subpar_bucker
Well Known Member
My wife and I built our empennage kit at Synergy Air in 2016. Recently I got the rudder out and installed it. Last night I was in the garage and noticed a missing rivet (bottom most, aft most rivet on the left side of the rudder). I check my section 7 and noticed it called out all holes to be 4-3's. My section 7 is an original version 0 section 7. So I put a rivet in this hole.
Later it struck me that my rudder does not have a trim tab installed. So I looked at the section 7 I have on my laptop - and it calls out the trim tab, a bunch more rivet holes on the left side of the rudder skin plus some new structure under the skin (R-01211). When I looked more closely I saw that section 7 has been completely updated as of 1/26/18. This is apparently the new section 7.
Scratching my head a bit I went back and looked at all of the files I have from Van's thumb drive - and found section 7A. It seems as though I am missing this section from my original set of plans. Presumably the folks at Synergy were smart enough to not put that rivet in as part of the original construction knowing the trim tab was going to be installed there (the hole had black sharpie around it - I should have dug deeper before installing the rivet). If it had shipped as part of my empennage kit we certainly would have installed it it seems to me.
I'm completely capable of drilling out that rivet and following the instructions in section 7A, but I am curious about the history here. Did empennage kits like mine ship without it back in 2016? Should I be worried about not having the R-01211 in my rudder?
There is an old thread discussing this topic here that states the trim tabs weren't part of the original kits: https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=105014
Later it struck me that my rudder does not have a trim tab installed. So I looked at the section 7 I have on my laptop - and it calls out the trim tab, a bunch more rivet holes on the left side of the rudder skin plus some new structure under the skin (R-01211). When I looked more closely I saw that section 7 has been completely updated as of 1/26/18. This is apparently the new section 7.
Scratching my head a bit I went back and looked at all of the files I have from Van's thumb drive - and found section 7A. It seems as though I am missing this section from my original set of plans. Presumably the folks at Synergy were smart enough to not put that rivet in as part of the original construction knowing the trim tab was going to be installed there (the hole had black sharpie around it - I should have dug deeper before installing the rivet). If it had shipped as part of my empennage kit we certainly would have installed it it seems to me.
I'm completely capable of drilling out that rivet and following the instructions in section 7A, but I am curious about the history here. Did empennage kits like mine ship without it back in 2016? Should I be worried about not having the R-01211 in my rudder?
There is an old thread discussing this topic here that states the trim tabs weren't part of the original kits: https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=105014