Recommendation Date
Recipient Name
ATD MoT
Text
Review the requirements for positioning of "crash" axes in light aircraft to improve the likelihood of them being accessible tot he pilot in the event of the cockpit area being distorted in a survivable accident.
Reply Text
I consider that the situation is already adequately covered by New Zealand Civil Airworthiness Requirement C4, paragraph 3.2.3, which requires that "The axe shall be installed in a readily accessible position and shall be easy to release." To extend the NZCAR to cover structural distortion situations would be inappropriate as, in typical light aircraft cockpits, there is generally insufficient space which would be structurally suitable to take account of the variety of distortion patterns.
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Related Investigation(s)