Another replica down - no injuries

[Brett]

Replica biplane crashes short of runway
Ian Steward - The Press | Tuesday, 04 November 2008

DOWNED: police inspect the crash site of a replica German Albatros World War 1 fighter south of Dunedin last night.

The Red Baron became the red-faced baron when his reproduction World War 1 biplane crashed south of Dunedin last night.


The German Albatros plane was being flown from Taieri Aerodrome to a private airstrip in Waldronville, on the coast south of Dunedin, when it had a mechanical failure about 6.10pm.

Senior Sergeant Steve Aitken, of the Dunedin police, said the 80-year-old pilot reported the plane's drive belt had split and "departed the plane", turning it into a glider.

"He didn't quite make the landing strip and landed in some tussock," Aitken said.

The pilot got out "fit and well and healthy".

"He was tinkering away with the plane when we got there," Aitken said.

He said the man was an experienced pilot.

The Civil Aviation Authority would not be investigating the incident as the plane was "classed more as a microlight", Aitken said.

www.stuff.co.nz/4748769a19756.html

[Dave Homewood]

Blimey. It's been a bad week.

I didn't know there even was a replica Albatros in NZ. I hope it is repairable.

Does CAA not take an interest in microlight crashes then?

[philip]

Nov 4, 2008 11:41:17 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Does CAA not take an interest in microlight crashes then?

News to me. I know that is the case to a degree in Australia, where the RAA has a higher level of self regulation including incident reporting, than the two part103 organisations in NZ, SAC and RAANZ, who are more licensing organisations.

But I'm sure CAA here WOULD be interested.

Police

[Brett]

Image in the Stuff.co.nz link in the first post.

Date: 8-11-2007
Action: Initial registration
Man. Model: J T Grant Albatross D5 U/L Replica
Serial No.: TG01
Flight Manual: AIR no. None
Name & Address: Mr J T Grant 151 Old Brighton Road Dunedin 9076

[Dave Homewood]

It is a little bit bent but looks repairable I guess. The main thjing is the pilot is ok.

[Bruce]

"the 80-year-old pilot reported the plane's drive belt had split and "departed the plane", turning it into a glider"

A good reason why I'm not a fan of belt reduction drives.... (mine uses offset gears)

[corsair67]

I waiting for a letter to appear in the paper about banning aeroplanes because it's obvious that they are dangerous!!!!!!!!!!!!

Won't somebody think of the children???

[Dave Homewood]

Children are also dangerous.

[flyjoe180]

So is tussock.

[sleemanj]

Nov 4, 2008 11:41:17 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

Does CAA not take an interest in microlight crashes then?

They can, and do, when it seems useful to do so.

In this case, drive belt broke, successful forced landing (in that no injury sustained), so not really worth the CAA doing anything except noting it in the statistics.

[Dave Homewood]

That seems logical James, but the way it was written in the article is a bit misleading I think.

[planeimages]

Toyota twin cam 4AGE by the looks of it. Broken DOHC belts do cause the engine to go quiet.