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In a galaxy far, far away

 
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yak52



Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Posts: 50

PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 5:33 am    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away the aviation authorities decided they needed to get a large number of older aircraft out of the fleet and, at the same time, allow more people to fly in a low, slow unregulated airspace. To that end they issued a set of specifications and requested engineers to design aircraft to those specifications. The engineers made several assumptions, i.e. the builders would follow the plans, the pilots would operate the airplane within the flight envelope, and the owners would properly maintain the aircraft. The engineers designed the aircraft to the government specs and released the plans and kits to the market. Unfortunately, the engineers were wrong in their assumptions about some of the builders, owners and pilots. Some builders,many of whom were not engineers and had no building experience felt they knew"better" than the designer and made "improvements" to the design or built poorly with hardware store tools and equipment. Some owners did not maintain the aircraft according to factory specifications. Some pilots "self checked" the modifications, flew aerobatics and exceeded Va and Vne with reckless abandon. Crashes insued. A group of builders then engaged in a campaign to force a redesign of the airplane by an avalanche of complaints to the aviation authorities. They demanded the airplane be made safe from "flutter". Even after the theory of flutter was refuted, they continued with their stream of complaints and many refused to believe any of the studies done by professional engineers or even the aviation authorities were correct. The aviation authorities, in order to stop this activity, engaged the designers of the airplane to strengthen the airplane so the pilots would have less opportunity to harm themselves by their excursions outside the flight envelope in their self designed "improvements" to the airplane. The designers, tired of going to crash sites, and tired of seeing how poorly built, flown and maintained their aircraft were, designed modifications that made the airplane far stronger than the original specifications. Several interesting things happened, including, (1)The complaining group claimed victory and patted themselves on the back as having superior knowledge to the others. They forgot their claims of design flaw were never shown as correct by any engineering study and ignored every indication of the aviation authorities that operational activities may have contributed to the crashes. As none of this group actually had a flying airplane(most don't even have a pilot's license), they suffered no real damage, and have further reason to put off ever having to fly their airplane.(2) The designers, who may or may not survive economically, are bombarded by demands they pay for these "improvements" by owners so shortsighted they couldn't pass a flight physical without wearing binoculars backwards, will now be able to attribute every crash to builder/pilot error.(3) The factory built airplanes will now have an additional bill for the "improvements" to an airplane which is already upside down financially and may never recover any commercial ability.(4) The rest, including those with hundreds of hours on the airframe, who built appropriately and flew the airplane within its flight envelope will also have to dissassemble their airplane to incorporate the "improvements" or face potential problems with the aviation authorities or the insurance companies, much less any attempted resale of the airplane.
 
Steven Speilberg couldn't film one better than this.
[quote][b]


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jmaynard



Joined: 27 Feb 2008
Posts: 394
Location: Fairmont, MN (FRM)

PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 6:33 am    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

Oh, good grief. If you're going to post wildly inaccurate flamage, the least
you could do is put in a paragraph break every now and then.

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 08:33:16AM -0500, roger lambert wrote:
Quote:
Some builders,many of whom were not engineers and had no building
experience felt they knew"better" than the designer and made
"improvements" to the design or built poorly with hardware store tools and
equipment. Some owners did not maintain the aircraft according to factory
specifications. Some pilots "self checked" the modifications, flew
aerobatics and exceeded Va and Vne with reckless abandon. Crashes insued.

It's still yet to be demonstrated that that is teh case in all of the
inflight breakups. It's possible. How possible is anyone's guess.

Quote:
A group of builders then engaged in a campaign to force a redesign of the
airplane by an avalanche of complaints to the aviation authorities.

One well-reasoned report is not an "avalanche".

Quote:
They demanded the airplane be made safe from "flutter".

At the time, there was a distinct lack of explanations that would account
for the accidents any other way - and especially ones that would account for
why factory-built aircraft were crashing.

Quote:
Even after the theory of flutter was refuted, they continued with their
stream of complaints

What stream of complaints? Discussion on a mailing list is not a complaint
to the authorities, no matter how much you may think it is.

Quote:
and many refused to believe any of the studies done by professional
engineers or even the aviation authorities were correct.

You're on the ZBAG mailing list. You know damned good and well there's no
unanimity there, except in that an answer needed to be found.

Quote:
The aviation authorities, in order to stop this activity,

Horse exhaust. The FAA doesn't ground an entire fleet of aircraft to shut up
a few malcontents.

Quote:
The designers, tired of going to crash sites, and tired of seeing how
poorly built, flown and maintained their aircraft were, designed
modifications that made the airplane far stronger than the original
specifications.

I guess you missed the FAA's statement that the original Zodiac XL design
did not meet the ASTM standards.

Quote:
Several interesting things happened, including, (1)The complaining group
claimed victory and patted themselves on the back as having superior
knowledge to the others.

What do you call the FAA's statement that the Zodiac's design was deficient,
then? The FAA, ever mindful of litigation, would not say that if they did
not sincerely believe it.

Quote:
They forgot their claims of design flaw were never shown as correct by any
engineering study

Tell that to the FAA.

Quote:
and ignored every indication of the aviation authorities that operational
activities may have contributed to the crashes.

Right. A 79-year-old man taking his wife up for her first flight in his new,
factry-built Zodiac is going to push the edges of the envelope.

Quote:
As none of this group actually had a flying airplane(most don't even have
a pilot's license),

Read my .signature. My airplane has around 210 hours on the Hobbs. It's
flown all over the central US. I've had a pilot's license for 20 years. Yes,
I'm a member of the group you insist on hating and blaming for the
grounding, instead of the Zodiac's design.

Quote:
they suffered no real damage,

I've got an airplane I can't afford any more (due to extended unemployment),
can't fly, and can't sell. How, exactly, have I "suffered no real damage"?

Quote:
and have further reason to put off ever having to fly their airplane.

I flew my airplane the day of the grounding, before I learned of it. I would
love to be able to fly it again. That's probably not oign to happen in the
absence of a miracle.

Quote:
(2) The designers, who may or may not survive economically, are bombarded
by demands they pay for these "improvements"

I have not made, and will not make, such a demand.

Quote:
by owners so shortsighted they couldn't pass a flight physical without
wearing binoculars backwards,

I agree that demands that Zenith/Zenair/AMD pay for the modifications are
shortsighted.

Quote:
will now be able to attribute every crash to builder/pilot error.

Once the deficient design is corrected - and, no matter how loudly you howl
and scream and punf feet and fists on the floor like a two-year-old, the FAA
says that the design is deficient - then the aircraft should have its
accident rate fall to about the same as the rest of the LSA fleet, unlike
what it has been. This is the inconvenient fact you keep ignoring.

Quote:
(3) The factory built airplanes will now have an additional bill for the
"improvements" to an airplane which is already upside down financially and
may never recover any commercial ability.

When I bought my AMD, I didn't expect to get out of it anything approaching
what I paid for it. That didn't bother me. If I were still making my
previous salary, it wouldn't bother me now. I bought it to fly for the rest
of my flying days. I'd love to simply fly it to Eastman (with a ferry
permit), write AMD a check, and fly home a couple of weeks later with an
airplane whose design has been thoroughly examined, tested, characterized,
and understood - far better than any other LSA flying.

Quote:
(4) The rest, including those with hundreds of hours on the airframe, who
built appropriately and flew the airplane within its flight envelope will
also have to dissassemble their airplane to incorporate the "improvements"
or face potential problems with the aviation authorities or the insurance
companies, much less any attempted resale of the airplane.

Would you rather fly a design the FAA has found deficient, or would you
rather remove all doubt?

Quote:
Steven Speilberg couldn't film one better than this.

I commend Tom Clancy's words to you before you write your next fairy tale.
Clancy observed that he couldn't get away with writing things that have
really happened, because fiction has to be believable. Your fairy tale is a
deliberate distoryion of reality, to the point of not being believable any
more.
--
Jay Maynard, K5ZC, PP-ASEL, CFI-SP http://www.conmicro.com
http://jmaynard.livejournal.com http://www.tronguy.net
Fairmont, MN (KFRM) (Yes, that's me!)
AMD Zodiac CH601XLi N55ZC http://www.tronguy.net/N55ZC.shtml


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:35 am    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

On Monday 16 November 2009 07:33, roger lambert wrote:
<snip>
Quote:
(2) The designers, who may or may not survive economically, are
bombarded by demands they pay for these "improvements" by owners so
shortsighted they couldn't pass a flight physical without wearing
binoculars backwards, will now be able to attribute every crash to
builder/pilot error.
<snip>


Whoa, little buddy. Ignoring my visual accuity or lack thereof, I have every
reason to expect Zenith to provide these improvements at minimal cost.

Sure, they're a bunch of nice guys, and I'm more than willing to work with
them because of it. I have no desire to see them go under, but neither is it
reasonable for me to assume all the cost of what appears to be their error.
At a minimum, I have a lot of extra labor to undo things, and install the
"upgrades."

While their contract claims they have no responsibilty for results, I have
printed copies of their website, and promotional materials, making broad
claims for what can be accomplished with the kit. I suspect that, at a
minimum, is negotiating in bad faith. While their attorney may have been the
one forcing those words in the contract, the fact remains that they wind up
being responsible.

Zenith is a small company, which does not have endless resources. Conversely,
I'm retired, disabled, and I don't have an endless supply of money handy to
offset errors made by others, even if they're unintentional. I think Zenith
and I are on about an even playing field. I don't think I'm alone in this: I
believe there are several others who are disabled or retirees who are
building these kits. Given the nature of the aircraft, I would suspect there
aren't that many really wealthy people building this aircraft: I doubt most
of us can afford to eat the cost of the "upgrade."

I'm waiting to see exactly what Zenith offers, and at what price. They are, as
many have been pointing out, really nice people who are willing to work with
us as builders. I'm waiting to see just how much this policy carries over
into the pricing of this modification.
--
=============================================
Do not archive.
=============================================
Jim B Belcher
BS, MS Physics, Math, Computer Science
A&P/IA
Retired aerospace technical manager

Mathematics and alcohol do not mix.
Do not drink and derive.
=============================================


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dougsire



Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 37

PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:56 am    Post subject: Re: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

Well Roger, at least you have finally proved what I have suspected all along. You're not really in touch with reality.

And apart from your obvious arrogance, what proof do you have that you are somehow a better builder/pilot/mechanic than those who died when their aircraft broke up in flight?


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:22 pm    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

Doug,

You are well over the edge.

Many posts on this forum have indicated very foolish piloting techniques and
poor maintenance practices. Similar unprofessional behavior may well have
contributed to the accident pattern we have seen. There is no way this can
be tied directly to what has happened, but it is a a couple of factors that
need to be considered. We are all now paying, in time and effort, for what
is mostly a CYA operation.

News flash. Fly an airplane within its limits, do proper maintenance, and
you are very unlikely to have problems.

I have flown a number of very tough airplanes well beyond their stated
limits only because I had to in severe combat situations. The 601XL was
never designed for those sorts of operations. This is a light aircraft
designed primarily to cruise from A to B. Stay within those limits. It is
clear that many do not, and add poor maintenance to the equation.

Karl

--------------------------------------------------
From: "dougsire" <dsire(at)imt.net>
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2009 12:56 PM
To: <zenith601-list(at)matronics.com>
Subject: Re: In a galaxy far, far away

Quote:


Well Roger, at least you have finally proved what I have suspected all
along. You're not really in touch with reality.

And apart from your obvious arrogance, what proof do you have that you are
somehow a better builder/pilot/mechanic than those who died when their
aircraft broke up in flight?

--------
Doug Sire 601XL
Do Not Archive


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 1:51 pm    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

Guys, this whole thing is getting out of hand, IMHO. I thought Roger's post, as overly dramatic and format-challenged as it was, still made some good points. It was most likely written with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and I took it with a grain of salt or two.

I am really surprised at the venomous response from some here. The FAA and the NTSB still have not found a single "smoking gun" that's the primary cause for the in-flight break ups. And yet, it's also not normal for 7 601 series airplanes to suffer catastrophic airframe failures in a very similar fashion. All we know is that when overstressed (for whatever the reason), a chain of events starts that causes the airframe to fail in a predictable fashion. The one thing that we do know is that the airframe is not fault-tolerant of being overstressed. We also know that the 601 design has racked up thousands of flight hours without failure, but this is of little comfort to the 11 lost souls (and their families), who are forever marred by these crashes.

So, after all of the dust settles, we'll finally have an airframe that is more tolerant of airborne stresses and less susceptable to any single event resulting in catastrophic failure. It won't be irrecoverable anymore if the controls get mishandled, the aileron cables go slack, someone accidently steps on a flap, someone overstresses the aileron control system, the airplane goes a bit too fast or pulls a bit more G's than the design specifically allows. We'll now have an airplane that will at least allow us to safely return to earth under control.

I went back and reread the SAIB from the FAA, which claims the 601 was marginal in meeting the intent of the ASTM standard. However, the designer has claimed all along that the 601 is safe provided it's properly flown and maintained. Between the two schools of thought is a wide area that has been the subject of hot debate, and we won't get anywhere with one side demonizing the other.

So let's quit kicking Roger for his thoughts, order and install the upgrades, and get on with enjoying flying our little beasties as Chris and sons intended.

(opinion mode off)

Rick Lindstrom
ZenVair 601XL N42KP

--


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jmaynard



Joined: 27 Feb 2008
Posts: 394
Location: Fairmont, MN (FRM)

PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 2:37 pm    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 04:51:04PM -0500, Rick Lindstrom wrote:
Quote:
So let's quit kicking Roger for his thoughts

I'll quit kicking Roger just as soon as he quits bashing ZBAG, a group of
owners and builders that only has everyone's safety at heart - despite his
incoherent ravings.
--
Jay Maynard, K5ZC, PP-ASEL, CFI-SP http://www.conmicro.com
http://jmaynard.livejournal.com http://www.tronguy.net
Fairmont, MN (KFRM) (Yes, that's me!)
AMD Zodiac CH601XLi N55ZC http://www.tronguy.net/N55ZC.shtml


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:20 pm    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

Made me Laugh. Thanks.

E.
Do not archive

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 8:33 AM, roger lambert <n601ap(at)gmail.com> wrote:
Quote:
A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away the aviation authorities
decided they needed to get a large number of older aircraft out of the fleet
and, at the same time, allow more people to fly in a low, slow unregulated
airspace. To that end they issued a set of specifications and requested
engineers to design aircraft to those specifications. The engineers made
several assumptions, i.e. the builders would follow the plans, the pilots
would operate the airplane within the flight envelope, and the owners would
properly maintain the aircraft. The engineers designed the aircraft to the
government specs and released the plans and kits to the market.
Unfortunately, the engineers were wrong in their assumptions about some of
the builders, owners and pilots. Some builders,many of whom were not
engineers and had no building experience felt they knew"better" than the
designer and made "improvements" to the design or built poorly with hardware
store tools and equipment. Some owners did not maintain the aircraft
according to factory specifications. Some pilots "self checked" the
modifications, flew aerobatics and exceeded Va and Vne with reckless
abandon. Crashes insued. A group of builders then engaged in a campaign to
force a redesign of the airplane by an avalanche of complaints to the
aviation authorities. They demanded the airplane be made safe from
"flutter". Even after the theory of flutter was refuted, they continued with
their stream of complaints and many refused to believe any of the studies
done by professional engineers or even the aviation authorities were
correct. The aviation authorities, in order to stop this activity, engaged
the designers of the airplane to strengthen the airplane so the pilots would
have less opportunity to harm themselves by their excursions outside the
flight envelope in their self designed "improvements" to the airplane. The
designers, tired of going to crash sites, and tired of seeing how poorly
built, flown and maintained their aircraft were, designed modifications that
made the airplane far stronger than the original specifications. Several
interesting things happened, including, (1)The complaining group claimed
victory and patted themselves on the back as having superior knowledge to
the others. They forgot their claims of design flaw were never shown as
correct by any engineering study and ignored every indication of the
aviation authorities that operational activities may have contributed to the
crashes. As none of this group actually had a flying airplane(most don't
even have a pilot's license), they suffered no real damage, and have further
reason to put off ever having to fly their airplane.(2) The designers, who
may or may not survive economically, are bombarded by demands they pay for
these "improvements" by owners so shortsighted they couldn't pass a flight
physical without wearing binoculars backwards, will now be able to attribute
every crash to builder/pilot error.(3) The factory built airplanes will now
have an additional bill for the "improvements" to an airplane which is
already upside down financially and may never recover any commercial
ability.(4) The rest, including those with hundreds of hours on the
airframe, who built appropriately and flew the airplane within its flight
envelope will also have to dissassemble their airplane to incorporate the
"improvements" or face potential problems with the aviation authorities or
the insurance companies, much less any attempted resale of the airplane.

Steven Speilberg couldn't film one better than this.

==


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 3:56 pm    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

Hi, Jay.

The last time I talked to William D. (the founder of ZBAG), he admitted that there was an faction of the group that wasn't as pure of heart as we would all have liked. I too, originally signed on as a ZBAG participant, but it became very clear that there were several different agendas at work, the worst being a few impatient souls who were very unhappy and wanted to build gallows and tie nooses as the solution.

I decided that the best course of action (for me) was to wait until the jury came back in before passing sentence on Zenith generally and the 601 specifically. In the mean time, I checked my 601 religiously, flew it conservatively, up until the time I lost access to the hangar it was in and moved it to my shop. And now I can finally get on with the mods, reassemble it, and fly it with renewed confidence.

I still think the original intent of ZBAG, to independently research the cause of the inflight break ups, was laudible. However, there was also a lot of inappropriate anger directed at the Heintz family, and a lot of leaping to the conclusion that the Heintz's just weren't doing enough fast enough. Lost in the ensuing debate was the realization that we ALL had a vested interest in putting this issue to rest, in a thorough and scientific manner.

With or without ZBAG, we'd ultimately end up where we are now. 7 inflight break ups of a single design in a short time frame isn't acceptable in anyone's book, and I'll bet even Roger will admit that. I also think Zenith deserves credit for going the extra mile in coming up with an upgrade package that will result in a stronger airframe, one that is more resistant to neglectful maintenance or stupid pilot/passeger tricks or severe turbulence. We do fly in an imperfect world with imperfect people. Zenith knows this, they've spent the last year coming up with these mods, partially based on their crash research with the NTSB.

In the old days, we'd most likely get a certified letter from Zenith or the FAA detailing the information that's now instantly available online. As marvelous a tool as the PC is in building airplanes, with discussion groups on every topic imaginable, we should recognize that it's also a powerful tool for forming and sharing opinions before thoroughly thinking things through. This is the downside.

My impression of Roger's parable was exactly that - a parable. I don't think he intended it to be scientific treatise purely based on fact, there's a lot of his opinion at work. We all view reality through our own set of filters, based on individual perceptions. That's a long way from "incoherent ravings".

Right now, Monday Night Fooball and a cold beer seem like the perfect solution to electronic dirt clod chucking!

Best,

Rick
--


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 16, 2009 4:13 pm    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

Rick, You are right. I don't think that Roger's post was meant as pure fact but more as satire. I took it with a grain of salt and enjoyed the reading. There was no reason to flame him!!!!!!!!

Bob Spudis
N701ZX Ch701/912S



In a message dated 11/16/2009 4:52:13 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, tigerrick(at)mindspring.com writes:
[quote]--> Zenith601-List message posted by: Rick Lindstrom <tigerrick(at)mindspring.com>

Guys, this whole thing is getting out of hand, IMHO. I thought Roger's post, as overly dramatic and format-challenged as it was, still made some good points. It was most likely written with tongue firmly planted in cheek, and I took it with a grain of salt or two.

I am really surprised at the venomous response from some here. The FAA and the NTSB still have not found a single "smoking gun" that's the primary cause for the in-flight break ups. And yet, it's also not normal for 7 601 series airplanes to suffer catastrophic airframe failures in a very similar fashion. All we know is that when overstressed (for whatever the reason), a chain of events starts that causes the airframe to fail in a predictable fashion. The one thing that we do know is that the airframe is not fault-tolerant of being overstressed. We also know that the 601 design has racked up thousands of flight hours without failure, but this is of little comfort to the 11 lost souls (and their families), who are forever marred by these crashes.

So, after all of the dust settles, we'll finally have an airframe that is more tolerant of airborne stresses and less susceptable to any single event resulting in catastrophic failure. It won't be irrecoverable anymore if the controls get mishandled, the aileron cables go slack, someone accidently steps on a flap, someone overstresses the aileron control system, the airplane goes a bit too fast or pulls a bit more G's than the design specifically allows. We'll now have an airplane that will at least allow us to safely return to earth under control.

I went back and reread the SAIB from the FAA, which claims the 601 was marginal in meeting the intent of the ASTM standard. However, the designer has claimed all along that the 601 is safe provided it's properly flown and maintained. Between the two schools of thought is a wide area that has been the subject of hot debate, and we won't get anywhere with one side demonizing the other.

So let's quit kicking Roger for his thoughts, order and install the upgrades, and get on with enjoying flying our little beasties as Chris and sons intended.

(opinion mode off)

Rick Lindstrom
ZenVair 601XL N42KP

--


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yak52



Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Posts: 50

PostPosted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 7:24 am    Post subject: In a galaxy far, far away Reply with quote

I do so enjoy the comments from the fringe elements of society. Although I never mentioned the names of anyone or  any group they certainly recognized themselves.
 
 I didn't mention ZBAG, but a response was made on their behalf by an individual who dresses in a costume from a 26 year old Disney movie and is a CFI without a medical.  I even got a punctuation lesson from that  same person who made two spelling errors and five punctuation/grammar errors in his reply.Honestly, though, that's much better than his common reply to "shut the f**k up" of 12/22/08, 4/15/09 and 6/14/09.
 
To be called out of touch from reality by a person with no pilot license, no flying experience and no aircraft building experience who considers himself an expert in all three areas is indeed a compliment.
 
To those of you concerned about the monetary discussion, I apologize. We'll all be taking it in the shorts(or in the spandex in at least one case) for this one.
 
To all the rest of you who recognized the food for thought in the fairy tale: fair winds, hot food and cold beverage.
[quote][b]


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