[KNT754G]

Dave, yes I did, deliberately, knowing that a) the aircraft was, by then, flying OK and b) I had another very good option five minutes along the road.

[Dave Phillips]

I think my point was you didn't take a number of very sensible options.

[Timothy]

KNT,

There seems to be quite an unusual level of unanimity here (including the discussion we had by eMail before you posted) that you would have been better advised to have got on the ground sooner rather than later. (If you remember, I came up with pretty much the same list of runways as Dave, eliminating Warton as I do not see the advantage over Blackpool.)

It is a little disturbing that you still seem to think that getting back to Blackpool was the best decision.

There are faults that can be carried for a while (mostly duplicated or redundant systems) but flying controls are not amongst them.

My own view is that you are lucky to be alive, and that under only slightly different circumstances the Forum would be mourning your loss.

[KNT754G]

I take your point(s), my last post was merely stating my thought process at the time.

Should anything of that nature happen again my thought process may well be different in the light of everybody's opinions and the outcome of that flight.

[G-BLEW]

I have moved three posts into admin while we look into a few things. Monty, pls check your PMs

Thanks

Ian

[Timothy]

I posted something which I (hope I) started "If this is true..."

It now seems quite likely it was not true, so therefore happy to have the rest of the post deleted.

[Monty]

Timothy
The mods have moved it to admin, all true, hope the mods put it back soon

[G-BLEW]

Timothy, your post was between some others, so got caught up. We are just trying to verify some facts.

Ian

[Rob L]

KNT, was there any further light thrown upon the rod failure?

Rob

[Colonel Panic]

Swithced everything off, said hello to the nice firemen and went straight to the rudder where I quickly spotted that the rudder trim control rod was broken completely.

I would be very interested to know precisely where the rod broke. It was always stressed to me that on my Aztec I should ALWAYS check the vetical pin where the horizontal rod joins the rudder; if it has no movement / has got stuck, then it can cause the mechanism to fail in a very bad way ...

[KNT754G]

The rod had failed with significant corosion (the aircraft generally sits outside half a mile from the sea) in the vidinity of the rudder hinge line.

That is the impression I gained from the engineer, please don't quote me when the report finally appears in an occurence digest (which it will eventually).

From various responses here it appears some folk think I would do exactly the same again - NO WAY!
I have tried to explain my thought processes as I flew along and the decisions I made - NO MATTER HOW FLAWED THOSE DECISIONS WERE.

If anything of that nature happens again the aircraft will be landing on the nearest runway which I think is suitable for the job - no matter the inconvenience to me or the aircraft owner/operator.

[Timothy]

My main interest is to keep Aztec insurance costs down, but it would be a happy incidental benefit if you were to stay alive as well.

[G-BLEW]

My main interest is to keep Aztec insurance costs down

I think the lack of any great hull value will help there

Ian

[Timothy]

At least I don't have to worry about depreciation.

[G-BLEW]

For clarity, I was talking about the fleet, not your aeroplane specifically

Ian