Crunch Alert (USA) - hugely serious but (apparently) non-fatal

On May 10, 7:32*am, Martin RSA joburgatgeerlingsdotcodotza wrote:[color=blue][i]
Ramy;814097 Wrote:

Renny wrote:

Wow, thank god it happened at altitude!
Isn't it that virtually all our rudder pedals mechanism are spring
loaded, and if one cable breaks the result is instantaneously full
rudder? I always thought this is a receipt for disaster. A glider
without rudder control may still be flyable and even landable, but not
with full rudder!

Ramy

This is sort of true, but not in this case. The spring is just strong
enough to ensure the pedal does not fall forward when the pilot climbs
out. Also, if one spring is off, it is not strong enough to allow yaw to
initiate.

In the accident of the JS1, the glider was in a right hand slip (full
left aileron required). We can assume in this case that the left hand
rudder cable broke. In the accident photo’s the right hand cable is off,
which probably happened during impact.

--
Martin RSA

Saw the photos yesterday. Also inspected the sister ship of the JS1
that had a rudder cable failure at 100 hours. The sister ship has 28
hours and the right rudder cable is beginning to fray with several
strands already worn through due to contact with the sharp edge of the
S tube.