Falcon409_Golden Age_Spartan Exec.

[falcon409]

Departed Mildenhall for Marseille:

[falcon409]

This is very frustrating. I fly all the way from Mildenhall to Marseille and begin the descent to Marseille at a rate that the duenna shows as around 340ft per minute and it registers a crash? Please. . .you telling me the Spartan can't descend at that rate because it will cause too much air frame stress?

There's no way that should have been a problem. I want a determination from the committee, based on the duenna information!!

[Bry Rosier]

Looking quickly at the duenna it shows your max IAS was 244 KIAS . I believe the max in the Spartan is 225 KIAS , The commitee will clarify for you but looks to me like an overspeed .

[falcon409]

If that's the case, I had just released the AP and throttled back to start a descent, the last thing I saw on the screen was a quick flash of a notice of airframe overstress. I won't restart from Mildenhall, no way I'll refly that entire trip. It's not like I'm trying to keep from getting any penalties. I already have 4 penalty hrs on the Piper twin.

I just looked over the log as well and are we gauging the IAS on Groundspeed or the KIAS? Big difference there as my KIAS at the time of the descent was 194 and descent rate was a measly 378ft per min.

[Bry Rosier]

Hi , looking at the duenna text file , the last flightpoint logged shows IAS of 194 , but doesn`t show what happened in the 3 mins after . I think it only logs changes in attitude and as you were descending at 374ft/s there was nothing to log for the 3 mins . Hope this helps , the commitee will confirm .

[Moses03]

On the surface it looks like a good old fashioned overspeed/stress crash which would be a (1) hour penalty with the choice of restarting or placing your aircraft at a nearby airfield no nearer the intended destination. I am not familiar with the type though. We will investigate ASAP.

[Willy]

We've got a temporary ruling pending further NTSB investigation (most of the committee are at work at the moment)

Place the Spartan at an airport on the flightpath and no closer to the destination--and then take off and complete the currently planned journey. If our investigation finds a glitch, then no penalty at all. If we cannot rule out the overspeed, then we'll have to apply that rule.

Fair enough?

[srgalahad]

From: NTSB Incident Team
To: Falcon409
Re: In-Flight Break-up of aircraft.

Investigators are working on your report, including analysis of Flight Data Recorder (Duenna) records. As you are aware, any information may be valuable so we wonder if you noticed:

a. any abnormal weather prior to the event- turbulence, winds
b. sudden changes in the wind (do you run with the Shift-Z info displayed?)
c. initial info shows a significant tailwind component during your flight. Were there any indications of variable winds at other altitudes or at destination?
d. Any sudden, unplanned control inputs, malfunctions, accellerations or autopilot engagements just prior to the event.

Rob

(good thing you had that parachute!)

[falcon409]

From: NTSB Incident Team
To: Falcon409
Re: In-Flight Break-up of aircraft.

Investigators are working on your report, including analysis of Flight Data Recorder (Duenna) records. As you are aware, any information may be valuable so we wonder if you noticed:

a. any abnormal weather prior to the event- turbulence, winds
b. sudden changes in the wind (do you run with the Shift-Z info displayed?)
c. initial info shows a significant tailwind component during your flight. Were there any indications of variable winds at other altitudes or at destination?
d. Any sudden, unplanned control inputs, malfunctions, accelerations or autopilot engagements just prior to the event.

Rob

A. One instance of overspeed about halfway through the flight during a quick downburst but lasted only a few seconds.
B. Only the downburst mentioned above. I tend not to use the Shift-Z as it gets in the way of screens shots.
C. Winds aloft seemed relatively steady, nothing violent or erratic.
D. I was within 10 to 15nm of the end of the rwy at Marseille. I disconnected the AP, throttled back to begin the descent, pushed the nose down slightly and "Aircraft overstressed" "Crash". Sim reset.

[srgalahad]

Thanks!
we're examining the 'wreckage' but it will be a little while. Also getting data from the 'factory' about stress limits, etc.

In the meantime, test the rebuilt one if you plan to continue, get it tuned and polished and we should have a definitive response ASAP.

I hear they have nice restaurants at some of the airports around there. Just watch the wine consumption!

Rob

[falcon409]

I am up and flying again. . .at this point finishing in the running isn't the goal really, just finishing will be my accomplishment. I'm on my way to LIBR.

One side note on the Spartan, has anyone else noticed that in the external sounds there are actually two overlays? There is the full RPM sound of the engine, plus the sound of an idling engine as well.

[falcon409]

Landed at LIBR.

[falcon409]

On my way to Athens:

[falcon409]

Down and fueling up at Athens:

[falcon409]

On to Beruit!

[bpfowler]

go man, go!

[falcon409]

Crashed! Walked away from the monitor for maybe 10 minutes to get a drink and something to eat. I come back and it had already reset. I was straight and level at 5000 on AP. From the log, it appears it pitched up, stalled and dropped at around 1000fpm. Winds were relatively light and I can only attribute this to the "Make falcon wish he hadn't started this" Club.