When the nico press fail

[hihosland]

Barry a power parachute flying friend from the States had a nico press cable end fail on his machine with disastrous results for the aircraft.

 

A situation that in the hands of a lesser pilot could have cost lives.

 

He and his passenger survived without injury after losing almost half of their wing

 

Pictures - http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h201/barryfoer/ChuteFailure/

 

Video - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3594925962897630451

 

Barry's Paraski was a factory built by a Canadian company with a very high reputation for quality of their design and quality control in manufacture.

 

It will be interesting to discover the experts conclusion as to why this item failed. Many of us who fly put a tremendous amount of faith in the nico press system.

 

There must be at least 20 of them in my Skyranger.

 

Davidh

 

 

[hihosland]

Some pics of Barry and his flying machine on happier occasions

 

http://bfoer.homestead.com/gallery.html

 

Davidh

 

 

[dlps73]

Hi David,

 

As my (Sky Ranger) kit is still on its way from France I would appreciate any further information you receive regarding these cable ends.

 

Cheers.......Doug

 

 

[hihosland]

Doug,

 

With a quick mental re count I'd say there are over 30 such fittings in the Skyranger and hundreds of thousands of them providing safe reliable service in aircraft of many designs all over the world.

 

I am no engineer but I have complete faith that when properly selected for the task and properly installed nico press cable fittings are as safe as anything man can make and still be light enough to fly.

 

Best of wishes with your Skyranger

 

I am sure that you will absolutely love it

 

and extra bonus

 

with a Skyranger kit you will be flying sooner than virtually all others.

 

Davidh

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

I find it intensely frustrating that nicopress failures are happening at all.

 

These types of fittings have been used on boats for a long time and are notoriously unreliable. Let's be clear about what I mean by that: they work most of the time but are consistently prone to failure some of the time and visual inspection won't help you determine the difference. They are highly prone to operator variability and also prone to fatigue failure of the wire near the fitting and cracking of the fitting.

 

Whilst control wires may not see the repeated loading that leads to fatigue failures in boats the other issues still remain.

 

Why haven't we learned?...

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

[Guest Fred Bear]

Keep us posted please.

 

 

[dlps73]

Just when I feel re-assured by David's comments they're negated by Mike!

 

However, given the numbers of Skyrangers that are flying in Europe and not recalling one issue regarding cable failures I think the odds are on my side.....;)

 

Thanks guys....

 

 

[Guest Teenie2]

I find it intensely frustrating that nicopress failures are happening at all.These types of fittings have been used on boats for a long time and are notoriously unreliable. Let's be clear about what I mean by that: they work most of the time but are consistently prone to failure some of the time and visual inspection won't help you determine the difference. They are highly prone to operator variability and also prone to fatigue failure of the wire near the fitting and cracking of the fitting.

 

Whilst control wires may not see the repeated loading that leads to fatigue failures in boats the other issues still remain.

 

Why haven't we learned?...

 

Regards

 

Mike

If you look at the quality of marine sleeves and the pliers compared to aviation units you would be shocked ,use aircraft cable and equipment only.

 

 

[Bigglesworth]

I have 4 Nicopress fittings on my Cheetah. I was just going to get the local marine place to crimp them for me. But you say this is not a good idea? I have the aircraft grade fittings, just no pliers.

 

 

[Guest Teenie2]

You can pick up a SWAGE IT tool from Spruce .

 

ECONOMY NICOPRESS SWAGING TOOLS

 

NO. 2 SWAGE-IT - For use with sleeves for

 

1/16", 3/32" and 1/8" cable. Swaging pressure

 

applied by using a wrench to tighten bolts.

 

Size: 1/2" x 1" x 7". Wt. 1 lb. Cadmium plated.

 

P/N 12-12000........................$16.50 NO .

 

OR

 

NO . 3 SWAGE- IT - For use with sleeves for 1/8", 5/32", 3/16" and 1/4" cable

 

. Same design as No. 2 tool but larger. Size:

 

3/4" x 1-1/2" x 14". Wt. 3-1/2 lbs.

 

P/N 12-12100....................$36.50

 

OR

 

You might be able to borrow one from a LAME at your local airport.

 

Once you have pressed the sleeve use a go-nogo gauge to check (you can pick these up at spruce as well).If it was me I would use 2 sleeves at each end,and please use the right size thimble.

 

 

[Yenn]

I had a marine shp fit my aviation grade fittings to aviation grade wire and they failed, luckily before they were put into the air. There must be a compatability problem so I wouldn't advise using marine swaging equipment.

 

 

[Bigglesworth]

You know, that might just save my life one day. I will take it to the nearest LAME and get it done there. Actually they are only for the rudder cables so I doubt if failure would kill me, but still better if it didn't happen.

 

Thanks