No cracks.
RV8A
Completed: 2009
Hours: 486
Slow build wings

you have to take the ailerons off on the RV-10, which is why it takes longer.

RV-9A.
625 hrs and no issues.
slow built wings

:)


doug knight

SB-16-03-28 Report your findings.
 

RV-9A, 9 years, 1502 hrs TTAF, no problems noted, 30m minutes total including iphone pictures. Dan from Reno

I did the same- Took off the covers and let the iPhone do the looking. All is in order. I'm keeping the picture as a record anyway. Took 45 minutes. Would have been shorter but there was a really good Grateful Dead set playing........

Not sure. If you read my post from earlier in the thread you'll see that my wing kit was delivered in March and was missing some parts in this area. I have reviewed the inventory of my kit and the parts described in the SB are NOT included.

So it appears that at least wing kits that have shipped prior to the SB issuance do not have the appropriate parts nor instructions incorporated yet. Whether Van's will include these parts and instructions with new kits shipped after the SB remains to be seen.

ETA: I checked "The List" on Van's web site and the parts called out in the SB for the RV10/14 don't seem to be included yet.

ETA: I'm speculating here a bit, but if I read the plans and the SB correctly, for the RV-10, the W-1013C-L/R, W-1013A, and W-1013B-L/R combinations get replaced by W-1013D and W-1013E? respectively, so I would expect new kits to have the -D and -E parts instead of the W-1013A, W-1013B-L/R, and include the new D, E, and W-1013F-R/L and W-1013G-R/L parts.

RV-10
 

Paul, the ailerons have to come off, and the flaps have to be disconnected on the the 10. And since they are primary flight controls, they get double-checked when reinstalling. :)

Vic

I'm assuming you wouldn't generally remove these during a condition inspection, so this will add some critical work to every condition inspection. Or do you remove yours normally?

I'm waiting to see how Van's will respond to my question about providing these parts to new wing kits purchasers (I just received mine in March and I don't have the new parts in my inventory). I'm hoping they will issue these parts to be fitted as part of the initial build for post-SB kits.

SB
 

Typically any kit purchàsed after an SB issue date will have all previous SBs incorporated into the parts, plans and manual. If purchased prior, the builder is responsible for procurement of the SB and installing it if required. The HS SB, for example, is part of new kits. I expect it would take some time to revise plans, manual pages and inventory.

You're right....
 

We don't normally remove the flight controls during a normal condition inspection. I think once the cuts are made we might be able to inspect them without removal in the future.

And turning the inboard aileron bolt around looks like it will make it doable without having to disconnect the flap. I can't see any reason to not turn the bolt around.

Vic

No cracks
 

Inspected this morning. Used flashlight and borescope. No cracks. RV-9a 800 hours.

Has anyone done an RV-10 with only a borescope and mirror yet? Just curious if this will be possible. I think it should be doable...but without being in front of my plane, it makes it difficult to guess.

Thanks,
Steve

Everyone take a deep breath.......
 

As airplanes age, issues can crop up that were unforeseen. This is not at all unusual as anyone that has been working on aircraft for a living will tell you.
Boeing has an entire engineering dept. that just works on engineering fixes for problems that show up as aircraft age.

Van's is being proactive in monitoring and reacting as the fleet ages. The issuance of an SB like this may be frustrating, but that is much better than the alternative.


This particular problem was discovered on one of the company demonstrators and was then reported by a couple of customer built airplanes.
At this time, those 3 are the only airplanes with cracks discovered that I know of.

Because of the discovery, a detailed FEA was done on the bracket attach point and a retrofitable reenforcement was developed.

The retrofit was beta installed on two different company demonstrators and by both of the customers that had cracks. The process and install instructions was developed based on that experience.

The bottom line with this SB is that a very small number of cracks have been detected so far. In most instances it likely will take a lot of hrs for cracks to develop (there are airplanes with well over 2000 hrs that have no cracks).
But nothing is for certain.... there can be a lot of different factors that can influence time/cycle based fatigue issues like this (interior hole finish, deburring, how the airplane is flown, etc.)
Because of this, it is possible that many airplanes could go their entire life without ever developing cracks. It is for this reason that it is not recommended this be done on completed/closed up wings. The risk of causing other problems during the install is not worth the risk, if there is not yet a physical reason to install it.

It does make sense to install the mod on wings still under construction.
I believe that kits shipped from this point on will automatically receive the additional parts.

inspection completed
 

RV-8 with 370 hrs. No cracks.

there was an rv7 fatal december 2015 in Hurricane, UT . the report says wing separated
is this the basis for the sb?
alan

Um....No.........Didn't Scott just explain in detail what the basis of the SB was in the post just prior to yours?

Completed the inspection using a borescope yesterday afternoon. It was the only way I could see the rivets. No cracks. Took more time to pull the panels than to inspect the rivets.

Phelps RV-7A

Just a thought - to save this thread ballooning is it worth only reporting cracks found?

Unfortunately, that doesn't help. The RV-7 wing structure is different than the RV-10/14s which is why the SB calls for removing the ailerons for the 10 & 14 in order to conduct the inspection.

I'm sure I'll get a board posting ticket for straying/speculating, but the preliminary report on the Utah event indicates vertical stab likely detached first. Plausible for the wing to overload soon thereafter due to loss of stability. (Point for mentioning - the Utah event is probably not related directly to the aileron attachment cracking issue.)

Can't swear to it, but it seems to me that I have received notification from Van's on past SB's. However, in every case, I found out about it from VAF or Matronics first. The Van's website has all SB's for all models.

Scott,
Are you able to share which models discovered cracks?

What do y'all think of applying this service bulletin to a set of Quickbuild wings? I'm close to the end of the wings and I don't see the referenced parts on the Vans site. Patience is probably the right way to go here. Just wait for the parts, perform the modification while it's easy and build on.

RV9A, 9 1/2 yrs, 1854 hrs, no cracks found.
RV9A, 10 yrs, 540 hrs, no cracks.
RV9A, 3 yrs, 150 hrs, no cracks.

New kits will have new parts. Completed wings get inspected. What about wings under construction?

RV-7A, 5 years flying, 240 hrs, no cracks.

Dan

If the SB is dated 2016-03-28, why are we only hearing about it a month and a half later? Was it just posted to the Van's site, or has it been there for over a month now waiting for someone from here to find it?

Maybe a better question: If it's important enough to put a service bulletin out, wouldn't it be a good idea to make a post here on VAF, where (probably) the vast majority of owners check in from time to time? Certainly more frequently than one goes to the Van's site directly...

I specifically haven't mentioned the models cracks were found because it really isn't relevant.
I don't want that info to bias anyone's thinking regarding any specific model.

I will say that of the three previously noted, they were not all the same model.

This can effect all models equally so all should be inspected.

BTW, this is also why I think a poll of inspection results is of no value other than to erroneously make some people think that one model is more or less likely develop a crack. The only model with a lower likelihood is the RV-6 because of the stub rib that is associated with hinge bracket attachment.

Even though Van's is not a huge company, there is still an extensive process for a SB such as this to grind through the company system (begin producing the new parts, get all of the documentation lined up, everyone educated one what is happening, etc.), so you shouldn't put to much emphasis on the date you see. It is simply the date that was attached to the SB at some point in that process.
It in no way indicates that it was ready to be announced on that date and then someone forgot and went on vacation.......

I would think a Go Pro would be helpful here too.

As I already mentioned, it makes sense to install it in wings currently under construction as long as it doesn't require and disassembly to do so. Kits delivered from this point on will have the new parts.

For airplanes still under construction, but with finished wings, it is just not worth the risk adding a fix for a problem that might or might not ever show it self on that particular airplane.

Aileron bracket inspection complete. (20 minutes)
 

RV-8, 10 years old, 2015 hours. My workhorse: 8 years doing air shows and 6 years of competitive aerobatics. NO CRACKS. (Wish I could say the same for my rudder! :mad:)

Ron, can you send me a PM describing rudder crack issues? Don't want to get the thread off topic.

My -8 is 15 years, 1750 hrs or so, and no cracks evident.

Three rv inspections and no cracks
 

RV-8 1028 hours
RV-8 1211 hours
RV-3 527 hours

No cracks noted.

Just a thought, but here are my concerns with the way this SB was distributed.

And I'm approaching this from a maintenance conscious, liability-aware, non-builder.

The compliance mandate in the SB was "before next flight".

The SB was released on a Friday, on a website that few of us probably check from day to day. I may look at Van's once every couple of weeks? If there hadn't been a post on VAF, I easily could have flown multiple times before being made aware of it. This timing of this release probably caught many people on the road and away from their shop/trusted mech if they are like me and don't perform a lot of their own maintenance.

If I had had an accident/incident that caused damage/injuries/etc and was sued...would I be covered if it was learned I was flying out of compliance? Ignorance is not a valid excuse, usually.

By way of a customer service contrast...we bought a bag of organic frozen veggies at Costco two weeks ago...that was found contaminated with Listeria.

So far, I have gotten 2 emails, 2 phone calls in an aggressive effort to make sure I'm aware of a serious issue with the product sold.

Van's makes a point of having me execute a document with my info on it (and a liability release, too, as I recall) before they will sell me one part or even talk to me in tech support about my aircraft. So...they have the info on most owners, already.

Again...if this thing had a compliance time of say..."in the next 20 hours" or something like that...it would be different. But, as far as the manufacturer is concerned, the aircraft should be grounded until inspected.

Under that proviso, then, I think there's a greater burden of responsibility by them to get that info into the hands of their customers ASAP.

My 2 cents,

Rob

None in mine and the cell phone worked great.

Why don't we quit posting about healthy airplanes and see if anybody found cracks?

Ed

Another RV7 - No cracks
 

Rv-7
2008
500 hrs.
occasional gentleman aerobatics
No cracks
Phone camera makes it easy

Two points that hopefully address your comments/questions

Even though the compliance requirement is "before next flight", the reality is that cracks being present isn't likely a short term safety of flight issue. Setting this as the compliance requirement is a conservative posture for something that until a lot of airplanes are inspected, is an unknown as far as severity and actual number of airplanes affected.

There is no regulatory requirement for a kit manufacturer to issue SB's, Notifications, etc. for kits / designs that are built and certified in the Experimental category (except for E-LSA), and there is no regulatory requirement for an owner to comply with them if they have been issued (but it is a good idea) so there is no way that not having complied with one that you were not aware of should effect insurance coverage.

If one had been posted on the web site 6 months prior to the date you signed off a condition inspection, there was no indication that you did anything to comply, and then an accident was caused by something related to the SB, then you might have an issue to deal with.

(disclaimer: I am not an insurance agent so you should check with yours to confirm...)

SB 16-03-28
 

RV 7A 421 hrs. No cracks. Digital Macro pix downloaded to computer for further magnification works great too!

LL

RV-9 N358JR
 

RV-9
680 Hrs
8 years
SB16-03-28 complete.
Looks good.
jf