[Peetwo]

Aviation safety issue: AR-2013-107-SI-01

ATSB safety recommendation: AR-2013-107-SR-055

ATSB safety recommendation: AR-2013-107-SR-056
 

"...the ATSB prefers to encourage relevant organisation(s) to proactively initiate safety action, rather than to issue formal safety recommendations or safety advisory notices..."

Hmm...guess the bureau has a sense of mistrust when it comes to Jabiru aircraft- why??

The Jabiru J230.


ATSB Engine Report zeroes in on Jabiru Failures
09 Mar 2016

  

Update - The other side of the story

Queensland firm Jabiru defends record following Australian Transport Safety Bureau report

March 10, 2016 1:00am
DARYL PASSMORE The Courier-Mail


Two young pilots at the controls of a Jabiru J-170 aircraft are forced to put emergency landing procedures into play. Courtesy: ABC

A Jabiru 2200 engine. (Jabiru)


Jabiru slams ATSB over Engine Failure Report
10 Mar 2016

CASA embuggerances continue under Skidmore.

With the exception of the AOPA Project Eureka at Appendix 4 (pg 71-86), the sorry tale of CASA prejudice and embuggerance of Jabiru Aircraft, much like most aviation industry issues,  seems to have been bureaucratically obfuscated into a distant memory with the convenient smokescreen of a seemingly never-ending, bollocks, election campaign.

However with only 2 weeks to go to poll day now might be a good time to start reminding the pollies that (despite the Skidmore protestations that he is changing the duplicitous culture of CASA) the trail of biased, non-evidence based embuggerances of certain selected industry stakeholders continues unabated -  

So on the Jabiru front I noticed a short accident summation where RA-Aus asked for ATSB assistance with a fatal Jabiru accident :

Aviation safety investigations & reports

Investigation title

Technical assistance to Recreational Aviation Australia in the examination of the engine and damaged GPS from the collision with terrain involving a Jabiru aircraft, 55-3692, at Medlow Bath, NSW on 27 Feb 2016
 
Investigation number: AE-2016-018

Due to this being an RA-Aus registered aircraft this accident is being investigated by the NSW police. IMO this is fortuitous as we will actually get an objective, totally independent investigative report that is being prepared for the Coroner. 

However from the summary this did not stop every man and his dog being present at the breakdown of the engine:

The Jabiru 2200J engine was disassembled and examined at a facility at Bankstown Airport on 8 April 2016 in the presence of a number of interested parties, including the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, NSW Police, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, and the manufacturer.

 
Fortunately this time CASA and the ATSB apparently could not add to their Jabiru dirt file :

The examination did not identify any anomalies that may have contributed to the development of the accident. No further assistance was provided to RA-Aus, and further enquiries should be directed to the NSW police as the investigating agency.

In the course of doing some further reading on the plight of Jabiru I came across a recent comment off the last Oz Flying Jabiru article:

Shane Wiley • 13 days ago

Yes, ATSB misunderstood some data and CASA got carried along with that. Good engineering talent is lacking at decision level in CASA. Good articles in May 2016 Sport aviation ( on RAA-AUS website ).

Here..here to that short OBS from Shane...   I then went to the reference provided by Shane (from page 42 here: https://www.raa.asn.au/storage/57-may-2016-w.pdf ). 
This article gives an excellent insight (from a tertiary qualified engineer and Jabiru owner with over 1300 hours in Jabiru aircraft) into the due diligence and risk mitigation JA have deployed to address the identified problem causing catastrophic engine failures:

This saga involves failure of the bolts which hold the cylinders to the engine block and has led to in-flight engine shutdowns, hysterical internet forums and crippling operational restrictions imposed by CASA. Due to my technical interest, and possibly due to my engineering qualifications, Rod Stiff and Sue Woods were generous enough to show me the technical reports on research work which Jabiru has done over many years to solve the problem. In my experience, it is a classic example of engineering detective work.

 
The full article is well worth the time to read and even I can follow the gist of the technical detail. Here is the closing last paragraphs:

The root cause has been addressed in the latest crankcase design. It is still present in the earlier hydraulic lifter crankcases, such as mine, but operating experience and theoretical calculations indicate the 7/16” and the more elastic 3/8” through-bolts are effective in solving the problem. There have been no through-bolt failures in any aircraft with these modifications (including flying schools) since they were introduced. The latest style, dampened 3/8” bolts, once fully deployed in the field, are expected to totally eliminate any resonance effects in those crankcases.

This is the good news for both existing and prospective Jabiru owners. More disturbing, however, was to learn that of the more than 50 engines returned to Jabiru for overhaul each year, about half have not had all the service bulletins or service letters applied. No matter how thorough the engineering or how comprehensive the solution, it is useless if not applied in the field. As a professional engineer with almost 40 years’ experience, I find it staggering any owner, or maintainer, could ignore a directive from a manufacturer. The legal liability alone should be enough to discourage the practice.

  
Read that then refer to the Project Eureka Appendix 4 reference (above) and make your own assumptions on whether CASA, under Skidmore, has turned the corner to being trusted by the industry to which it oversees...
 
MTF...P2