Gyro crash and burn in WA

[NiqueNaque]

Adrian,Thank you for spending the time to put this together.Cheers,Nick.

[Adrian S]

Guys,Thanks for your patience with this one. A new AD will be posted on this forum today covering mandated service life and Non Destructive Testing Inspection (NDI) testing of Hub bars. This same AD & NDI doco will also be posted via snail mail to all ASRA members.Further work continues regarding the development of a set of design recommendations for gyroplane hub bars, which I hope will be available in comming months.Regarding our present approach to the design and construction of alloy hub bars, gyro operators should as with any experimental aircraft always carry out a detailed preflight and operate within any manufacturers limitations. Where no such limitations exist, if you operate within the ASRA AD mandated and recommended limitations you should limit your risk. As with everything in life we need to provide a balance between design, safety and acceptable risk.It is worthless if we design a super strong hub bar that shifts the stresses to the blade root then we design a set of super blades but then find the airframe cant cope etc. This however doesnt mean we cant improve in this area !Possibly the most frightening senario for me is if we have mandated a design that can no longer be built or even afforded by a keen careful gyro aviator even though we know of a simple and cost effective approach that if operated within certain limitations displays an acceptable safe history. ASRA believes that it is important to understand that our gyro's are experimental homebuilt aircraft and as such there will always be flight and service limitations that we need to understand and apply. Your instructors TA's and of course ASRA need to be at the forfront of this education.Guys this AD is important please dont treat it like a small number of you have a previous one on hub bars, believe me just because you cant see a problem doesnt always mean it wont happen to you!As always if you have any questions dont hesitate to call me.Thanks,Adrian.Adrian StoffelsTechnical Manager ASRAMob 0427094552

[asra]

[NiqueNaque]

Llewella,To save on costs can we consider not mailing it to people who are regular participants in this forum?I'm happy to recieve mine via email, to confirm receipt I could send a subject reply with 'AD 123xyz - yes' to confirm, then if you don't get a response hard mail it.Cheers,Nick.

[asra]

The latest Airworthiness Directive relating to this topic has been posted and can be downloaded from http://www.asra.org.au/airworthiness...tives.htmBarry Ferguson,ASRA WebmasterPh (07)5464-4993Int +61 7 5464-4993logic will get you from A to B - imagination will take you anywhere

[asra]