Originally Posted by
Arnold E
Any talk or rumours on the RV7 crash, I am interested because I have recently finished an RV7.
Too early for any certainty but going by other RV7 inflight breakup reports on the USA NTSB website the wreckage distribution would suggest that the tailplane, rudder or elevators, is first to fail. Wing overload would be likely as a result.
I'd suggest if you did not balance your elevators AFTER painting as Van's suggest that a good time to balance them would be today.
As for "Stickwiththe truths" wishing to know were they doing aero's, I find it hard to believe any pilot with the experience of this one would pull 6 or 7g (4.5 X 1.5 ultimate) and break a wing off. They could however exceed VNE and get flutter and destroy the tailplane.
If as has been suggested, this plane was covered after test flying, in vinyl cladding instead of paint, loose vinyl on or near a control surface could conceivably lead to flutter.
I have known of planes that were painted after test flying not to have had the elevators separated and balanced after painting. Paint on the elevators leads to considerable out of balance.