On Mon, 4 Aug 2008 14:23:16 -0700 (PDT), Victor Bravo
wrote:



There have been several inflight wing separations on a common aircraft
design. There has been a letter from the factory somewhat addressing
the situation as well... so Heintz understands that there is some kind
of situation. Common sense AND an engineering textbook should tell you
that this needs to be taken very seriously. Van took it seriously
every time, made changes, and the RV's continue to be well respected
designs. Heintz is a well respected designer and I strongly believe he
will continue to be so.
From what I understand, at least one "wing related crash" was a Czech
aircraft works plane. Of the other 2, one had a rear spar bolt not
installed, or incorrectly installed(and fell out) Another had a
hardware store bolt in a critical wing attach application.
Neither of these two was a design fault - and as pointed out earlier
by someone, the Czech plane is not EXACTLY a 601XL LSA plane. It was
originally built to a lighter standard and may or may not have been
properly modified to LSA requirements.
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