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Aircraft: All light aircraft using the Warp Drive
Propeller
Incident Report:
A pilot is flying along at 1500 feet when a severe vibration
develops in his aircraft. Within seconds the vibration stops and
the pilot is required to apply full forward stick just to maintain
a level flight attitude. He is however able to get the craft down
safely. Upon landing he finds that the complete engine assembly is
missing from the rear of his craft. The engine is found some hours
later, one blade is completely missing.
A pilot is flying along at 800 feet, a severe vibration is
felt, immediately followed by a sudden shudder, then something
strikes the main boom of his aircraft. Within seconds the pilot
shuts his engine off and glides to a safe landing. Upon landing he
discovers that one blade of his propeller is missing, an elevator
control cable is partially severed., and the main boom of his
craft has been sliced nearly in half.
A pilot is flying along when he notices a slight vibration. He
lands and asks his local dealer to locate the source of the
vibration. After a thorough preflight the dealer, does a circuit,
lands and indicates that he believes the source of the vibration
is the prop. Once the prop is removed from the craft it is
discovered that several of the blades have started to separate
inside the hub.
A pilot takes off, and is flying at about 500 feet when he
feels a sudden severe vibration, a loud bang, followed by and then
his engine quits. Looking to the rear of his aircraft he sees his
engine hanging by the rad hoses, wiring harness and throttle
cables. The pilot is able to land his aircraft safely.
A pilot is test running his aircraft on the ground when a blade
from his prop separates from the hub and flies through the side of
his hangar. Before he can turn his engine off the engine and
reduction drive separate from the airframe and damage his wing.
A pilot is test running his aircraft, he has broken the engine
in, and now has about 3 hours of static testing on the it. During
one of the run ups the prop and reduction drive shaft, exit the
back of the drive.
To date I have over 30 reports of failure on this prop. The
reports are on props of over 64 inches in length, generally using
the 503/532/582 Rotax engine. The area of concern is both in the
separation of the blades, the separation at the base of the blades
as well as the cracking of the hub.
In a recent issue of Sport Flyer - an EAA publication it was
noted that failures of the Warp Drive propeller had occurred when
used with Volkswagen engines. Transport Canada is also
investigating an incident where a prop hub failed -the hub in
question was using Warp Drive blades. Several owners of Kitfox
aircraft have also reported failures of the prop .
Suggestions
Sources indicate that the factory has updated this prop several
times to try to eliminate these problems. If you must fly on this
prop check is before each flight. If it shows any signs of
cracking or separation replace it immediately. Contact the factory
for update information:
Also see Warp Drive Prop
failure.
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