50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

The wing-tube broke in flight. right wing broke in half, plane landed in a tall-tree. canopy broke and cowl cracked. The wing and fuse are 95% perfect. ( The plane only had 3 flights on it) The wing-tube broke during a fast roll in front of 5 experienced pilots at a AMA chartered field. I contacted Peak and they ignored it. I have had alot of planes and I have never seen this before. My Pilot Yak 50cc had been thru it all, and has never had a issue. (That is what I get for saving a $100!) The reason for this post is to tell owners to REPLACE the wing-tube before this happens.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

If the wing broke in half where the tube appears shattered I surmise the wing structure failed first, not the tube.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

Sorry to see that.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

Makes sensse, this wing failed and the tube could not support the forces.
I have a 50cc Peak MXS-R
Only 30 flights, a few of them High G's, no issues, but noticed tube is wearing down near root from engine vibrations.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

I have a wing tube from another brand (badge) airframe and I'm almost certain it came from the same factory and it is quite thin walled and fragile, I had to send the first one back due to hairline cracks/fractures straight out of the box. I keep a very close eye on mine as routine preflight.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

be good to get a proper diameter reading and replacement source. I really like the plane, tube failure would be a shame.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

Had a buddy luckily find cracks on his from a MXR,, from the same factory most likely too. The QC on some of these ARFs is getting dangerous

Who's old enough to remember the saying,, "You can pay me now, or pay me later"

I'll be staying away from the discount brand planes for sure

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

So the distributor put you on ignore. This is not a good move on their part and by posting the obvious you just cost them dollars. I had a similar problem with a H9 Taylorcraft and a misaligned horizontal stabilizer mount. Horizon informed me to send in the fuselage at my expense and they would determine whether I was entitled to a replacement.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

.Nothing new about the QC of some of these ARFs. I have an older Richmodel 50cc YAK arf that had a badly misaligned horizontal stab tube socket and just knowing it would be a huge hassle and lengthy downtime at best to try to get a replacement I operated on the fuse and carefully melted the hot glue that secrued the tube in the fuse with a soldering gun, realigned everything with a square/level and incidence meter and glued it back in. A little matching covering and the airplane is still on of my favorites to fly with zillions of flights on her. When and if I buy an ARF, I just automatically count on re-gluing parts, fixing alignment issues, changing out cheap hardware especially those crappy metric blindnuts most of them use etc. The worst part is getting the dealer to replace a bad or damaged part and waiting the week or ten days to get a replacement (if available at all) only to find out later in the assembly proccess that there is something else that you overlooked/missed (difficult to fix yourself) that's busted, cracked, smashed or just plain unusable and have to do it all over again. By then the dealer is usually about over you. Been there done that... Just part of the routine I guess :eek:

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

ARF does stand for Almost ready to fly,, some more almost than others ;)

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

Would you suggest to go for some for of reinforcement inside the tube? The tube on my 20cc GW Sbach 340 is ridiculously thin. I cant replace with an aluminium tube, so I am planning to put in some form of wood, inside the fuse and epoxy that in place so it doesnt shatter like that. Also, I intend to run epoxy down the side of the wing tube joint to prevent the structure from shattering as well

Ameyam

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

This is the response I got this morning: We are just came back to work from holidays, so reply you a little lately. Sorry To send a tube is not easy, so if you buy a plane we can gift it to you.Regards, Catherine. I didn't expect much more! This is a copy of my original E-Mail: I had a carbon-fiber wing-tube break in flight during a roll. This happened at a A.M.A chartered field with MANY witnesses. .I can send you the tube or photos of the tube and plane (Staubach 342-50cc) I would like a replacement-plane or credit to buy a different plane from you. Thank-you................. I enclosed a photo of the plane I got to replace it, Are there any issues I should be aware of? Where is the best C.G location, as I like them just a bit aft...(read slightly tail-heavy)

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

Sorry, they didn't load the first time. Aero-works 33%Yak, ZDZ 100.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

I think you keep missing the point the wing tube was a secondary failure. The wing structure failed during the rapid roll (snappy) and the tube could not support the load of the wing breaking. No question there was a structural failure due to questionable construction that was stressed during the roll.

How does the construction look inside the failed wing parts? Failed joints? Minimal or no glue? There is no mention of it nor photos.

Flying at a AMA chartered field in front of experienced flyers means squat. Embarrassed? Certainly, but something is missing here.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

I have to agree with Dick here. I too suspect that the wing spars seperated and that is what led to the wing tube snapping. The spar failure created a stress riser that ended up in all the flight loads being concentrated on a small section of the tube. The ting that scares me the most of most ARFs with plug in wings is that most do not have the spars connected to the wing tube socket. There is a fix if you feel your wing tube is too fragile, slide in a vertical grained balsa shear web and epoxy into place. Just make sure the tube is always installed with the web positioned vertical.

RE: 50cc Peak Sbach wing-tube broke on 3rd flight!
 

my plane is going OK, but now rethink flying hard G's
I could redo the inside, I own a bodyshop with composite and other material fixes