I recently had a redrive belt failure in-flight in my 601HD. It is powered by a Subaru EA-81 with a Stratus redrive turning a Warp Drive 3-bladed prop. All the teeth sheared off the belt instantaneously, but luckily I had enough altitude to make an emergency landing in a frozen, snow covered corn field without any damage to myself or my airplane. I do believe that the Stratus redrive is a good, safe, solid design.

I was wondering if anyone else has had a belt failure similar to what I have experienced. In my particular case, the belt had 152 hours of service on it before failure. They should perform safely for about 300 hours. I believe that the root cause of my belt failure is the age of the belt. We bought the redrive back around 2003-2004 and this belt came with the redrive. Yes, it was a long build time, 13 years from plans. That means that the belt was at least 7 years old. In hindsight, I should have replaced it during our annual inspection, but it was not showing any sign of deterioration. Admittedly, I had not even thought about the belt having that many years on it at the time.

I believe that this engine/redrive combo has been used on more than just 601's. I would just like to know if this is an isolated occurrence, or something that has happened with some regularity.

Thanks for your input.