Интересна статистика по данному типу.
Колб испытывал этот самолетик на реальное разрушение в воздухе. Смогли сломать только на перегрузке в 9 G да и то весь аппрат остался целым, только левое крыло сложилось вдоль фюзеляжа. Сели на парашюте. Вот кусочек из той статьи об испытаниях:
ULTRASTAR FLIGHT-TESTED TO DESTRUCTION
by Dennis Souder (EAA 158784, UL 23) Kolb Company, Inc.
R.D. 3, Box 38 Phoenixville, PA 19460
...At this point, we felt that the UltraStar had been proven to be as strong as anything in its class would ever be required to be. However, I (I'll take the blame for this one) still felt that there remained more unproven strength. One more full power dive to 95 mph and an abrupt and sustained pull-out resulted in structural failure of the left wing; the drag strut failed and the wing folded back alongside the fuselage -the airplane had finally been pushed too far.
The parachute was deployed and plane and pilot were brought down safely. A very gentle landing in a tree resulted in minimal additional damage to the airplane. The only in-flight damage to the UltraStar was the left wing which had remained neatly in its folded position during the descent into the tree. The G-meters registered 9% G's during the chute deployment. (The actual G-load was probably 13 to 14 because the airplane was pitched nose down at about a 45 degree angle during the opening of the chute, and the G-meter would measure only that component of the force perpendicular to the longitudinallateral
plane of the airplane.) This additional load provided
additional confirmation of the strength of the various
components in the airplane such as the motor and seat mounts, etc.
The failure showed the weakest link in the chain (and there is always a weakest link) to be the drag strut. In the last extreme high G maneuver it appears that the wing rib in the area of the center of the drag strut deformed slightly, enough to push the drag strut out of column, which resulted in a buckling of the drag strut. This member can be reinforced to help keep the strut in column and make the wing even stronger. The main spars should easily be good for 7 G's. But the UltraStar is already much stronger than it needs to be. ...
