Cavalon issue?

Rick E

Active Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
321
Location
Sydney, Australia
Aircraft
Cavalon and an MTO Sport
Total Flight Time
2500
A fellow cavalon pilot had an incident a couple of days ago and are looking at possible causes and solutions to the problem.
On a fairly normal day with a light breeze the pilot prerotated normally but on takeoff experienced great difficulty in getting airborne, engine revs were normal for takeoff but lacked the ability to climb normally. At around 1000 feet AGL the machine suffered a severe vibration and not long after everything returned to normal. Onlookers on the ground noted that the gyro didn't sound normal with a distinctly different rotor sound.
We are trying to understand what may have caused this problem and was wondering if the bendix gets stuck up in the ring gear what the result would be and if this may have caused this problem, or would the bendix spin freely.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I had the bendix stay engauged once, for maybe 10/15 mins, and cept for floggn out the upper support bearing, no damage.

Sounds like maybe the slipper clutch in the redrive let go for abit, but its only a gess, iv never had it happen.
Unless the bendix ceased, it wouldnt bother rrpm.
 
I know of a Cavilon in the states that the pneumatic system kept the pre rotator engaged and got so hot the shaft turned blue. The whole system had to be replaced.
 
I know of a Cavilon in the states that the pneumatic system kept the pre rotator engaged and got so hot the shaft turned blue. The whole system had to be replaced.

Be interested to know what the inflight symptoms were as this happened???
 
Be interested to know what the inflight symptoms were as this happened???

This gyro is one that was built with issues. When I was asked to look at it the pre-rotator would engage at random times while on taxi. I told the owner not to fly it until it was fixed. It however had been flow that way by the building organization and dealer then delivered that way to him. They had the flights like that . So I cannot tell you what it was like to fly that way .
 
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