To: FlyAny
There are two separate issues. Reliability and safety. The report reflected safety and my comment about the failed control elements reflected reliability.
The rules of reliability require you to make a prediction, based on past failure histories ,to indicate just how reliable a system is predicted to be.
Thats all it is, a prediction. The ultimate reliability that has been predicted is a performance number and not a guarantee. However, many manufacturers use the reliability to predict MTBF for a component.
The rule state that if a part fails and impacts the predicted reliability then the manufacturer can correct his error and it doesn't count against him. This is for military systems. In civil applications if a part fails it is repaired by the manufacturer if it is still on warrantee.
Once the warrantee expires the operator fixes it. If the part fails repeatedly then the FAA gets into it with the manufacturer and tells him to fix the problem. With the fix or mod the warrantee statrts all over again but only for the repairs.
Relative to safety, if what is in my report is proved correct then the FAA will step in and require a modification to the parts or the procedures.
In the case of the control element failure(s) Robinson corrected the design.
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The Cat
[This message has been edited by Lu Zuckerman (edited 30 November 2000).]