Postby DarkHelmet » Mon May 07, 2007 8:06 pm
Frack!
Two days before the end of this glorious week I discovered a torn engine mount. This happens to be a frequent flaw on the Safari and my instructor warned me against it. Diligent preflights in the early mornings at sunrise never yielded this fault.
I took delivery of the new ZU-AXC Saturday morning two weeks ago. Everything but the frame was new. New sail, new pannier bags, new tyres, spats I never had. The aerie was in awesome nick!
Big D, my accomplice in flying, my wingman, my buddy, drove Buurman (yes, buurman is my neighbour) to Petit to go fetch ZU-AXC for her virgin flight to Aviators Paradise after her make-over.
I am anal with my pre-flight, at least, so I thought! Swan-hook, bolts, flying wires, leading edge. A pilot with a Cessna 182 would have already been taking off while I was checking every bolt and nut!
My instructor drilled the engine mounting check into me at every opportunity and his words were VERY explicit, "These mounts are the first points of failure!" Watch them CAREFULLY! I diligently check them every morning! But black on black is NOT a good idea!
I took delivery of ZU-AXC and went flying about, Solo at first but then with Big D in the backseat, flying the new wing was awesome and we did a turn about SentraRand, a big train station congestion point.
Lekker lekker!
The breakfast was on at Petit and I was in the mood to fly! Big D hopped into his Golf something or other and Buurman and I hopped into ZU-AXC. I was alarmed by the shaking of the profile tube but I blamed it on the extra leading edge protection added by Pieter de Ne to the prop and the new flying characteristics of the newly covered wing.
Upon landing I phoned Jenya and he said that it might be the new wheels or the rubber behind the front wheel. His words were "Eliminate everything new!" Everything was new so I had to ignore everything and start from scratch.
Fortunately, one afternoon, taking a very interested pax thru a full preflight of the aerie, I noticed the offset engine mounting, during every other preflight it was just humbly sitting on it's black joint and I was not worse for the wear!
I hope now to have my black frame sprayed orange (or yellow or white or any other colour but black) to be able to spot these flaws more easily!
My time in the bush was an eye opener and I surely will do things a tad different on my next adventure! Watch this page! The hyena blood is not dry yet!
Upon discovery of the failed engine mount I opted to ground myself and
Last edited by
DarkHelmet on Mon May 07, 2007 8:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
and recovering from a hectic weekend in the African Bush 
