Puchacz New Cautionary Tale/Tail

Folks:

You will not yet find this on any accident/incident reports.
There were no fatalities.

A pilot called me to relay this story.
The SZD-50-3 Puchacsz was bought used from Europe and
imported to the US with ~1900 hours. The glider was given a US
airworthiness inspection, and licensed by an FAA
inspector last week Thursday or so. It went into legal service
before the weekend.

On Saturday, following only a few flights, the pilot felt some
restriction in rudder movement, and asked the front seat passenger
to adjust the length of rudder stirrups for more freedom of movement.
The passenger complied, and free movement was "restored."

The flight continued in nice lift, and some mild maneuvers
for perhaps twenty five more minutes prior to landing.
As the glider came to a halt, the ground personnel roared up to the
cockpit
and informed the pilot that there was no rudder on the machine.
All parties were amazed.

A search by air for the missing rudder were fruitless.
I have not seen the Puchacsz.
I do not have pictures or links to any photos.
I cannot comment on the mode of departure.
I do not know if the cables or swedges and thimbles are on
the machine, nor if the vertical hinges are in place on
the rear face of the vertical fin.

I do know there was a mandatory service item to replace the
rudder stop elastic nut on the bottom bolt with a castelated nut
and safety key. I cannot say if this was done, found, gone or
otherwise on the machine in question.

I do know that you should look at the attachments of
controls and moving parts fully and carefully on each
pre-flight inspection. Things change and move over time.

The pilot in this case asked me to put the information out
to the soaring community, PRIOR to any formal incident
investigation, to prevent any possible similar occurrence.

Cindy Brickner
Southern California
www.caracole-soaring.com

On Sep 6, 6:50*pm, CindyB wrote:
Folks:

You will not yet find this on any accident/incident reports.
There were no fatalities.

*A pilot called me to relay this story.
The SZD-50-3 Puchacsz was bought used from Europe and
imported to the US with ~1900 hours. The glider was given a US
airworthiness inspection, and licensed by an FAA
inspector last week Thursday or so. *It went into legal service
before the weekend.

On Saturday, following only a few flights, the pilot felt some
restriction in rudder movement, and asked the front seat passenger
to adjust the length of rudder stirrups for more freedom of movement.
The passenger complied, and free movement was "restored."

The flight continued in nice lift, and some mild maneuvers
for perhaps twenty five more minutes prior to landing.
As the glider came to a halt, the ground personnel roared up to the
cockpit
and informed the pilot that there was no rudder on the machine.
All parties were amazed.

A search by air for the missing rudder were fruitless.
I have not seen the Puchacsz.
I do not have pictures or links to any photos.
I cannot comment on the mode of departure.
I do not know if the cables or swedges and thimbles are on
the machine, nor if the vertical hinges are in place on
the rear face of the vertical fin.

I do know there was a mandatory service item to replace the
rudder stop elastic nut on the bottom bolt with a castelated nut
and safety key. *I cannot say if this was done, found, gone or
otherwise on the machine in question.

I do know that you should look at the attachments of
controls and moving parts fully and carefully on each
pre-flight inspection. *Things change and move over time.

The pilot in this case asked me to put the information out
to the soaring community, PRIOR to any formal incident
investigation, to prevent any possible similar occurrence.

Cindy Brickner
Southern Californiawww.caracole-soaring.com

There is a mandatory service bulletin/AD to replace the lower rudder
mount bolt. If the nut on the old bolt unscrews, the rudder can fall
off! The cables drive a plate with vertical pins that fit into the
rudder. The cables are not connected directly to the rudder. This and
several other AD's and service bulletins should have been checked on
the annual inspection. Another biggie is to replace the aluminum turn-
buckles that are bolted directly to the rear rudder pedals with steel
turn-buckles and an 8" cable to get them off the rudder pedals where
rear pilot can/will kick and bend ..............do that a few times
and the aluminum turn-buckle breaks.....................then you are
in a world of hurts!
Who did the annual?
JJ
JJ

On Sep 6, 6:50*pm, CindyB wrote:
Folks:

You will not yet find this on any accident/incident reports.
There were no fatalities.

*A pilot called me to relay this story.
The SZD-50-3 Puchacsz was bought used from Europe and
imported to the US with ~1900 hours. The glider was given a US
airworthiness inspection, and licensed by an FAA
inspector last week Thursday or so. *It went into legal service
before the weekend.

On Saturday, following only a few flights, the pilot felt some
restriction in rudder movement, and asked the front seat passenger
to adjust the length of rudder stirrups for more freedom of movement.
The passenger complied, and free movement was "restored."

The flight continued in nice lift, and some mild maneuvers
for perhaps twenty five more minutes prior to landing.
As the glider came to a halt, the ground personnel roared up to the
cockpit
and informed the pilot that there was no rudder on the machine.
All parties were amazed.

A search by air for the missing rudder were fruitless.
I have not seen the Puchacsz.
I do not have pictures or links to any photos.
I cannot comment on the mode of departure.
I do not know if the cables or swedges and thimbles are on
the machine, nor if the vertical hinges are in place on
the rear face of the vertical fin.

I do know there was a mandatory service item to replace the
rudder stop elastic nut on the bottom bolt with a castelated nut
and safety key. *I cannot say if this was done, found, gone or
otherwise on the machine in question.

I do know that you should look at the attachments of
controls and moving parts fully and carefully on each
pre-flight inspection. *Things change and move over time.

The pilot in this case asked me to put the information out
to the soaring community, PRIOR to any formal incident
investigation, to prevent any possible similar occurrence.

Cindy Brickner
Southern Californiawww.caracole-soaring.co

Who do you blame for this incident? The glider or the inspector?

Jacek

How could you fly a glider without a rudder and not be able to tell
something is very wrong????

Was the yaw string missing too?

Boggs

On Sep 6, 9:09*pm, GARY BOGGS wrote:
How could you fly a glider without a rudder and not be able to tell
something is very wrong????

Was the yaw string missing too?

Boggs

Some students wouldn't know if the rudder fell off, because they never
use it anyway! It (the rudder) must weigh a good 20 pounds or so and
that much weight lost way back there would surely shift the CG out of
the forward limit. OK as long as speed is sufficient to keep elevator
authority. No Guy, my Puchacz went to Brazil and all the ad's were
complied with!
Cheers,
JJ

On Sep 7, 5:21*am, JJ Sinclair wrote:
On Sep 6, 9:09*pm, GARY BOGGS wrote:

How could you fly a glider without a rudder and not be able to tell
something is very wrong????

Was the yaw string missing too?

Boggs

Some students wouldn't know if the rudder fell off, because they never
use it anyway! It (the rudder) must weigh a good 20 pounds or so and
that much weight lost way back there would surely shift the CG out of
the forward limit. OK as long as speed is sufficient to keep elevator
authority. No Guy, my Puchacz went to Brazil and all the ad's were
complied with!
Cheers,
JJ

rudder? what's that?

Brad

"Cessna driver"

rudder? what's that?

Brad

"Cessna driver"

As someone just pointed out to me, it's the thing that stops spins.

On Sep 8, 12:11*pm, Brad wrote:
On Sep 7, 5:21*am, JJ Sinclair wrote:



On Sep 6, 9:09*pm, GARY BOGGS wrote:

How could you fly a glider without a rudder and not be able to tell
something is very wrong????

Was the yaw string missing too?

Boggs

Some students wouldn't know if the rudder fell off, because they never
use it anyway! It (the rudder) must weigh a good 20 pounds or so and
that much weight lost way back there would surely shift the CG out of
the forward limit. OK as long as speed is sufficient to keep elevator
authority. No Guy, my Puchacz went to Brazil and all the ad's were
complied with!
Cheers,
JJ

rudder? what's that?

Brad

"Cessna driver"

It's the thing behind you that wags when you step on the nose-wheel
pedals.

Mike

On Sep 8, 12:11*pm, Brad wrote:

rudder? what's that?

It's a mere Cartesian abstraction; the horizontal projection of a
ruddervator.

Thanks, Bob K.

On Sep 7, 1:09*am, GARY BOGGS wrote:
How could you fly a glider without a rudder and not be able to tell
something is very wrong????

Was the yaw string missing too?

Boggs

I agree with Gary.. How could the pilot not notice the rudder is gone?
Our club DG200 had the rudder pop out on a winch launch and it fell
back and hung from the rudder cables. The pilot felt both pedals go
forward and get stuck. He completed the launch and from the ground he
was told that his rudder came off so he made gentle turns and landed
without trouble. A few days later we got the AD calling for a larger
washer on the lower hinge bolt...
With no rudder he could only make very gentle, shallow turns without
having the yaw string all over the place.

Regards,

Juan Carlos