I just had my Flyboys wingwalk tear off in flight last night. I was flying home in the dark (when all aircraft sounds seem to be amplified), and got a sudden loud buzzing noise. I thought, oh no what's that? It lasted for a couple minutes, stopped, then started again, stopped, and so forth. When I landed I found that the wing walk had been separating from the adhesive and flapping in the wind at a high enough frequency to cause the buzzing noise.
This is my third attempt at the Flyboys wingwalk. I don't blame Flyboys at all for this--they've been really helpful every time I have re-ordered, and I know they're careful about their product. It's important to remember that they're not the manufacturer, just the distributor. I really like the product (that's why I've tried 3 times), but I think it's time for me to try a different wingwalk product.
I might be doing something to cause the problem. I very carefully followed the alcohol prep instructions last time, and only got about 25 hours out of it before this separation started. So I'm not sure if it's heat related (it's so blasted hot down here in Phoenix!) Or perhaps the Sprayway glass cleaner and Lucas spray wax I use to clean my wings is somehow getting under the wingwalk material. That's one possibility.
Anyway, now I get to spend an hour removing the gobs of adhesive from my wings. I use Goo Gone and an old plastic card, and it still takes way too long to get this stuff off. I will try the masking tape trick that was mentioned above.
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Karl, Goodyear, Arizona (KGYR) ATP, CFII
RV-14A
Yak 50
=VAF= donor 2021
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