Microlighters

Received an e-mail from the Microlighters Yahoo Group this morning regarding an Emergency Safety Directive issued on 15 July 2005 regarding the Stranger 2 14.8 and Stream 16.2 wings . Owners are advised of a potencially unsafe situation with regards to abnormal corrosion found after an internal wing inspection was carried out According to the ESD, all aircraft are grounded until the required inspections are carried out by an AP, and then further inspections at regular intervals thereafter

Can anybody supply more details

Found this in a cross-bar of an Aeros wing in July, which had last been stripped in December. The tube on the left is the part which can be seen in a pre-flight, and looks perfect! The other side of the tube is not visible, and can't really be felt either. The damage on the left hand tube is the same as the on the right, but for illustration purposes, we had one tube facing the "good" side and one tube facing the "bad" side.

The wing was about 600hours old. I will ask my skygod to give more info on this shortly. He has been very busy for the last couple of days, and I know he will answer on the SAMicro page as well. This is only for the Aeros 2nd Generation, as it seems to be triggered by an incorrect thimble length, and the configuraion on the Aeros 1 is different.

Thanks FF, looking forward to more information.

Can you zoom out a bit with the photo so that I can see the exact location of the corrosion. not shure what I am looking at.

This photo is of another whing at our airfield. In total we found the problem in 4 of the wings at La Mercy, although none are as bad as my first photo.

The cable which is just off to the left of the arrow is one of the flying wires. As the thimble is quite short, it rubs against the aluminium, and as the anodizing goes, corrosion sets in, quite quickly! The front is perfect, but the back, which is akward to feel and impossible to see when the wing is rigged, slowly gets eaten away by the thimble.

I am sorry that this is taking so long, my skygod hasn't had a minute to himself for a couple of days, but will give more details soon.

Hi FF

Do you know if Aeros Profi wings are also affected?

Hi Folk.

There is no more to add.

FF has used 2 photos which show very clearly what and where the problem is.

Corrosion sets in, no matter where you live, but obviously quicker at the coast.

The tang is stainless steel, and the tube is aluminium, not a good combination!!

Problem can be solved by using a longer tang.

To check it out, drop the wing off the trike and collapse it onto the ground. Remove all battens, and release the crossbar cable. Then remove the 2 bolts holding the tip of the wing to the leading edge. Now pull the leading edge material up, like in FF's second photo. This will expose the crossbar-leading edge junction. Pull back the covering material at the join, and inspect.

Record your findings in your logbook.

Talk later,

Is the Aeros 2nd Generation the one with the aluminium king post as in the pic with the aeros insignia?

Mine has a black coated Kingpost with no insignia and dates from 1996 I think...

An easy way to tell whether your wing is the 1st or 2nd generation, is to check your flying wires where they join the leading edge.

Generation 1: Both flying wires join onto ONE tang. This tang has a bend in it. Both these flying wires come out of the sail through ONE hole.

Generation 2: These flying wires do not join, and each has its own straight tang. These flying wires come out of the sail through 2 holes. Each wire comes through it's own hole.

Hope this helps.

Concerning black or silver kingposts, this makes no difference. All the new ones are silver, so if you replace yours it will be silver.

Please note that old wings, like the Generation 1 wings, if you have recently (in the last 2 years) replaced any aluminium components, like nose plates or swan-hooks etc., please, please do very careful pre-flight on these components.

I have found the replacement components to be far, far inferior to the old parts. I have written to AEROS in the Ukraine, and sent photos to complain and ask for an explanation.

To date I am still waiting for a reply.

I am not impressed at all. I have been a staunch supporter of their wings for 6 years, but at this rate I will soon be telling them to take their product and hoof it.............

Any-one reading this, you are wellcome to cut and paste it to a mail of your own to Aeros. Maybe they need to know that they are losing an entire country's support before they will sit up and take notice.

I will shortly be communicating with Australia and the UK microlight/ultralight organizations to let them know of this sad state of affairs.

Talk later,

Just to add my Focal (new currency -Imagagine what you can buy with a Focal)
Presently I have a similar problem on an Aeros wing( Aero Trike Spirit ) - a visit to mozambique - Severe corrosion on joiner plate etc - every where the anodising has been marked / scratched the aluminium seems to grow (like pressed wood that got wet . A new wing cover and ali minium parts set the customer Twenty Thou focals back - please check em wings good before you AP/ fly em - had an example at Groblersdal as well .
See ya all later the week Leprachun must check the four leaf clovers in Zambia this week.
Anyone know Micro flyer near Lusaka / Kitwe

Hi all Aeros wing owners.
I have just removed my Aeros Stream 14.8 wing and guess what I found. . Depressing isnt it. The wing was originaly a 16.2 which was cut down to 14.8 two years ago and was I believe thouroughly checked and found to be in good condition.
I noticed that due to the Tang being to short it caused the top Landing wire thimble to touch the spreader tube causing the corrosion. As seen in my pic's both side were corroded in exactly the same position. I also noticed that both the top wires had plastic tubing covering the ferrules/thimbles and that although the plastic was itself touching the tube it was not damaged at all.
Can anyone help me with the following:
1) If the plastic sleeve is not damaged then what caused the corrosion?
2) Would a longer Tang solve the problem. (I believe it would Help)
3) I have seen scratching on the tube caused by the Tang itself. Would a plastic spacer between the spreader tube and tang not help to solve this problem

Hi all Aeros wing owners

be advised that this problem is not limited to high hour coastal trikes as some may initially think. Our trike is three years old with only 170hrs on the wing since new. It "lives" in Jhb and has spent no more than 6 weeks at the coast in total. On opening the wing to do the inspection we found corrosion to the same extent shown in the photos included by CLU-less in the above post..

We have made contact with Jenya and he was very obliging and is currently doing the necessary.

If you fly one - do take a look

Does anyone know if this ESD is still enforced by CAA?

I only saw it in the Microflight news some time last year, nowhere on CAA or Misasa websites or AIP / AICs. I'm not sure this is the official place to publish such important notices? I also own an Aeros wing, stored on the Highveld, and inspected it in January. Found only small marks on the leading edge tube where the tang plates touch. I have also taken up the issue with the Manufacturers who were going to reply to CAA. Not sure what the current status is.

Does anyone know if this issue has been resolved? The new Stranger wings been sorted - 2008 and onwards manufactured?

Thanks