REFLECTOR: anyone know the story behind this- must have missedit.....

[Scott Baker]

Yes, I know all about it.
The aircraft pictured belonged to Bob Wood.  It is a fixed gear Velocity XL and it featured the first "Brazil" wing.  Brendan O'Riordan was the pilot.  The aircraft developed a flutter in the right vertical stabilizer immediately after the aircraft was leveled off following the first take off; estimated speed 110 knots.  Brendan attempted to slow the aircraft by reducing power - and at the same time deployed both rudders.  Deploying the rudder "loads" the winglet to help reduce the possibility of flutter.  The flutter action was so violent that it broke the rudder cables and the right rudder was torn from its hinges.  The aircraft became almost uncontrollable at that point.  Brendan added air speed by lowering the pitch attitude and headed to a sparsely populated area West of Sebastian Airport.  The aircraft struck the ground at approximately 90 knots, hitting Palmetto trees and ultimately flipping the aircraft inverted before it came to a stop.  Brendan, thank God, was okay.  He was released from the local hospital emergency room after a quick examination - but as you can see in the photo, Bob's aircraft was a total loss.
The designer of the wings, Dan Maher, and other aeronautical engineers were consulted.  The winglet and rudder design were found to be too streamline that it invited flutter.  The winglets and rudders were redesigned and flight tested on the factory's XL training aircraft.  Important: Everyone who has a "Brazil" wing has the new wing design, which was thoroughly and professionally flight tested to 210 knots without any hint of flutter.
Velocity built Bob Wood a second aircraft, aka "Bob-II".
The bottom line is that the first "Brazil" wing had a design problem, it resulted in a forced (crash) landing, Brendan escaped injury, all of the old winglets and rudders were destroyed, new winglets and rudders were designed and professionally flight tested in excess of normal flight limits, Bob Wood was satisfied with a replacement aircraft , new "Brazil" wings are performing great... and life goes on!
Reports of this were published on the Reflector years ago when the accident occurred.  Many "Reflectorites" were at the Velocity Open House when the accident occurred.
Hope this helps.
Best regards,
Scott B.



  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alex Balic 
  To: reflector at awpi.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 5:36 PM
  Subject: REFLECTOR: anyone know the story behind this- must have missedit.....


  Saw this in the builder site, don't remember about it other than the one time that there was a flutter problem with the original Brazilian wings- is this the aftermath?       http://www.tvbf.org/gallery/?display=.%2Fincidents%2FBrazilian%20wing%2Fbob_1_1.jpg

   



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