Can microlights wings fail??

[Bundy]

Yes it can....and I pray it never does!

But by doing a proper preflight everytime, looking after your machine and staying within the design and performance envelope.... the chances are very very slim.
Stay well away from the VNE (maximum airspeed!) and leave the "aerobatics" up to pilots who own aerobatic aircraft!
A trike or CCM flown within its limits has no reason to fail...

A Flexwing can take a lot of punishment (turbulence), same limits (6+ and 2-) as most fixed wings I believe, so they are inherintly very strong planes, but sadly there have been a couple of failures all over the world and very few PIC's who fall victim to them survive.... for obvious reasons. .

One of our instructors at FABA is a walking miracle. He survived a spreader bar cable failure! Very very lucky guys! Wing started folding up in flight!...just as you describe above!

[Morph]

Structural failure is very very very rare. It will only happen if you and the aircraft fly in conditions that far exceed yours and the plane's capabilities. If you choose the right weather, maintain your aircraft you will never have this problem.

Your biggest risks are one of two things
1. running out of fuel - pilot error
2. low flying into cables and stuff - pilot error

Both of these are managed by yourself

[Asterix]

http://www.caa.co.za/resource%20center/ ... 062004.htm

[D2O]

Several key things spring to mind:
- Pre-flight checks
- Check the weather before departing
- Fly within your and the plane's limits
- Maintenance!
- Annual inspection

[HENNING JOHAN]

And no whipp stalls!!

[Asterix]

Yes - no whipstalls. nor loops. nor zoom climbs. In fact - nothing where your feet goes higher than the horizon - and if it looks like it starts happen in turbulence - put a wing down immediately and recover from a steep descending turn. You CANNOT recover from a tumble. You CAN recover from a steep turn.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=20236&p=195525&hilit=tumble#p195525

[Bundy]

Phislet....here are some prime examples of how NOT to fly!

Completely reckless low flying.... ...this guy will definatel die sooner or later....if not already!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgAEOg7h ... =endscreen

A classic whipstall and tumble...see Asterix's comments above. Irrecoverable...but flying way outside the limits!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_vbrMUCuZE

Trikes and Aerobatics....not compatible in my opinion....this is flying way outside the envelope... I dont care how many hours you have...it's just plain stupid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr2_lh-39Ms

By picking a good flying school and learning from a reputable instructor...you will never fly like this! Always fly within the limits...yours and your machines.

[FAWGie]

I had the displeasure of a wing structural failure in an Aquilla trike several years ago. Shortly after take off (and fortunately on a very calm day), the main bolt that connects the flying wires to the triangular plate on the spreader bar snapped. the triangular plate turned and allowed the wing to close partially. With full power, I was still descending, but managed to turn back to the airfield and limp in to land.

Once I had landed, the right hand side flying wires fell to the ground - they were being held in place by the wire tension pulling the bolt sideways with the thread biting into the aluminium plate - once the tension stopped, the bolt simply fell out. Had I had a pax that day or a little turbulence, the flying wires would have pulled out and the wing folded and I would have plummeted to a fatal conclusion.

The conclusion was that the single bolt was a normal "Hardware store" bolt and the manufacturer recommended that those bolts be "turned around".....

My reaction was to have all my wing bolts changes to "aircraft AN grade bolts" as their thread is "rolled" and not"cut" and they are inspected for cracks ....

It took several hours to get the fear out of my mind each time I flew my trike.......structural failure is something that is scarce, but nevertheless can happen....

[bobthebuilder]

As previously stated by Morph, structural failures are rare.
If memory serves me correctly, an Aquilla wing failed over the ocean a few years ago. My understanding is that pilot and PAX survived.
The trike was used for crop spraying. At the time, concerns were raised about the airframe being over stressed on a frequent basis. (Excessively steep turns, exceeding MAUW etc)

In a nutshell, the design limits may have been exceeded.

[Morph]

Phislett, I think you missed the point completely, structural failures are NOT your biggest concern, you are!!!!

Pilot errors are the biggest single cause,, i.e. fuel mismanagement, low level flight into cables, bad maintenance etc

[FAWGie]

i understand about pilot error i was just also wondering if the actual wings could fail

My biggest concern with anything that I fly is structural failure. The way I see it, there are two boxes of parameters under my control. The first is my personal limitation and that will vary depending on my currency on the aircraft to be flown as well as overall experience. The second is the parameters in which the aircraft being flown can perform. (For example, I will roll an RV4 or RV7, but NOT a Jabiru J170)

Now having taken these two boxes of parameters into account and adjusted for weather conditions, etc.... I feel that I can pretty much manage the "risk element" pertaining to flying - what I can't control is if the is a catastrophic failure beyond my control - failures like wing collapse, engine mount collapse, partial prop being sheared, etc...etc.... It is this aspect of flying that has concerned me and we have noted a number of structural failure related accidents in the World, ranging from microlights to airliners.... no machine is exempt.

In my case, I was fortunate enough to survive a structural failure on a microlight aquilla wing - my remedy was to have all the bolts replaced by aircraft AN grade bolts to better manage my risk of a repeat.

The best advice I could give, is to spend the pre-flight time wisely and only fly aircraft that have not been flown recklessly by others (In the case of syndicated, school or club planes)

The bottom line and to answer the starter question of this discussion: "Can microlights wings fail??" - Of course they can, although it is probably rare, but they can !!!

[FAWGie]

One of our instructors at FABA is a walking miracle. He survived a spreader bar cable failure! Very very lucky guys! Wing started folding up in flight!...just as you describe above!

He's not the only one - As explained earlier, I also had a wing failure and partial collapse. As CFI of our local flight school, I drum this aspect into our students that one should remain vigilant and take nothing for granted. Of course human error attributes to the majority of accidents, but that does not eliminate structural failure which has had it's fair share.

[FAWGie]

So an Aquilla wing does not have aircraft AN parts bolts to begin with??

This is exactly the question I raised with the factory soon after my incident and was advised that "standard hardware store bolts were used".
Being concerned that a hardware store type bolt has it's thread "cut" versus an AN bolt that has it's thread "rolled while hot", I decided to minimise my risk by replacing all pertinent bolts with AN grade ones.

[shorebird]

That sounds more like human error than a legitimate structural failure. Using standard hardware store bolts to hold a wing together is completely suicidal and is a well-known structural risk. The story gives the wrong impression about the risks associated with even remotely modern trikes.

Would be curious to know of any structural failure from a properly built wing, properly maintained, and flying within its operating limitations.

[FAWGie]

Using standard hardware store bolts to hold a wing together is completely suicidal and is a well-known structural risk.

The aircraft in question was bought brand new from the local manufacturer. When quizzed after the incident by my AP, their CEO's reply was that the aircraft is not a certified aircraft and hence they used standard hardware store bolts. Soon afterwards, the factory issued an AD, instructing owners to invert the bolt in question, so that the thread would now appear at the top and not the bottom. No mention was made that bolts should be changed to AN grade bolts.

I have no knowledge whether the policy of using non AN grade bolts has changed in recent times, but up until only a few years ago, brand new trikes were manufactured and supplied using standard hardware store bolts. Several concerned individuals in my region had all their bolts changed out to AN grade bolts, but I would not be surprised if there are not many trikes out there that still have non AN grade bolts in their wing and structure.