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Incidents So I have had my fair share of accidents and incidents. almost every thing that has happened to other canard flyers has happened to me. You live and learn and I only have myself to blame. I'm not proud to admit to these nor write about them, but I do so that others can benefit from my experiences.
Landing accident - 3 March 2006. Conditions had it that there was a slight cross wind on runway 21. Approach was normal at 90Kts and 80Kts over the numbers. A little bit of a hard landing and a slight lift off again. As the mains touched the asphalt once more there was a sudden veering experienced to the left. The left wheel ran off the runway and at that stage the airport maintenance had scraped about 6" deep for about 12ft the full length on the runway on both sides. The scarped out soil was ridged up at about 10ft either side of the runway. This ridge was about 18" - 24" tall. There was no NOTAM out for this maintenance at the airport. As the wheel ran off the runway the left lower winglet hit the ridge and caused the plane to swing left. This ridge severed both mains and the nose strut. Now the Cozy was sliding through the rough sideways and came to a halt after about 300ft about 50ft from the runway.
Total loss of undercarriage. Surprisingly the bulkheads and attach points did not delaminate. This goes to show the soundness of composite construction. The 1/2" main gear studs were badly bent and the nose gear shock spring was broken at the ball joint. The right wing that was the largest shock absorber during the rough slide was delaminated at the outboard attach bolts. Both lower winglets suffered severe damage. The bottom of the fuselage was only damaged cosmetically. No other structural damage was detected. So - WHAT CAUSED THIS SUDDEN VEERING OFF THE RUNWAY?? On close inspection I found deep scarping marks caused by the outer diameter of the brake rotor of the left wheel. the AN4 nuts were missing from the AN4 bolts that attach the mains axle to the gear leg. The were stripped clean off. My conclusion was that I have over tightened the AN4 Bolts more than the 92" ft/lbs as required. The axle attach failed during the hard landing and cause an unrecoverable veering off to the left of the runway. The Repair I decided that it would be much easier to do my repairs at home and save time and effort commuting to and from the airport. Repairs could only be started as soon as the authorities have inspected the damage and assure themselves that it would be repairable. The right wing was repaired as per the construction manual and was relatively easy to do. I chamfered the existing UNI skin for about two inches and then laid the new UNI in step format over the existing chamfer in the same orientation. This was per Nat Puffer's recommendation. Micro filled, sanded, primed and painted was quickly done. The left and right lower winglets were damaged beyond repair and I had to make new ones. While I was sanding the broken lower winglets off I had the idea of not having any on my plane. There are quite a number of Cozies out there without them and I contacted these flyers and questioned any behavior adversities. Those that had them before and cut them off did not notice and measurable differences. So - No Lower Winglets. At this stage I also opted for the internal rudder horns while I was busy with the cosmetics. They sure are a better option for a canard. The canard had only minor damage on the tips and this was repaired, micro, primed and painted. Only one of the balance weights was gone and I replaced it with a new one from ACS. The landing brake suffered damage and elimination and I repaired this as per the construction manual. I also decided to replace the manual actuator with an electric unit from Ken Miller. The whole repair took exactly 10 months to complete and the first "second" flight was on January 20, 2007. This time round I decided that the airport at FAVV was unsuitable for my needs and that it is too far from home, besides the runway is in poor condition and I picked up several nicks on the propeller. The maintenance at that airport is also not done in compliance to our CAA requirements. Loss of Nose Wheel During my repair of the landing accident I decided that I will take that opportunity to do a couple of upgrades and enhancements one of which was an Electric Nose Lift. I decided that the Jack Wilhelmson Nose Lift was the one I wanted since it did not involve any cutting of the bulkheads and that it offers an "Automatic Extension" option. Unfortunately I have no pictures but here's the story. Upon taxiing for a couple of Touch-N-Go's I heard a "clunking" noise coming from the nose wheel area. I had just inflated the wheels and I put it down to a hard wheel on a slightly rough tarmac surface. On lining up on runway 06 I detected a slight unusual sway when I braked slightly out of sync. Acceleration was normal and lift-off was good with a good climb out. As I retracted the nose wheel I saw too much light through the wheel well window and it appeared to me as if the wheel bas binding from miss alignment. I elected to extend the wheel again with the hope that it would straighten up and retract fully. By this time I was on the downwind leg and decided the wheel stays out. A perfect landing resulted and I could hold the nose wheel off down to 65 Mph before it came down ever so softly. The Cozy rotated down much lower than usual and then the fats deceleration as the Cozy came to a halt. During all this I still had good directional control. Well, the airport was closed to traffic for 30 minutes and I'm sure it was apian for all the aircraft orbiting while waiting for clearance to land. it was a matter of seconds and the emergency services "ambulance and fire brigade" was on the scene o n the runway, ready to foam me over. On investigation I found that the wheel nose wheel assembly was gone and most of the strut beyond the NG3 was ground. What would cause the wheel assy. to come of??? Well the canard group had much to say about my omission of the safety bolt that I never installed as per the instructions that came with the electric nose lift. Somehow I missed it and the standard plans don't call for it. So I ordered a new strut, new complete nose wheel assembly, new wheel and tire and installed it with the safety bolt as called for and was ready to go and no time. Loss of Exhaust - 1 May 2007 Funny how calling May Day, May Day, May Day on the 1st of May turns out. While curt Smith visited me for the purpose of some extra training and checking my Cozy out in general we decided that we would take a short cross country to the South African Coastal Holiday Mecca - Margate (FAMG). It would only be a 90 minute flight to cove some 325 Nautical Miles. Curt still mentioned to me that I should have the exhaust replace with a stainless one as he does not trust a mild steel one for vibration handling.
After some five minutes later on course to FAPM I started smelling epoxy burning and we were now heavily concerned about a cowl fire since we realized that he exhaust had broken and a piece went through the propeller. I throttled back to 1100 Rpm and the vibration was now much less and the aircraft could maintain 10500 ft. The 50 Nautical Miles felt as if would never end. While Curt was doing his flying thing I was navigating straight to FAPM and communicating to the tower continually. This was hair raising stuff that left a couple of stains in my jocks. (Picture omitted for sanity)
The Repair So Curt and I decided to catch a domestic flight back to Johannesburg and we opted to go an a waiting list. Luckily there was a two cancellations and we made it back to Johannesburg where Chris van Hoov graciously met us and brought us back to my home. I immediately got on the phone to Custom Aircraft Parts and discussed a Cozy-like exhaust design for My Lycoming O-540. The guys there emailed me a drawing and said they would gave it ready in two days, ready for shipping. I placed the order without any further ado. The next day Curt ad i took a drive to FAPM, some 500 Km from where I live where my Cozy was now stranded to assess the damage. I took the prop off since I had to do some minor repairs to it at home. After about an hour we were done and I also arranged some temporary hanger space for the next week or two and left for Johannesburg again.
Curt helped fit the new exhaust while I was doing some emergency plastic surgery on the cowling to accept the new exhaust. A small amount of epoxy was needed to patch up some glass onto the cowl to enclose the exhaust for good cooling. When all was dome I offered to pay for the accommodation at a guest lodge that a fellow EAA member owns to give the epoxy some time to cure after the temporary repair.
Well we made it back in good time and all went well. I kept the speed rather low and never exceeded 160 Kts IAS in case there was cooling air leaking around the exhaust exits.
Unfortunately during this time I had to undergo a shoulder surgery for torn tendons and the repair work was seriously affected. I finished after about four months during which time I had to go for physio-therapy to regain strength in the shoulder.
Split nose Gear Strut - 4 Novenber 2007 So after a local flight and another super smooth landing (man I'm getting good at these landings) I taxied back to my hanger. At the point where I turn off into the row where my hanger is there are some bad patches in the asphalt. I was reckless and did not slow down sufficiently to handle these spots. There was a loud "crack" and i knew that the strut had picked up some damage. There was a split that could be seen through the BID glass from the "safety" bolt all the way to the bolt through NG3. This safety bolt acted as a lever to force the split as the epoxy/flox bond broke loose from NG15. So, once again I ordered a new strut (looks like I need to keep a couple on hand) and after waiting for a month and half I got fed up with USPS and decided to make my own. It turned out good.
I made a new foot out of 1/2" Aluminum and bolted it to the plate from the rear inside.
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The
damage
The
flight to FAMG was non eventful and we saw some very nice scenery. Flying back
to FALA (Lanseria) about 20 minutes after takeoff I started smelling exhaust
fumes. It was ever so slight that Curt did not notice any. Five minutes later
there was a loud noise and bang and the engine started running rough with some
vibration and loss in power - a drop of about 300 rpm. I called a mayday on
121.5 and selected 7700 on the transponder. Curt elected to fly while I navigate
to the nearest airport. The GPS shows FAPM some 52 Nautical Miles away. This was
the only airport that had services and improved an surface. This all happened
over treacherous mountainous area and there was nowhere to land FAPM. The mayday
went out but I had no response? It turned out that everybody heard the mayday
call but since we were in mountainous area we had poor reception. A pilot from a
scheduled Boeing flight from Durban to Johannesburg contacted us with the
frequency for FAPM and that they are ready for us.
So
we arrive in sight of the tower at FAPM and the controller assured us there is
no smoke nor fire in the back that he can see. On finals Curt briefed me to get
all the electrics off and shut down the fuel over the numbers which I duly did.
The Cozy did not even come to a complete halt and the seat belts were loose and
I was on my way out. The fire brigade was there on the runway waiting for
us. No fire this time round. 
On
inspection the right exhaust stub was gone and the damage on the Catto Prop says
it all. Was it not for a sound strong composite propeller the outcome could have
been disastrous.
Two
days later Curt's son, arrived to join us for a Kruger National Park excursion.
It was pointless sitting around waiting for the new exhaust to come. When we
returned after four days in the Park the new exhaust was waiting at home. I
immediately started repair work on the prop. Chris van Hoov's wife, Jean offered
to fly us back to FAPM for the repairs and fitting of the new exhaust. She
needed to know how weight of tools and stuff I'll be taking with to plan her W&B
for the Cherokee 6 (Her Plane). Murphy's Law - I screwed up and never took the
propeller, extra fiberglass, epoxy, exhaust etc in consideration and on arrival
at FASY, her home base, she let me have it in no uncertain terms - the flight
was almost cancelled. Luckily she gave in and we were off to FAPM.
The
next morning Curt took an Ultra light ride with the Lodge owner to FAPM and
experienced an engine quit. Luckily the engine restarted and they made it safe
to the airport. The area around there is definitely not made for off field
landings of any sort. We checked out everything on the Cozy and ran the engine
for some ten minutes to see if all is ok. We decided that it would be a good
idea to do a test flight in close proximity of the airport in case something
went wrong - all was OK. We landed, refueled, filed a flight plan and took off
for FALA (Lanseria, my home base) We flew back at FL105 for safety sake.
Back
at home I started proper cowl repairs and finishing as the emergency repair
would not look good and will always irritate me to some degree. I also had to
modify the rear cooling baffling to accept the new exhaust as per original Cozy
style..jpg)
I
decided to replace the foot that comes with the electric nose lift with the
original "Brock" one that I salvaged from my landing accident since it was made
of 4130 Chromalloy and not stainless as supplied by Jack Wilhelmson. The
stainless one is thinner and flexes and bends as the blots are tightened. Ken
miller suggested that I do not install the safety bolt but envelope the bolts
with flox between the NG15 and retaining plate.