs modifyingin other areas,that being the case,perhaps the mods are not beingextended far enough to keep these failures from happening.I dont know so does anone else have any idea's ?Cheers.Robert DunnMackay. Qld.Growing old is good while it lasts.

[Brian]

Its pretty well a RAF problem Robert, something to do with not having a wide enough bearing. Tim or Paul B can tell you exactly why it happens.There are a number of Suby 2.2's with big hours up and no broken cranks so its not the motors fault.BrianYou never know how far you can go, till you get there !

[asra]

Thanks Brian.If it just comes down to a bearing problem, that should not be areal problem to correct. Should it ?From what I have seen and been reading,if I had an RAF, I would want To change the frame, lower the donk and hang a proper gearbox on back anyway. Would that fix It ?Cheers.Robert DunnMackay. Qld.Growing old is good while it lasts.

[asra]

Yes Robert it would. Alan has "Bit the bullit" and is in the process of doing an OZ version of the Sparrow Hawk.M Barker

[asra]

Murray that should be interesting. Lets hope that Alan posts lots of pics !A curiosity question:Take your beaut looking 2 place for instance, could it be modifiedto have a Magni style enclosed tandem cabin thingy fitted ?I think I could see a bit of a hopper in the back seat area, Ie:Ag Gyro ! In the yellow pages it would look like a "real aeroplane"and if nothing else it would keep the rain off ya.Cheers.Robert DunnMackay. Qld.Growing old is good while it lasts.

[birdy]

Onya Al."Solution? Order a new EJ 22 engine,"Better still, buy a REAL engine.Car engines belong alonga cars.[just kid'n Brian. EJ's are good donks, solong as they is set up properly ay.]And ya right Ted, I told ya you woz in good hands.Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.Ingratitude stinks.......be generous carefully.

[Brian]

In other words Robert, there's not much right with the factory RAF except the canopy and even they have a 'trying' seating position but they are a very attractive looking gyro and with a 'few' modifications, can be a very sweet flying machine.Unfortunately, the RAF factory deny anything is wrong AT ALL, and go to great lenghts to explain that the Emperor is in fact wearing the finest cloth available any where cross the land !!Ted, a gyro is a very controllable aircraft in any condition, engine going or not, and cross winds etc arent a problem for the gyro.Of course, having someone with Allans flying experience in the pilots seat meant you were in very good hands.Allan, I better apolagize for having posted some time ago that I regard 'jet jockeys' as 'ham fisted'.I take that back !!!BrianYou never know how far you can go, till you get there !

[asra]

Brian, I wouldnt have anything to do with the RAF factory !Fancy spending all that money on a new one and having to spend all that money fixin the thing and making it safe ! They do look nice tho.I'd druther modify a second hand one. I must confess that I am ratherpartial to real engines,to.Birdy, you have one in your RAF. How does it perform two up with a bit of a load on ? I mean a load on the Gyro an not the Pilot or guest.Tar.Robert DunnMackay. Qld.Growing old is good while it lasts.

[birdy]

????Wot, besides the pilot and ' gest' would you be call'n a load?Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.Ingratitude stinks.......be generous carefully.

[asra]

Birdy,I was thinking about two up, full fuel an maybe a tucker box with a spanner or three.Setting off from A to B etc. Me younger Brolives 80Kn away over the range (thats hill, not plain).Would an RAF type with a 912-914 handle that ok without having tostruggle ? I didn't mean dead weight out to no.5 bore !Cheers.Robert DunnMackay. Qld.Growing old is good while it lasts.

[birdy]

Duno Rob, never loaded it up in years.[ passengers are scarse ere]But with the regulare full fuel,me n some gear it dose it with more reserve than woz there with the EJ22.So logicaly think'n, with 70 odd kg off the back, more power and lower TL its gota be better ay?Ignorance is bliss............but only till you realise you were.Ingratitude stinks.......be generous carefully.