Angel's Shadow - RIP

[adriancwong at earthlink.net]

I was out flying with my Angel's Shadow this past Saturday. The plane had
only about 60 flights, and was finally fully trimmed to my liking. On its
fifth flight of the day, while it was on its down wind trim path, the left
top and bottom wing panel suddenly separated and ripped apart in mid air.
The next thing I noticed were the two wing panels floating in mid air in
slow motion, and the rest of the plane rolling onto the far right side of
the embankment.

After I recovered from my initial shock, follow by much cursing in the pit
area, my friends and I set out to retrieve the wreckage. Following a ten
minutes search over a large loose dirt area, under the rare grueling - 95
degrees - October Californian sun, we recovered the two wing panels. As we
were picking up the wing panels, I remembered noticing a separation on the
leading edge of the right wing panel a month ago; I had promptly applied CA
to cure the problem. At that time, there was no visible problem on the left
wing. However, another friend of mine, who is a fellow Shadow owner, had
informed me that he had noticed the same separation problem on his plane
also.

Unfortunately, following an hour of intensive search, with many cuts by the
tall sage brush, we could not locate the rest of the airplane. Apparently,
there is a huge swamp right next to the tall embankment. With the tall grass
and weeds covering the entire area, it completely swallowed the whole plane.
Not only did I lose the airplane, I couldn't even recover a single piece of
equipment for future use.

Later on that evening, after much beer pounding to ease my pain, I think I
finally discovered the main reason for the crash. The first thing I noticed
was that the wing broke right next to where the wing tube ends. Apparently,
in order to save weight, the manufacturer installed only three thin foam
spars inside the wing, thus; seriously jeopardize the rigidity of the wing.
Unfortunately, due to the many snapping maneuvers we have in FAI, it
weakened the integrity of the wing over time. Since there was no main spar
to support the wing, the area from the end of the wing tube to the tip of
the wing flexes tremendously. Eventually, it opened up a gap between the two
wing panels (on the leading edge), and the wind did the rest.

I have accepted over the years that all planes have an invisible expiration
date stamped inside. If we keep flying the plane, something will eventually
happen. But, to lose a relatively new airplane due to manufacturer's
negligence, it's pretty hard to swallow. I sincerely hope this is an
individual case, however, I will strongly urge all Shadow owners to
carefully inspect their airplane.

I have taken some pictures on the wing panels, if anyone is interested,
please contact me off line.

Adrian Wong

Chingbergh Enterprises, Inc.
1555 Lakeside Drive, Suite # 194,
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: (510)452-1005
Fax: (510)452-0378
E-mail: info at chingbergh.com
www.chingbergh.com












 
 










    

  








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