Grounding Aeros Combat Hang Gliders Produced in 2011, 2012 and 2013

Safety Directive-016
August 12, 2013

Status: Mandatory

Background

During the last week we had information of two in-flight crossbeam accidents on our latest Combat gliders. Fortunately, both pilots were unharmed.

The first accident happened on August 2nd, and while the investigation was still on the way, we received news about the similar accident that happened on August 8th.
Both accidents happened during level flight at moderate speed and the weather more or less calm (normal flight load).
Both crossbeams broke in the same place and in a very similar pattern.
Both gliders were not new and had between 40 and 60 flights, some of the flights in far worse conditions.
Both crossbeams that failed had passed the factory load test.

After a thorough investigation made by the representatives of Aeros together with the representatives of the crossbeam manufacturer, based on both accident reports and a personal check of one of the gliders, the reason of this structural failure has been discovered. In both cases it was caused by an infrequent manufacturing defect that went undetected by our quality control system.

Scope

This Safety Directive covers all Combat hang gliders with a carbon crossbeam manufactured in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Compliance:

To avoid any further incidents, we strongly recommend to STOP FLYING all Aeros Combat hang gliders manufactured between 2011 and 2013 until their crossbeams are inspected by our authorized dealers. Please, contact an Aeros dealer nearest to you for the carbon crossbeam inspection on your Combat hang glider.

All Aeros hang glider dealers will receive detailed instructions for the crossbeam inspection and testing. These procedures will allow us to find any further similar defects in the crossbeams and fully exclude similar failures on the re-tested pieces.

The same additional test procedures will immediately be implemented in our production process as well.

In case of any questions do not hesitate to contact Aeros at aerosint@aerosint.kiev.ua

COMPLIANCE IS MANDATORY AND HAS TO BE ACHIEVED BEFORE THE NEXT FLIGHT!

Fly safe!