I had intended to provide some general, informal research data on 'in flight break ups', but the demon clock has won the race, no matter; it will keep for another lazy day. I did however find this offering from Bruce Landsberg – Safety Pilot - AOPA (USA). What the article shows me is that where there is a defined, or even a suspected problem with an aircraft type, serious people are all over it. My point is, had the venerable Tiger ever, in it's long career exhibited any serious structural or design flaws, these flaws would, many decades ago been discovered, eradicated or rectified.
FTIW, the 2010 article from AOPA is worth a read, even if just for a sane, balanced, reasoned approach to an identified problem.
Feb1, 2010 – by Bruce Landsberg.
In-flight breakups are extremely rare in all models of aircraft when they are operated inside the approved flight envelope. Outside the design limits anything can be broken and no one is surprised. When an airframe breaks unexpectedly, that’s a nasty situation for all concerned. Obviously, the aircraft occupants get the worst outcome, as do their families. The manufacturer, the FAA, and the NTSB have to analyze what happened and determine how to fix it, quickly. Finally, general aviation gets a black eye from negative publicity that portrays our aircraft as flimsy deathtraps, which we know is not the case.
An unusual situation has developed involving a light sport aircraft, the Zenith Aircraft Company Zodiac CH 601 XL. LSAs are lighter and less expensive than most FAA-certificated aircraft, and kitbuilt LSAs may be registered as Experimental (E-LSA) like any other homebuilt or kit aircraft. Under Experimental rules the builder is free to construct anything he’s brave enough to fly in, although the FAA does issue an Experimental airworthiness certificate. Factory-produced versions (S-LSA) must conform to ASTM international standards. Manufacturer compliance is based on the honor system and the aircraft are not FAA certificated or inspected.
The CH 601 XL has been under scrutiny by foreign authorities, the NTSB, and the FAA since it began to experience in-flight breakups in the winter of 2006; there have been nine fatal accidents to date. Four accidents occurred outside the United States, and only limited information about them is currently available. Two of the aircraft were S-LSAs, and the others were kitbuilt E-LSAs. The FAA issued a special airworthiness information bulletin (SAIB CE10-08) for the S-LSAs in November 2009; at the same time, the manufacturer issued a grounding safety alert pending modifications. The FAA also stopped issuing new airworthiness certificates for experimental CH 601 XLs.
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation has been watching LSA safety carefully. The overall record of S-LSA aircraft appears similar to that of FAA-certificated aircraft used in local flight operations: the usual takeoff and landing accidents, a few maneuvering mishaps, very few weather entanglements, and not many mechanical or structural problems. So when this Zodiac began to experience repetitive airframe problems, we were surprised. At press time there had been only one other S-LSA in-flight breakup that did not result from spatial disorientation or apparent overstressing of the airframe. There are no systemic break-up problems within the LSA category as a group.