LIGHT AIRCRAFT DOWN NEAR ROBERTSON

[Jean Crous]

With the Cubby MK1 , flown solo from the rear seat, baggage on the front seat not secured properly, can end up between the seat-frame and the joystick. This can lead to loss of control. This is my prognosis of what happened. At Swellendam whenI saw him off we could see 3 pieces of luggage on the front seat, secured only with the lap-belt.
In the accident photos the trimtab is in the fully down position, ie trimmed full nose up. It is possible that the severe turbulence of the day could have caused a baggage shift, jamming the joystick, he then trimmed for full nose up. This would worsen matters , because in the event of a joystick failure, the trimtab could be used as a "mini elevator" and should be used in the opposite direction to behave as an "elevator ".
Jean.

[jimdavis]

It looks like the investigation is going toward turbulence dislodging luggage on the front seat onto the dual controls resulting in loss of control by the pilot.

Hmmm. If the luggage on the front seat became dislodged I guess it, or part of it, could have gone back into the prop.

jim

Jim,

Does not happen often - but you have lost me completely here ..........
How would the luggage get to the prop ??
In a cubby ?

JK

Ha ha ha - only if it was flying backward, Jan. For some reason I got it in my head for a moment that he was flying a gyro.

jim

[Slapfaan]

Any further update anyone?

[Trevor Duane]

.