Microlights grounded after accident

Press, 7 May 1983, Page 16

Microlights grounded after accident

PA Wellington The Civil Aviation Division of the Ministry of Transport has grounded 19 “Trike” microlight aircraft. The grounding comes after a recent accident involving a Trike microlight at Tauranga about 10 days ago. The division has been able to contact only 17 of the 19 owners of registered aircraft at risk, and is concerned that there may also be several unregistered machines. In the Tauranga crash, one of the bracing wires on the hang glider failed, causing the wing to collapse. The pilot was not seriously hurt, as he used an amergency parachute attached to the aircraft. The accident could have been fatal, had it not been for the parachute, the division’s assistant director of airworthiness, Mr W. R. Heald, said. The aircraft at risk, com-

monly known as Trikes, are supplied by several manufacturers under various names. It consists of a landing gear-pilot-seat engine unit intended for suspension from a hang glider. A hang glider can be converted into a powered microlight aircraft by suspending the trike unit from the glider’s centre of gravity. “The indications are that these cables and their fittings, though possibly adequate for the hang glider, cannot cope with the extra loads of the powered microlight configuration,” Mr Heald said. Investigations are continuing with the help of the Microlight Aircraft Association. “In the meantime we recommend that any user of one of the suspect machines does not fly it,” he said. It is the first grounding of microlight aircraft in New Zealand.