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About another XL Down - Brazil

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lenabeto(at)uol.com.br
Guest

Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 4:15 pm Post subject: About another XL Down - Brazil

Hi Folks, 

  

Everything we know, is that Lopes was flying in  the afternoon May 5, 17:00 +/-, no clouds, no rain and  he lost the controls and fell to the  ground. 

A witness, at least one, (a backwoodsman, who  can’t tell the difference between an airplane and an oxen cart) said he heard a  noise and saw the aircraft making a big curve and entering a spiral, the witness  said that heard for many times the engine accelerating and decelerating, he  shows this way that he was trying to control the situation. He also said that  one of the wings "seemed" to have twisted and lifted in the  process. 

After that, he crashed to the  trees. 

For all of us, this is very sad. Lopes was my  great friend, a good pilot, he was an ag pilot with  

almost 19.000 hrs, and here comes the question,  what happened? 

I know that I did a good work, that I used the  best materials, regarding the sheets, I used 2024-T3,  

it’s stronger than 6061-T6, on the bars, I used  6351-T6, it’s also permitted. As for the rivets I used  

Emhart, that have the same specifications as  Avex  (both are not structurals)   

Our Brazilian Zodiacs look faster than yours,  and Lopes’s Zodiac was flying 145/147 mph,  

3000 ft  with 3000 rpm on a Jabiru, he told for  me that many times. 

Well, all of us would like to know what  happened, and ABRAEX  (Brazilian  Association for 

Experimental Aircraft) started to conduct an  investigation and anything that we say now is mere  

speculation, then we need to wait for the  investigation, after that I will place the report here. 

As for my plane, my pilot reported me, that  when he traveled from Atibaia to Franca, he was at  

5000 ft, with 150 mph he entered a little  turbulence and the plane had a big flutter in ailerons,  

immediately he cut down the throttle and pulled  the nose up and fortunately he came to landing without any problems.  We used the piano hinges in my ailerons.    

After that we disassembled our Zodiac to check  wings, stabilator, and so on, and everything 

was okay, then we had the aileron balance, we  performed some tests and we  

had never more problems. After that, we called  Lopes and recommended him to carry out on  

aileron balance, but he didn’t.   

I don’t want to state hereby that it was the  cause of the crash, but we have already faced this problem as  well. 

We need to wait for the investigation results  to know exactly what happened and for the time being we have limited the speed with my plane in  135 mph  (cruise speed). 

  

Regards, 

  

Roberto Brito 

Brazil. 

  

Zodiac XL 601 w/ 190hrs 

Jabiru 3300 

Enigma 

  

  

  

 

   [quote][b]

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ashontz

Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 723

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:01 am Post subject: Re: About another XL Down - Brazil

Roberto,



I'm looking into balancing the ailerons too. Could you please send pictures and drawings of EXACTLY what you did to balance them. I suspect this is the problem. I'm also using the piano hinges.



Thanks,



Andy



[quote="lenabeto(at)uol.com.br"]Hi Folks, 

  

Everything we know, is that Lopes was flying in  the afternoon May 5, 17:00 +/-, no clouds, no rain and  he lost the controls and fell to the  ground. 

A witness, at least one, (a backwoodsman, who  can?t tell the difference between an airplane and an oxen cart) said he heard a  noise and saw the aircraft making a big curve and entering a spiral, the witness  said that heard for many times the engine accelerating and decelerating, he  shows this way that he was trying to control the situation. He also said that  one of the wings "seemed" to have twisted and lifted in the  process. 

After that, he crashed to the  trees. 

For all of us, this is very sad. Lopes was my  great friend, a good pilot, he was an ag pilot with  

almost 19.000 hrs, and here comes the question,  what happened? 

I know that I did a good work, that I used the  best materials, regarding the sheets, I used 2024-T3,  

it?s stronger than 6061-T6, on the bars, I used  6351-T6, it?s also permitted. As for the rivets I used  

Emhart, that have the same specifications as  Avex  (both are not structurals)   

Our Brazilian Zodiacs look faster than yours,  and Lopes?s Zodiac was flying 145/147 mph,  

3000 ft  with 3000 rpm on a Jabiru, he told for  me that many times. 

Well, all of us would like to know what  happened, and ABRAEX  (Brazilian  Association for 

Experimental Aircraft) started to conduct an  investigation and anything that we say now is mere  

speculation, then we need to wait for the  investigation, after that I will place the report here. 

As for my plane, my pilot reported me, that  when he traveled from Atibaia to Franca, he was at  

5000 ft, with 150 mph he entered a little  turbulence and the plane had a big flutter in ailerons,  

immediately he cut down the throttle and pulled  the nose up and fortunately he came to landing without any problems.  We used the piano hinges in my ailerons.    

After that we disassembled our Zodiac to check  wings, stabilator, and so on, and everything 

was okay, then we had the aileron balance, we  performed some tests and we  

had never more problems. After that, we called  Lopes and recommended him to carry out on  

aileron balance, but he didn?t.   

I don?t want to state hereby that it was the  cause of the crash, but we have already faced this problem as  well. 

We need to wait for the investigation results  to know exactly what happened and for the time being we have limited the speed with my plane in  135 mph  (cruise speed). 

  

Regards, 

  

Roberto Brito 

Brazil. 

  

Zodiac XL 601 w/ 190hrs 

Jabiru 3300 

Enigma 

  

  

  

 

    	  Quote: 	
		  [b]

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lenabeto(at)uol.com.br
Guest

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:30 am Post subject: About another XL Down - Brazil

Hi Andy,

  

 I 'll take some pictures and I'll send them for you  and to others Zodiac Builders that need.

  

 Regards, 

      

       Roberto Brito 

      Brazil.  

      

      Zodiac XL  601 w/ 190hrs 

      Jabiru 3300  

      Enigma 

   [quote][b]

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ashontz

Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 723

Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:55 am Post subject: Re: About another XL Down - Brazil

Thanks Roberto. Be interested to see what you came up with.



[quote="lenabeto(at)uol.com.br"]Hi Andy,

  

 I 'll take some pictures and I'll send them for you  and to others Zodiac Builders that need.

  

 Regards, 

      

?      Roberto Brito 

      Brazil.  

      

      Zodiac XL  601 w/ 190hrs 

      Jabiru 3300  

      Enigma 

    	  Quote: 	
		  [b]

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Use the List Feature Navigator to browse the many List utilities available such as the Email Subscriptions page, Archive Search & Download, 7-Day Browse, Chat, FAQ, Photoshare, and much more:

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