It is with great sadness that I am informing you of the death of John
Shuttleworth at Matamata air field today, 10/18/2016. John was as far as
I know the first to use a rotary engine in an aircraft in NZ . He built
and flew a 2/3 scale P51 Mustang. At this stage we have no information
as to what may have happened . The CAA will investigate and hopefully we
may know more in due course.
Andrew Campbell.
I am very sorry to hear that. Any info at all on what happened Andrew.
Paul Lamar
That is sad indeed.
I do not know John, but was lucky to fly in and out of that airport once.
Gordon Gao
Better pictures.
From news reports for what that is worth ????
Apparently he was not wearing a shoulder harness and he hit his head on
the instrument panel.
The dumb newspaper reporters also said he "dived" and "crashed" . Hardly
the result of a dive. That was a good off runway dead stick landing. The
airplane looks flyable.
Paul Lamar
Wearing no shoulder harness, that,s a bad habit that some older fellows
can't shake, my buddy is one, says it's more hassle to get off in
accident, I don't buy it, seems lazy to me.
Condolences to his family.
Steve Carlisle
Assume, since early email said it was a T51 that crashed, that it was a
kit built Titan. Is that the case. Also, curious as to whether the
several more 2/3 P51s at Tauranga Airport are Titans or some other kit
or plans built planes. My favourite airplane.
Van Van
Not sure what plan the others used. They are buddies and built the P51s
together. They are also buddies with Chris Wade but for some reason did
not use his rotary set up.
Gordon Gao
Are you in Japan Gordon? If so I have an American rotor head friend
that lives in Komagain. North West of Tokyo.
Paul Lamar
I have been told that the seat was torn from its mounts so that would
indicate that he did indeed have his harness on.
Andrew Campbell.
Hmmm unusual I would say. The aircraft looks in good shape.
A typical shoulder harness will take 5750 pounds according to SFI 16.1
For a 200 pound persons that is 28 G's.
My guess is looking at the good condition of the aircraft the
deceleration was less than 10 G's. A single 1/4 inch bolt will take 4,900
pounds to shear at a stress level of only 100,000 psi. Most bolts
have a much higher stress level capability. That is only 24.5 G's
for a 200 pound person. This is not counting the seat belt.
Of course most people would not use one 1/4 inch bolt to restrain the
shoulder harness. They would just look at it and say that is too small.
I think most people would be comfortably with a 3/8 or .375 diameter
bolt. In that case the shear load is 11,000 pounds or 55 G's for a
200 pound person.
I assume it was a wood air plane. Let's check the shear strength
of a spruce wood stringer which is 6200 pounds per square inch.
See the attached pdf of the strength of wood.
The bolt would rely on two shear areas on each side of the one bolt. So
if the
stringer was 1" by 1" total failure load would be 12,000 pounds.
A typical longeron I doubt would be that big. Perhaps a .75 inch
square stringer or longeron was used to hold the 3/8th bolt. In that case
the strength would only be 9,000 pounds or 45 G's. The area around
the bolt is only .285 square inches so it must be reinforced with
laminations
to avoid failure in tension.
The pilot's restraints were either very poorly designed or very poorly
constructed.
Does anyone have the plans for a T51?
Paul Lamar
The Rotary Engine free News Letter. Powered by Linux. If you want off
the list PLEASE let me know and I will remove you. ACRE NL web
site.
http://www.rotaryeng.net You Tube
http://tinyurl.com/beqqxas
Copyright 1998-2016 All world wide rights reserved.
