John,
I'm going to stick my neck out and use your rudder horn failure to
express my "opinion" on control surface stops that I came to believe
when building my KR. I'm going to guess you have a rudder stop or
limit at the tail and your system allows rudder input beyond the stop
range. It appears that certified aircraft, Piper, Cessna, etc., use
control surface stops / limits at the control surface. If the input
side is capable of more travel than the control surface, you can stress
the entire system, possibly to failure. How many pounds of pressure can
you exert with your foot beyond the rudder stop? I reach that
conclusion as I think it is impossible for air loads alone on the
rudder surface to cause such a failure as you had. Using the correct
material is certainly important but limiting the loads / stress on the
system, any system, is equally important.
All my control surface limits are established at the input end, not at
the control surface. The only loads my control systems feels are air
loads on the control surface, none from the input end. I used a double
horn on the elevator after a KR2 in Indiana (I think) had an elevator
horn failure and crashed, killing the pilot.
Anyway, I think your failure goes beyond the type of material used and
the possibility of similar failure exist in many aircraft on the ramp.
Going back under cover, actually, going to the airport.........
Larry Flesner
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