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Thread: Pre-Inspection ??

  1. #11
    Senior Member cap01's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pre-Inspection ??

    the inspection hole is a good idea at the pitot tube . my wings were covered in 1992 and they were installed for good on the plane in 2008 . after the instruments were installed , i did a pitot check and the system would not hold any pressure . came to find out that the surgical tube that connected the metal pitot tube to the poly pitot hose had rotted over the years . luck for me they had installed a inspection ring in the area of the pitot tube .
    chuck
    kitfox IV 1050
    912ul warpdrive
    flying B , yelm, wa

  2. #12
    Senior Member Dave S's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pre-Inspection ??

    Chuck & All,

    On the inspection covers - a person can always glue in rings, finish the airplane, and not cut the hole until or if it becomes apparent you actually need it - little effort and little cost at that point. The deal is if you do not put in a ring when you can - can't be done later - kinda the got it but don't need it is better than need it and don't have it. I glued in rings on all rib bays except for the bays occupied by the fuel tanks - both wings have wires inside. There is a tendency among some repairmen who do a lot of covering to become more generous with installing rings with new covering and not cutting the hole - experience will do that to a person.

    Just an FYI on the surgical tubing - traditional surgical tubing is made of latex (and is normally the same color as the yellow/tan surgical gloves made of the same stuff although some latex laboratory tubing is black in color) Latex tubing has a short life because it is very succeptible to oxidation and UV radiation - it will deteriorate in a relatively short time. Tygon tubing does not have this problem (but there are a lot of different formulations for tygon depending on its uses). I have seen latex surgical tubing used in certified aircraft pitot systems which also deteriorated and I am not certain if that was original equipment or not - I suspect it was not and may have been put in the pitot connection when the old "razorback" fiberglass covering (which is also garbage) was applied.

    Sincerely,

    Dave S
    KF 7 Trigear
    912ULS Warp

  3. #13
    Senior Member
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    Default Re: Pre-Inspection ??

    Howdy all;

    Well my old Model 2 had no wing inspecton plates, but it did have the drip ports on the back of the wing to drain water out (it was setup to accept floats, be never flown off water). Wasp used the drain holes to fly inside the wing and make nest, lots of them. Without inspection plates I could not clean out the wasp nest, so I wish I had one between every rib.

    Also, if a wing gets stuck or somethign drops on it, I would think having inspection holes might make it possible to verify or even fix the damage without removing the fabric.

    hope this helps
    Roger

  4. #14
    Senior Member cap01's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pre-Inspection ??

    dave , i replaced the surgical tubing with a piece of fuel hose . dont think ill have to worry about that rotting in my lifetime . thats what they had done on mine , installed the rings but didnt cut them out . another good place for a ring is in the area of the tail wheel spring attach bolt . ive cut that one open also .
    chuck
    kitfox IV 1050
    912ul warpdrive
    flying B , yelm, wa

  5. #15
    Senior Member Dave S's Avatar
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    Default Re: Pre-Inspection ??

    Chuck,

    The fuel hose is a perfect solution for this connection also - got some of that connecting my static line - it'll last a long, long time.

    Dave S

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
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    Default Re: Pre-Inspection ??

    Ordered a few more rings yesterday and may add some more. Wing tips are permanent. (BUMMER). I wont be looking at any pretty rib stitching because I elected to go against good advice and use Martin clips. But, don't try this at home yet. It actually came out very nice and 3 hrs. per wing but does leave a small ridge from leading to trailing. Might look cool after painted or not. Not sure what the DAR will think. Probably the same thing most of you guys think.Holds the fabric very well. If it works out well I'll post some pics, if not I'll just hide in shame. AGAIN!

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