Bill Arras <<billarras>>
writes:

On a recent flight in my EGO Trike, flying under a 2007 ATOS VR
with air brakes, on approach to landing the air brakes did not function. Upon
inspection after landing, what I discovered on my left wing was the fish cam on
the same rib the air brake mechanism is attached to had released in the air. The
result was that rib folded partially, rendering the air brakes inoperable.

Later I did a web search to see if there were any reports of fish cams releasing
during flight, but I found nothing on the internet. Then I asked a local ATOS
pilot and he said it had happened to him and to at least two other ATOS pilot
friends of his. The fish cams that released on these pilots was on less critical
ribs, not on the ones that have the spoileron mechanism attached to it. In-air
release of a fish cam on a spoileron rib could be deadly.

Upon inspection of the rib and the mechanism, I found nothing unusual that might
have caused the release of the fish cam. There was turbulence during the flight,
but nothing unusual. The fish cam that released has the same positive locking
pressure on average as on the other ribs, i.e. it was not loose. The most likely
reason it released might be because the line that activates the air brakes is on
the outboard side of the rib, putting at least some force in the direction that
could cause the fish cam to release and the rib to fold. The greater distance
between the pulley and the mechanism on the air brakes vs. the distance between
the pulley and the mechanism on the spoilerons, coupled with the more abrupt and
probably greater force applied to the brakes than to the spoilerons, might
explain why my fish cam released.

Because I want to be certain the fish cams on the 4 most important ribs (with
the spoileron and air brake mechanisms) cannot release unintentionally, I will
not fly the glider without the fish cams on these 4 ribs securely locked in
place. For now, they are wired like this:

Installing safety wire is easy for me, because my glider and trike normally stay
assembled, in a hangar. For other pilots who don't leave their gliders set up,
and for when I travel, it would be more practical to have an easier way to lock
the fish cams in place. There are any number of ways to do this, but I'm
wondering if anyone else has devised a simple way to lock the fish cams.

It's been over two weeks since I notified A.I.R. of the problem. I asked what
they suggest (short of buying a new glider) but so far I haven't had any
response from them.