Thanks Sid,
Yes, it is a bulletin published in September 2004 and, yes, Barry did leave in April 2004. The crash that the bulletin refers to, however, was in June 2003. At that time, Barry and the team were taking delivery of the aircraft sponsored to them by the manufacturers, Magni. The VPM M16-2000 was the first of it’s type in the UK and, as such, required a section T approval before it could be granted a permit to fly with a UK Reg.
As a result of the subject crash and previous incidents, section T of BCAR’s was re-issued in August 2003. This required much more stringent testing of all new designs, particularly with regards to the tail planes. Despite the fact that the tail plane of the M16-2000 is exactly the same as that fitted to the original M16 design, by February 2004 approval had still not been granted.
The team were now in a situation where they had to either call off the trip or get an original M16 type which, just 3 weeks before Barry departed, is what they did.
As far as I know, section T approval for the M16-2000 has still not been granted.
Last edited by Fortyodd; 11th Sep 2004 at 10:30.