Originally Posted by
current control
Elevator horns bending issue...
looking at it further it would be very difficult to bend a arm
however
with great quality Chinese bolts
it is easily possible to bend the bearing support bolt leading to bending the arm
just my 2c
anyone have a good source foe titanium bolts so something very strong and not brittle?
I was thinking the same thing, but the bolt was intact, don't ask me how found out, lol
I was the one learned it the hard way and like to share with the rest of you. I put the bolt on the outer hole of the arm thinking I would get higher leverage and resolution out at the surface and the difference of torque/resolution would offset itself had I put it elsewhere. Lesson learned, prioritize the integrity of arm is paramount....., until the next weak point is discovered, probably the bolt.
By the way the tomcat was manageable with one stab flying, difficult but manageable
Here's the flight report I wrote myself:
On its 41st flight, at Riverside field (a mostly right turn pattern field), I was doing maneuvers mostly from right to left and on the second loop at 11 o'clock (pushing hard with full throttle), I had fluttering on the stabs with good visual on the left side, quickly throttle down, (subsequent analysis - I believe the right stab was trailering by this time) stayed with it and realize I was able to level the jet (wings were forward with flaps and slats retracted and both spoilerons good, rudders 100%, stabs one sided) had very little pitch with wild pitch and roll results when pulled, but I was still able make a 180 into upwind, at one point I thought I was going to make the run way, dropped the gears, tried to slow down some more, cut power, slight pull, jet banked and pitched up violently, counter inputs and opened some throttle, sucked up gears, decided to belly in with some throttle, shut engines, and minimal damage to the airframe. I sat down to comprehend, mostly taking a slight break from 102F, all in a sudden saw black smoke, apparently engines were FODded didn't go into cool down, by the time I was out to the Tomcat with my co2, some 200 feet forward of runway and about 800 feet down range, the fire was not surrendering to my no more then 10 seconds of burst out of the extinguisher. All I could do is to take some pictures, and retreat back to the shaded canopy for it to burn down, all I was able to save were a couple of mini GSUs, lol.
$500 per flight jet, lol
Barry
