@ploucandco : broken nose gear can’t happen to you 
However I’m surprised by the very thin material of the nosegear fork. At my homebase there are two Aquilas with unpainted lower cowlings……
But indeed the damage shouldn’t be too expensive to repair
I know of a C172 that suffered two accidents like that one. The result in both cases was a very damaged firewall and engine mount, more than a month AOG in both cases, and two reaaaaally big bills. Honestly, I’d prefer to have this kind of accident in an Aquila.
Alexis wrote:
That reminds me of a crazy story ….
Epic story, thanks for posting it!
Was looking for the picture for one hour and can’t find it (have to check my archive in the basement later).
I forgot to mention that the two guys ordered a bottle of Champaign later … ;-)
Alexis wrote:
I forgot to mention that the two guys ordered a bottle of Champaign later … ;-)
If I were the pilot, I would first get officially tested for the absence of alcohol in my body, and only then order a drink ;-)
Probably a good idea! It’s a long time ago, but if i remember correctly when the Police arrived nobody was interested in that! It’s known method among car drivers that crash under influence to drink after the crash (to cover up alcohol they had before).
It has been widely reported in the press that doesn’t work in the UK anymore but I have no idea how the police get around the “bottle in the pocket” defence (called “hip flask defence” in the UK).
As always, google is your friend and it turns out this still works but presumably you need to get really p1ssed to make sure the back calculation works out ok…
Alexis wrote:
PS: Yes, I was astonished how cheap the construction of the NLG is … just thin sheet metal …
More than strong enough for the job it’s meant to do. It’s not thin sheet metal, it’s a rectangular tube. Besides, it’s better to break the leg than to wreck the firewall and possibly the whole fuselage.
Yes, I just didn’t know how to say it … a rather thin rectangular tube. I didn’t think about it but it makes sense that the NLG breaks before it puts too much load on the engine mounts etc.
It looks like it goes to the firewall, not to the engine mounts.
Ultimately you don’t achieve an MTOW of ~500kg unless something gives.
