Inspection Requirements when "Out of Annual"

[rwanttaja]

Since the original question seems to have been answered, let's get back to drifting!

Ron, I won't be putting in an ELT on the Nieuport Bebe for a host of reasons, but I'm planning on putting in a PLB. I'm thinking about maybe in a pouch low on one of the shoulder straps.

Your thoughts on placement?

Hmmmm....not my area of expertise, but the front of the pilot does not seem to be the optimal location. Seems more likely that something could bang into it in a smash. Ideally, you'd get as far away from the engine, fuel tank, etc. as possible, so in the utter worst case, the wisk-broom and garden hose detail knows where to show up.

Yet you've got a portable device....not a permanent install like an ELT.

What seems to see the least damage in accidents? The tail and the wingtips. Perhaps a recessed pouch forward of the horizontal stab or on a lower wingtip. Use velcro inside the recess to hold the PLB, and put a fiberglass cover over it (hinge the front edge, use Velcro to keep it shut). Pop it in when you get to the airport, pull it out when you go home.

A less complex location, probably 95% as safe, would be on the BACK of the pilot's seat. That way any crash forces, etc. would need to get through YOU before the broom and hose folks show up, and you're not likely to care. A lot of the Nieuport seats I've seen don't go the whole width of the fuselage, you could slip the unit around to a carrier on the back of the seat.

Then again, if you've got it in the mode where it's dropping breadcrumbs, it might not make a whole lot of difference. A Nieuport isn't going to get that far in five minutes. The way I fly, the DEBRIS field would probably still overlap the breadcrumb location. :-)

Edit: My inexperience with PLBs is showing...I forgot they typically include a "Mayday" button, and thus should be close enough so that a damaged pilot can activate it. Not only should it be protected as well as possible, it should be positioned so that the pilot can activate it with either hand. Shoulder harness wouldn't be bad...but depending how big it is, you might consider hanging it around your neck on a badge lanyard, tucking the unit into a shirt pocket. The lanyard would make it easier to find if you're damaged or in shock.

Ron Wanttaja

[FlyingRon]

Yeah, that's one of the sillyness in the regs. ATC can authorize it in less than an hour and they can refuse it if you give them an hour, so I have never understood why it is there.

It's like the use of the terms "intended departure" in the reg on VOR ground tests. Are we to presume this is to forestall VOR checks prior to unintentional departures? Or is it to keep you from doing VOR tests at airports you never intend to depart from?

[Frank Giger]

The PLB's I've seen and are considering are a little smaller (or about the same size) than either a cell phone or a handheld aviation radio - I'm not flying in the wilds of Alaska or the remote areas of the Mojave desert, so I don't need super long range.

The most often way Nieuports end up with the pilot in distress is on their backs, usually with a long ooohhhh nooooo being herd by the pilot as they turn turtle (but in the case of soybeans and peanuts it can come quick). My fear is ending up trapped in the seat inverted, uninjured for the most part but unable to get out from under it.

The tube-and-gusset Nieuports are extremely pilot friendly in a wreck, collapsing nicely around the pilot, but not through him. Looking at the NTSB database I found just one fatality, a nose in from 400' at takeoff during flight #1....and I've always wondered if he had shoulder restraints.

In the extreme, there's this, which happened at an airshow in Czechloslovakia:







The pilot was assisted from the aircraft and suffered a broken leg and big restraint bruises.

The DR1 landed without incident.

[Bill Berson]

That Nieuport might still be " in annual"..... But probably wont pass a good preflight inspection

I would keep the PLB in my pocket.