Authority To Fly Personal Situation

[Abe]

Hi Gadget and other fliers in predicament.
I am in the fortunate position of flying a microlight with an engine that has no limit on hours to rebuild or replacement, but I feel your pain!
Now, the other evening, sitting on my stoep watching the sunset, I thought I had a thought of note. Now, as those that know me, know that this seldom happens to me, I thought I should share this thought....
Preamble:
If, as it professes (enough s's there?) the high and mighty CAA has flight safety at heart, how can it condemn a specific Rotax engine as soon as it has proven to be reliable? I hear it says on the box, not for aviation, and in the manual: liable to stoppage at any moment, so how can CAA improve on reliability by insisting on a rebuild just as a specific engine has been nicely run in? I cannot recall any fatality directly attributed to the Rattex stopping, but many lives could lately have been saved by rocket deployed parachute systems.
Now my thought:
Short of insisting on mandatory fitting of parachute systems like in Germany,
SACAA should give owners of aircraft fitted with whole aircraft rescue parachute systems the leeway to maintain their own aircraft and to exceed manufacturers recommended item replacement times based on condition, still subject to MPI by a CAA approved person.
I think aviation safety will be improved.
FlySafe!
Abe.
Yes, I import the GRS from www.galaxysky.cz as a service to fellow pilots, at cost plus expenses.

[ICEMAN]

I cannot recall any fatality directly attributed to the Rattex stopping, but many lives could lately have been saved by rocket deployed parachute systems.

ABE, I would far rather fit a BRS than take out my 300hr crank to use as a R30K paperweight/ doorstop....... yet i doubt that many pilots are in a financial position to do both (or even one or the other)........ but i agree fully with your reasoning........ a compulsory BRS makes more safety sense than fiddeling with a crank that has just run in at 300hrs...

[Wargames]

Is this really a safety issue??

It would have been if there was a couple of fatalities due to crank failures. We are all fighting this crank issue due to financial reasons, so the fitment of a parashute, although a good idea, is exactly what we are trying to prevent.

[John Boucher]

I think one will get various angles of oppinion here!

I for one will seriously consider a BRS system for personal safety even though the areas I fly in are seriously flat. There is the odd occasion that I fly over seriously hilly terrain and for that reason yes!

I don't think one should down play the Rotax issue against the need for a BRS - This whole thing is a matter of principle and the principles are being applied as seen fit by an autocracy! There are many issues that are still going to be enforced in the future of which I have mentioned such as TRANSPONDERS which has now taken a back seat!

I for one shall fit a BRS system when my engine issues are sorted out!

Just a thought - does this not sound familiar?
autocratic - offensively self-assured or given to exercising usually unwarranted power; "an autocratic person"; "autocratic behavior"; "a bossy way of ordering others around"; "a rather aggressive and dominating character"; "managed the employees in an aloof magisterial way"; "a swaggering peremptory manner" - characteristic of an absolute ruler or absolute rule; having absolute sovereignty; "an authoritarian regime"; "autocratic government"; "despotic rulers"; "a dictatorial rule that lasted for the duration of the war"; "a tyrannical government"

[ICEMAN]

I don't think one should down play the Rotax issue against the need for a BRS

John, I agree fully- one is an administrative/policing issue (unless the cranks really dont last more than 300hrs- in which case its a quality issue compared to other manufacturers) and one legitimately and conclusively improves ones safety odds when the fan stops (or in duck and sans senario leaves the aircraft prematurely )!..........

[John Boucher]

Eish guys... A Kappa Sabre Master crashed yesterday killing both occupants.

I don't know what the circumstances are regarding the accident but it's things like this that point my decision making process in the direction of a BRS system.
Below is a link to the test of the particular aircraft ZU-EFF that crashed. It was fitted with a Rotax 914 Turbo...

http://www.ultralight.cz/obrazy/SAFlyer10_2006.pdf