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Yep. That was just the beginning, a report to clue in EVERYONE on facts we race fans already know.
The NTSB has stated that a concluding report will take up to several months. They will probably be lab-testing the trim tab to see where it failed and why. Perhaps this could lead to a re-design and improvement of these bothersome devices, since they certainly don't appear to be able to endure the race environment at unlimited racer speeds.
Actually if you read it carefully it says something quite interesting. It seems to imply that the trim tab loss was as a RESULT of the left/right banking and therefore not the CAUSE of the incident. What caused the banking and subsequent loss of the tab, which then put the a/c into is violent upward pitch? There are several factors that could have played a role there. NTSB is usually very careful about its prelim reports...time will tell.
Actually if you read it carefully it says something quite interesting. It seems to imply that the trim tab loss was as a RESULT of the left/right banking and therefore not the CAUSE of the incident. What caused the banking and subsequent loss of the tab, which then put the a/c into is violent upward pitch? There are several factors that could have played a role there. NTSB is usually very careful about its prelim reports...time will tell.
I think you are reading too much into the statement. It is just a statement of fact that the aircraft momentarily banked left and....
These reports are carefully prepared to avoid making any conclusions, as in "Just the facts, ma'am." (Sgt. Joe Friday, Dragnet).
Perhaps. Willing to fall on that sword. Guess what struck was they didn't say... the a/c lost the tab then banked, etc. As you say...they word these very carefully.
Hope all you are doing OK. Been on helluva week for the aviation community.
Not piling on, just agreeing that the separation of the trim-tab is interesting, but it may have previously failed and destroyed flight control capability, and then subsequently departed. It may have departed in various stages.
Seemed pretty well written and professional to me.
Seems like a good basic overview of the incedent without trying to indicate a detailed root cause. About all we would want to expect at this point. I think anything more than this would be jumping the gun given all the raw data and aircraft components they need to analyze in detail.
I am sure the final report months from now will be a lot more definitive.
It seems to be taken for granted that the trim tab detaching from the plane was the “cause” of the accident but what evidence actually supports this? Why couldn't the tab coming off be a result of the large loads on the airframe after the pull up and roll which was initiated by something else? In the series of photos in another thread the tab doesn't depart the plane until it is nearly inverted. If the tab departing the plane was the cause it would have come off just before the plane pulled up.
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It seems to be taken for granted that the trim tab detaching from the plane was the “cause” of the accident but what evidence actually supports this? Why couldn't the tab coming off be a result of the large loads on the airframe after the pull up and roll which was initiated by something else? In the series of photos in another thread the tab doesn't depart the plane until it is nearly inverted. If the tab departing the plane was the cause it would have come off just before the plane pulled up.
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Bryan
General consensus seems to be that the tab control mechanism probably failed, rendering it aerodynamically ineffective and causing the pitch up, before it came away from the airframe altogether.
General consensus seems to be that the tab control mechanism probably failed, rendering it aerodynamically ineffective and causing the pitch up, before it came away from the airframe altogether.
The time line of when problems probably developed go back before the entry into the turn.
There was dirty air he flew through as reported by a pilot behind him as he entered the turn.
The T/W seemed to be extending even before the initial pitch up. Did the gear handle get knocked out of the up position? Did the handle never get properly put into the full up position and a failure of the hyd system allow it to extend?
Look close at the trailing edge of the L/H elevator and see at what point the tab goes from nose down to nose up position. It failed at nose up but raced with nose down trim. When did that change?
That seemed to happen at a point where he was already bent forward.
Could there be a possibility that while bent over the trim switch was activated, whether purposely or by body contact. Was that the result of a dire situation and an attempt to get altitude? Or was he already out? Did the excessive travel at that point and at that speed cause the failure and it was fine prior and not involved in whatever the situation was that developed causing him to bend forward?
So we have multiple events happening in a succession that leads to disaster.
What happened 1st?
A timeline from photos and telemetry has to be put together going back before he enters in the turn.
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