Sycamore Accident

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CrashLab
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Sycamore Accident

Postby CrashLab » Mon Nov 18, 2013 8:31 am

Good Day All

I am currently involved with the accident investigation on a Sycamore gyrocopter - ZU-EUI in South Africa.

The dual brackets attaching the rotor-head assembly (in this case a 33ft aluminium rotor conversion from a 30ft) fractured in flight. The pilot and passenger survived the forced landing. I found the brackets/plates to be of inferior quality, not only when compared to an intact 'reference set', but also for this (crucial) application. I also noted that no part/serial/batch numbers on these brackets, not on the failed nor on the new. Can anyone on this forum supply me with these number/s and if any exist? Did anyone ever experienced the same type of failure/s?

Coenraad Snyman

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Aircraft Accident Investigator (Coenraad@crashlab.co.za)
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nicow
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Re: Sycamore Accident

Postby nicow » Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:11 am

CrashLab wrote:Good Day All

I am currently involved with the accident investigation on a Sycamore gyrocopter - ZU-EUI in South Africa.

The dual brackets attaching the rotor-head assembly (in this case a 33ft aluminium rotor conversion from a 30ft) fractured in flight. The pilot and passenger survived the forced landing. I found the brackets/plates to be of inferior quality, not only when compared to an intact 'reference set', but also for this (crucial) application. I also noted that no part/serial/batch numbers on these brackets, not on the failed nor on the new. Can anyone on this forum supply me with these number/s and if any exist? Did anyone ever experienced the same type of failure/s?

Coenraad Snyman

Physical Metallurgist
Aircraft Accident Investigator (Coenraad@crashlab.co.za)
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leprechaun
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Re: Sycamore Accident

Postby leprechaun » Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:20 pm

Eish , pleased to hear they survived , reminds of the accident a few years ago at Rhino Park when the rotor came off ???? , dont know them that well Leprechaun :shock:
leprechaun
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Re: Sycamore Accident

Postby leprechaun » Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:24 pm

Hi Coenrad you may want to contact Glenn Meyer at Springs , 083 662 6565, he does services on Gyros , hope you come right and resolve the issue leprechaun :shock:
crazydoc
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Re: Sycamore Accident

Postby crazydoc » Fri Nov 22, 2013 2:05 pm

Sounds like a close call.
How did it effect rotor function and flight?
Steve_SP
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Re: Sycamore Accident

Postby Steve_SP » Fri Nov 22, 2013 8:48 pm

Hi Coenraad


In this a fairly recent accident - I'm not aware of an accident with ZU-EUI.

The SA CAA accident briefs only go up to Sept 2013 - would this incident be more recent ? I couldn't find anything on the broader WWW either.

If possible can you confirm the the basic info - date & location - thank you.



Regards



Steve

http://gyroaccidents.blogspot.co.uk/

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