garythomas8708(at)yahoo.c
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 Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 9:24 pm Post subject: musings about zenith lawsuit, corvair |
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While digging around, I think I found the lawsuit that Zenith referred to:
www.modbee.com/local/story/901152.html
It's the 2006 crash out in California of a 601 that was bought from the builder. Apparently there would have been some resolution by Nov4th, but I didn't see any follow up.
Zenith said the plane had been altered and improperly used. I don't recall the story but thought that this was the one that went into bad weather. Anyone remember?
Anyway, I must say that I hate all the talk about lawyers and lawsuits. I also hate the media repetition about the NTSB view about "design flaws that cause the wings to flutter and break". I don't recall the NTSB ever definitively concluding this from any other their crash investigations at the time and now it appears that their hasty viewpoint has been proven wrong. We must remember that the Heintz sons fly the airplane.
Anyway, with all that, the number of crashes is sobering. Even if bad building, bad maintenance and bad flying were the causes (that's my belief), I wonder why our planes appear to be more susceptible to this than other planes. I have been telling myself that the planes are strong enough, but perhaps they don't have an extra margin to protect them against these sins. It's my belief that the proposed changes will provide this margin.
Reading between the lines of Chris Heintz' statement, he does not believe this is necessary from an engineering standpoint, but that it is necessary in order to quell the uncertainty. Maybe that's why every item has been covered from the aileron rod all the way back to the seat that stitches the wing into the fuselage. I plan to make every single change recommends and I hope that others do too. That way we all get back to flying and over time see no more of these accidents until this all becomes a distant memory.
Let's all get back to getting on with each other again.
As an aside, I had the pleasure of spending this last weekend at one of William Wynne's corvair colleges in South Carolina. The technical expertise is matched by the enthusiasm and good company. I am an evangelist for this engine and recommend these colleges for anyone thinking about using one in their airplane. The highlight for me is catching the roar and the smell of burnt fuel as I stand behind a engine that is being freshly run in. I even got nostalgic after catching the smell of a particularly grimy core engine that was in the process of being torn down before being cleaned and rebuilt.
Gary
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