ORIGINAL: rcjets_63
I think we can all agree that the crash of the large Hawk at Kentucky Jets was unfortunate; nobody likes to see a model crash nor the associated loss of time and investment by the owner. Fortunately, the crash site was in the overfly area completely away from the pilots/spectators and thus nobody was hurt.
It was a beautiful plane; I hope that one day I'll be able to paint as well as the folks in the paint shop at FEJ.
I spoke with James, Nir, and Lowell and offered my engineering assistance. FEJ was open to this and Lowell was quite nice and showed me the broken stab assembly as well as the complete assembly of the Hawk donated for auction. They seemed committed to finding a solution to the problem. Indeed, they have some sound ideas for improvements and, as more data and analysis becomes available, these ideas may be fine-tuned to provide a thorough and complete solution. As the saying goes, ''Rome wasn't built in a day.''
I suggest that we all lighten up a bit and give them that time. Nothing is going to be gained by getting into some lengthy slam-fest here on RCU.
Regards,
Jim
Jim,
Based on your inspection, and considering the result, would you say this jet had been properly tested, prior to it being brought to JOK and offered for sale to the public?
I'm all for giving them the time to provide a solution to this confirmed defect. What I don't want to see, is them solve this issue and then immediately, without further testing of the entire airframe, declare "problem solved" place your orders!
As an engineer you know full well that fixing this problem could very well highlight another weakness further down the stress chain. My issue has been and continues to be, that the jet not be offered for sale until it has adequately been tested to hold up to anticipated speeds and G loads.
Do that, attend to the identified support issues, and FEJ could have a very bright future! Otherwise, they will continue to be the object of the aforementioned "slam-fests"
David S