On 30 December 2007, MCR-01 G-BZXG crashed on Burgham Park Golf Course, Felton, Northumberland, United Kingdom following the detachment of the empennage in flight. The pilot and his passenger were both seriously injured. An investigation by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch revealed that some designs of attachment lugs for the all-flying tailplane had a design fault. As a result of the accident, on 6 February 2008 all MCR-01 aircraft registered in the United Kingdom were grounded by the Civil Aviation Authority until they had been inspected and new attachment lugs of stainless steel had been fitted if necessary. On 13 February 2009, Dyn'Aéro issued a Service Bulletin requiring inspection of all MCR-01 aircraft, and the replacement of attachment lugs where necessary.[5] On 22 February 2009, the French Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile issued an Airworthiness Directive, mandating the Service Bulletin issued by Dyn'Aéro.[6]
I had a lot of involvement with one of several investigations into that one. The design of that lug was poor, but substantially compounded by a build manual that did not require it to be properly surface treated, and a maintenance manual that never required it to be inspected once in service. A very sloppy bit of aeronautical design. The court case by the two pilots who survived the accident, and lack of any liability insurance at Dyn Aero had a lot, I suspect, to do with the company's demise.
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