Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Dean · Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:40 pm by Dean

I was flying on saturday, approx 1 hour into my second flight, cruising in level flight, flying straight at 1950 feet when the bolt holding my left swing arm broke without warning. I managed to perform a controlled crash landing in a field and was able to walk away.
As I would consider this is a serious incident I reported it to H&E, the police, the BHPA and the AAIB.
I have been working with all parties since and am assisting them in every way possible, H&E are investigating why this bolt failed and I am meeting Pierre and Hermes on friday, they tell me they will have a report for me then.
This incident is also being investigated by the AAIB and the BHPA.
At this time I would rather not get into a discussion on the matter in case I compromise their investigations, nor would I like to start any speculation on why this happened- this will come out in their report results in due time.
Skywings are putting a statement in their next issue- I will try and get it tomorrow and put it on here.
As soon as I have any further information I will post it here.
Regards
Dean

ParaDara · Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:14 pm by ParaDara

Hi Dean

That's very scary. Any asymmetric failure has the potential to force you into an un-commanded spiral dive with unthinkable consequences.

I know that I and everyone on the forum will be delighted that you survived. We have a metallurgist on the list if you wanted an analysis of the arm that sheared. PM me if you want to contact him. I'm sure he would be more than helpful.

Looking forward to reading the full report. It will take many months so we will need to be patient.

Cheers,

>>> Dara <<<

Oisin Creagh · Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:58 am by Oisin Creagh

I managed to perform a controlled crash landing in a field and was able to walk away.

This is the really important part! Well done Dean for managing a controlled recovery. I certainly looking forward to learning all we can from this. Looking forward to discssing over drinks at Coupe Icare at the weekend!

All will be shared ASAP I have no doubt, and while I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, as I said before, it couldn't have happened to a better person, with your technical and analytical background!!!

Oisin

1973parahead · Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:05 am by 1973parahead

Hello Dean,

Glad to hear that you are O.K. and as you have said it's best to let the investigation take it's course now.

Moto · Thu Sep 17, 2009 10:43 am by Moto

Hi Dean,
it was a relief to hear that you were ok after this very serious failure, I and many pilots lost a very good friend a couple of years ago Kevin Rymer Craig through the same situation and same motor.
http://www.falcon-club.net/Friends%20Re ... ymer_Craig
I am very aware of the pain that his friends and family have been through with Kevin's passing and I am glad that all is well in your case.

Fly Safe and keep smiling.

Jerry Parles

Dean · Thu Sep 17, 2009 1:40 pm by Dean

Quote;
Late news: Paramotor warning
A paramotorist was fortunate to escape serious injury when the bolt securing the left-hand suspension arm to the frame of his H&E Paramotores R120 paramotor unit failed in flight. With the left hand side of the frame hanging from the safety strap he was able to make an emergency landing despite significant control difficulties. The unit was only a year old and had not been subjected to any abnormal flight loads or crash damage, and had been carefully inspected before and after each flight. The bolt, a 10mm Allen-head bolt 50mm in length, had broken in half.

We hope to receive more details of this incident and a preventative solution from H&E Paramotores in due course. Meanwhile, owners or H&E units are recommended not to fly them until more light can be shed on this failure. We would remind all paramotor pilots about the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch Special Bulletin S4/2007, available at www.aaib.gov.uk under the Publications heading. Among its conclusions are the following…

“Examination of components from several other paramotors has revealed distortion or damage to the horizontal arms, parts of the arms, or fittings attached to and applying loading to the arms. Such distortion indicates that these components have been loaded close to their failure stress levels.

“The arms examined so far vary considerably in design and incorporate a range of different fittings. The AAIB is concerned that no design criteria appear to exist to determine the strength of these items and that there is no overall control of the design and geometry of fittings. Given that each harness may be used with a variety of wings, each with different lift capabilities, and that the mass of the pilot and machine is variable, many arms and fittings in use may not be sufficiently strong to sustain the loads experienced in certain manoeuvres. Without further information, the AAIB regards this as a potential flight safety hazard.

“…Only when precise reserve factors have been established for individual harness/wing combinations carrying realistic suspended masses, at load factors appropriate to the manoeuvres to be carried out, can these aircraft be considered to be structurally safe.

This will be in the next skywings magazine, I am rushing out the door here to go to St Hilaire, where I will be meeting Pierre and Hermes, I will have more info on Tuesday when I return..
Dean.

PS for the record, it was the bolt which broke not the arm

Dr.Dudek · Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:57 pm by Dr.Dudek

Hi Dean,

Very glad to hear that you survived something that could of been possibly fatal. If in the controls of a less experienced pilot, they may not be here to tell the tale.
Laurent the French/Canadian acro pilot who flys with Matheau alot also had something similar happen to him.
Its scarry to think that this can happen to somebody flying straight and level and also someone doing acro. Its certainly a wake up call to all of us to be more stringent at our pre-flight checks we must make to gear.

Thanks for sharing,

Jason.

Oisin Creagh · Fri Sep 18, 2009 12:23 am by Oisin Creagh

More will be revealed in due course, but it is probably important to note that it was quite different from what happened to Kevin, in that;

1. It was not modified in any way.
2. It was not the shackle or arm that failed.

It is also important probably to note that the same, or similar detail is used in many other low hang point models of paramotor including Pap, and the same concern would apply to them also, although all differ slightly.

Better to wait for more detail.

Oisin

Dean · Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:54 pm by Dean

Dr.Dudek wrote:Hi Dean,

Very glad to hear that you survived something that could of been possibly fatal. If in the controls of a less experienced pilot, they may not be here to tell the tale.
Laurent the French/Canadian acro pilot who flys with Matheau alot also had something similar happen to him.
Its scarry to think that this can happen to somebody flying straight and level and also someone doing acro. Its certainly a wake up call to all of us to be more stringent at our pre-flight checks we must make to gear.

Thanks for sharing,

Jason.

Hi Jason
I was on my second flight , we had landed, refueled and away again, we werent on the ground for very long, yet I took the time to pre-flight the motor, no pre-flight can pick up on a fault like this unfortunately, but yes youre absolutely right about the stringent checks, after all our lives are very much dependant on our gear, its incidents like this that hammer that fact home...
Dean

Dean · Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:42 pm by Dean

I spoke with Pierre and Hermes today, Pierre has promised to have a report to issue on Friday about what action the current H&E owners need to do to ensure the bolts on their swing arms will not fail..
Dean

pat · Tue Sep 29, 2009 9:11 pm by pat

HI Dean,

good to know that a report is forthcoming regarding the incident, as it is a little bit disconcerting that it happened to you. please Excuse my stupidity, but just how the hell does a big heavy metal bolt break!? My understanding of engineering is minimal unlike your metal craftmanship! but I would have thought that given that the weight of the motor "hangs" form the 2 arms, then surely the main load and stress is on the arms and bolts? and these should be rigoursly tested durning design stage to ensure it can carry the load? - so what actually causes them to break then? poor design, materials, user input? or just lack of testing my the makers? as i said i am just curious as to the main factors that have contributed to your incident, as i am sure neither you or anyone else would want it to happen to them.

Does the bolt issue affect all other modern makes of paramotors directly, ie PAP?

I hope you can give me a gentle lesson in metal engineering to help me understand why and how this incident happened to you dean!

pat.

Dean · Sun Oct 04, 2009 8:19 pm by Dean

pat wrote:HI Dean,

good to know that a report is forthcoming regarding the incident, as it is a little bit disconcerting that it happened to you. please Excuse my stupidity, but just how the hell does a big heavy metal bolt break!? My understanding of engineering is minimal unlike your metal craftmanship! but I would have thought that given that the weight of the motor "hangs" form the 2 arms, then surely the main load and stress is on the arms and bolts? and these should be rigoursly tested durning design stage to ensure it can carry the load? - so what actually causes them to break then? poor design, materials, user input? or just lack of testing my the makers? as i said i am just curious as to the main factors that have contributed to your incident, as i am sure neither you or anyone else would want it to happen to them.

Does the bolt issue affect all other modern makes of paramotors directly, ie PAP?

I hope you can give me a gentle lesson in metal engineering to help me understand why and how this incident happened to you dean!

pat.

Hi Pat
As of yet I dont know why the bolt broke, as I have previously said I was in straight and level flight and have never done any tight turns let alone acro, so the bolt should have been fine.
As far as testing and design goes, I dont know what system H&E or other manufacturers use to determine the safe working loads and stresses on the materials and joints etc.
After what has happened to me, I would definately highly recommend checking these bolts on a regular basis, one other very important thing in my opinion to check is the back-up strap on a machine/harness, what if the bolt breaks, the arm or shackle breaks, how does the geometry of the harness and machine change, can you still reach the brake handles if you are hanging on your back-up strap, what position will you be hanging? I would have thought that it would all be relatively normal in this situatition, dont forget if you hang off to the one side then you will be weight-shifting and initiating a turn,
I think one thing which would be very usefull at a fly in would be to test all the different types of machines we fly by doing a hang test and taking off a bolt or a shackle and see what position we are in, another factor is the transition from hanging normal to hanging on the backup straps, is it a jolt?, if so can this do any futher damage?
Hopefully when the report is done and finished we will have answers to our queries.

I actually had my first flight since my accident tonight ( I borrowed a mates PAP) and I was nervous as hell, I had a serious lack of confidence and was very aprehensive about the whole flight, I couldnt relax and enjoy the flight even though conditions were perfect, I dont know if I will get back to how I was before this happened to me, to put it into perspective, its like driving down the road and wondering if the front wheel was going to fall off the van, maybe through time it will all come back to normal but I dont know what I will be able to do to overcome this. It will be a while yet before I can try and get back into the flying until my shoulder ligaments heal but I felt if I put it off any longer then I may never get back into the saddle, so at least I have the first one under my belt rather than put it off too long and keep worrying about it, which should help.
Time will tell I suppose

Dean

Dr.Dudek · Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:31 pm by Dr.Dudek

Hi Dean,

Thanks for sharing with us. I think you will find your way back in time, the fact that you have been honest with yourself is half the battle. There is no doubt that you and all of us will learn so much from your incident that we are all greatful, for sharing with us. They say when you fall down, be it from an incident or someone elses ungreatfulness, you climb back up and are stronger from the experience. You learm from it and are more the wiser.

Thanks for sharing and i hope you soon start to enjoy your flying again.

Jason.

garyfreefly · Sun Oct 11, 2009 6:51 pm by garyfreefly

Any news on why the bolt broke yet....? or are the manafacturers keeping their mouth shut on this one......and putting their head in the sand....a little bit like the tip stearing..!!
I hate any sort of intervention by the caa or other enforcement bodies .....But if the makers of flying equipment keep letting us down with shoddy equipment that could cause the loss of life it will happen........

Dean · Mon Oct 12, 2009 9:47 pm by Dean

Hi Gary
As of yet H&E have not finalised their investigation report, -they are looking into it though-, they did send me on a report which I returned with my own input but havent heard a word since.
Hopefully we will hear some news soon...
Dean

Oisin Creagh · Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:03 pm by Oisin Creagh

Recent posting ( last week) on Paramotor Magazine forum, on failed shackle on PAP. Note the way the back-up strap took over very effectively. This is where we need to focus our efforts, to ensure the back-up system is better. I have been experimenting with an additional strap which I have added to my H&E, to support the risers, in the event of arm bolt, or shackle failure. I hope to complete the study ASAP and will post details. The basic H&E support back-up strap system is just a bit too slack.
Oisin

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At the 2009 worlds in Czech, I was flying a brand new PAP paramotor, delivered from PAP directly to the venue for the comp.
During one task, I took a few collapses in some extreme turbulance, the kind of air we would not normally fly in and on one particularly violent recovery, something snapped. I did not know at the time what it was, but the wing had a SLIGHT left-hand turn which I could easily counteract with brakes alone, or some assymetric trimmers. I flew the rest of the task without any issues, approx 80 minutes before landing and discovering what had broken.
The 6mm stainless steel shackle-pin that holds the carabiner to the under-arm bar had snapped of, releasing the carabiner from the bar, however the safety backup strap took the load with just a sight assymetry to the configuration. On the ground, the assymetry looks quite severe. On a static hang-check, the motor would lean heavily towards the failed side, but only because the two overhead points cannot move. The wing however would bank only slightly in response, allowing the motor to lean over a lot less than in a hang-check.
All the best,
KP

Gordon Dunn · Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:21 pm by Gordon Dunn

Also have noticed an article in this months Skywings (BHPA) on Dean's incident.

Oisin Creagh · Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:41 pm by Oisin Creagh

Can you scan and post?

Mike Hastings · Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:26 pm by Mike Hastings

Ive a H&E R120 myself and had a serious failure detected before a takeoff by Jerry Parles. I always do a preflight check, ALWAYS! But I didn't detect
the weld failure at all. It just goes to show that sharing information like this can be a life saver.

I don't want to be over critical but I was surprised and dissapointed by the H&E response to the failure. I took photos of the failure and Jerry Parles
got a welder to repair and reinforce the weld (Thanks again Jerry!) All these were made available to them but they appeared to be more interested in

deny-ability rather than suggesting a solution. I hope they will take this oppertunity to do the right thing. Not looking for blame but require some reassurance that when a problem arises that they both take it seriously and act to inform those of us who are flying on their kit.

Regards to all

Mike Hastings

Gordon Dunn · Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:58 pm by Gordon Dunn

Mike- was this the engine mount per chance... or is that another issue?
I've had my engine mount on the R120 machine rectified by H&E... took a bit of 'pro activity' with them, but they did an excellent job in the end.

GD

Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

BHPA Response

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

Re: Bolt failure on my left swing arm mid-flight

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