Return to the incident list: Incident List Exhaust silencer melts hole in gas tank in-flight PPG Type: Type of Injury:

Pilot Details

Age: 53 Weight: 220 Gender: Highest rating held at the time of the incident: Pilot experience level:

Gear Details

Wing Brand: Model: MacPara Colorado 27 Size: Paramotor Frame: Moster 185 plus on Miniplane frame with

Incident Details

May 25, 2019 Location of the incident: , Type of Incident:

The silencer on the exhaust of my Vittorazi Moster 185 plus came loose and slide down. This caused the exhaust outlet to come into contact with the 18L gas tank I had installed on the frame/motor and it melted a hole in the gas tank in-flight. Other than equipment damage there were thankfully no serious consequences to this situation. Root cause of the issue seems to have been that the brass wear bushing had worn out, thus allowing much more significant vibration than normal to be transmitted through the exhaust pipe and into the silencer. The wear bushing had been on the motor for ~42 hours and pilot had assumed it should be replaced at 50 hours. Contributing factor/cause was also due to failure to inspect this wear bushing periodically, instead relying on the 50 hour schedule for replacement. Here is a short (very amatuerishly produced) video of me showing what I found post flight and my attempt at figuring out the likely cause… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1WHA1VvTvQ Video from the day of the flight/incident is also available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZAqrt3bfmI

Flight Window: Wind Speed: Type: Phase of Flight: Type of Injury: Collateral Damage: Analysis of the incident (additional input by the incident investigation team): Photos (if available):

Video (if available):
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