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Europa Tailplane - Adequate Design?

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davidjoyce(at)doctors.org
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:55 am Post subject: Europa Tailplane - Adequate Design?

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carl(at)flyers.freeserve.
Guest

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:24 am Post subject: Europa Tailplane - Adequate Design?

 	  Quote: 	
		  

 Carl, I think it's not correct to say that time has found the design to be

 inadequate.


	


William,



I cant think of another way of summarising the "problem" other than to say 

that the TP6 installation has proved inadequate. What is certain is that if 

we knew then what we knew now the design would have been substantially 

different.



IMHO the attachent of the TP6 sleeve to the structure isnt as robust as it 

could be and like several others I had concerns at the time over the manner 

in which it was bonded to the tailplane. Many builders took steps to improve 

the adhesion of the ring to the surrounding structure. In my case I scored 

the ring with a hacksaw at 45 degrees around the circumference. Whilst I 

never understod the implications of this component becoming disbonded I just 

felt from an engineering standpoint that it wasnt very good.



In all other respects I agree totally with everything you said. The fact 

that David Corbett found all the TP6 attachments rock solid is encouraging.



As I have said elsewhere I suspect that 99% of our aircraft are safe in this 

respect but even a 1% failure rate is unaccepable.



Also thanks for explaining Williams pip pin setup - I wasnt aware it was so 

different.



Like you I intend to continue to enjoy flying my Europa and have every 

confidence in the aircraft.



Regards



Carl



 	  Quote: 	
		  William's plane in one critically important respect was not

 built to design. He did not have a standard pip pin recess, but instead a

 hole rather like the undersurface drain hole, down which he fished with a

 sort of crochet hook to get the pin out

         William was intelligent, thoughtful and meticulous and also had

 more aeronautical engineering experience than nearly all of us, but the

 redesign of that area meant that he had no sensible way of checking the

 security of TP6 bonding, and also that there was nothing but foam to stop

 the tail plane migrating  once a TP6 did disbond. Also he regularly

 dismantled his plane, so possibly was at greater risk of the TP6 becoming

 disbonded by repeated impact on the end of the torque tube.

         Like many of those who have contributed I felt considerable unease

 until I had an explanation for the known events: that is that the tail

 elements broke up/off while he was in level flight at 1000 ft and 100 kts 

 or

 thereabouts, when it appears that there had been no problems with him 

 having

 previously done his renewal test flying including a Vne dive. Flutter

 starting out of the blue a t such a speed made no sense when we know much 

 of

 the fleet has varying degrees of slop yet regularly survive Vne

 dives.However the loosening of a TP6 with uncoupling of the tailplane 

 drive

 pins is an entirely plausible explanation for the events as so far known,

 and makes me feel entirely comfortable with my plane again.

          As far as the solution goes I also disagree that it is a mere

 'sticking plaster'. If the pip pin recess is as designed we can readily

 check the position and any movement of the TP6. To have shifted the tail

 plane laterally in relation to the pinned TP6 would entail tearing the pip

 pin through  a visible fibreglass lay up and would have needed 

 considerable

 force. To pull a TP6 disbonded from the rib through the upper lay up and 

 the

 new underside lay up would, I strongly suspect, take several hundred 

 pounds

 force - yet there are no strong lateral forces naturally occurring on the

 tail plane. On doing mod 73 I found my TP6 to be rock solid in the rib on

 each side, as indeed David Corbett reported for the three he has done.

        I for one will continue to enjoy flying my plane with the same

 confidence it has always given me (which is more than the confidence I 

 have

 felt in various certified planes I have flown over the same period).

 Regards, David Joyce, G-XSDJ



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carl(at)flyers.freeserve.
Guest

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: Europa Tailplane - Adequate Design?

Not quite sure what happened - this got lost.



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