| PE Boyer, pebo(@)boyaire.us, 24.09.2009 BEWARE: The Yak-52 is a bird with a dangerous FOD problem. Anything the size of penny can jam the elevator bellcrank, making recovery impossible from the backside of a loop, Cuban-8, split S, and other such maneuvers. There is a history of this type of very similar fatal accidents in both Europe and the US with the aircraft impacting in a near verticle dive. I wouldn't fly a Y-52 again without first ensuring I have nothing in my pockets and nothing on my person that could come loose, as well as pulling both seats and ALL tail panels before EACH flight to ensure there is no FOD of any kind anywhere in the cockpit or tail. Behind the rear seat, the cockpit is wide open to the empennage allowing anything that is dropped or inadvertantly comes out of a pocket to naturally flow towards the tail and eventually to the empennage and the elevator bellcrank. |
