Installing Wings on an RV12

I have not been following this board much lately, so if this has been covered forgive me. Another thing to look out for:
My Air Force 1 has not yet flown, had been in storage for a while with a new owner. It needed a condition inspection in preparation for test flying, so I went to the airport to look it over a bit; to my astonishment, the wings had been reinstalled - but the flaperons were not connected to the aircraft!!!
The wing main pins were in, but the flaperon piece was not into the nylon parts, and that black round thing was not in the pipe of the fuselage - on both wings! I had not known that it would be able to make such an error, but there is, between the flap controller and the fuselage, give on springing parts to allow the wings to be locked in place, with the control portion not so.
Three of us wrestled a while with it, but rounding that black plastic part and lots of persuasion finally got it to go where it needed to be. I had no idea that there was enough spring in the parts that the wings could be installed without the flaperon being engaged. Because there is such movement allowed, some have suggested perhaps a hole drilled thru the flaperon piece and the nylon blocks with a safety pin might be a wise idea. Has anyone else experienced this? Whichever one let go first would have made some fancy flying necessary!

DonFromTX said:

The wing main pins were in, but the flaperon piece was not into the nylon parts, and that black round thing was not in the pipe of the fuselage - on both wings! I had not known that it would be able to make such an error, but there is,

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Actually Don, this is not possible. At least not without causing parts to bend out of position.

In my opinion the wings should be removed and a very thorough inspection done. I think it is highly likely that to accomplish what you are describing, someone would have had to forced the wings on (perhaps using ratchet straps or other means that people have discussed here in the forums) and if so I am sure they would have had to bend something.

BTW, If everything is built properly, there should be no reason to change the shape of the plastic guide plug to be able to install the wings. I think that is another clue that something has been damaged.

Until I actually saw it Scott, I would have strongly agreed with you. The person that installed the wings did admit to using some (minor) force to get the main pins in. Fortunately my other RV 12 was sitting beside so we could look at the proper installation while we scratched our heads. The piece that extends from the fuselage was actually pushed back against the outer skin, and it appeared that the flaperon portion was deflected as well. I found that by applying some force to the flaperon (either up or down, I forget which) the black plastic piece would better align with the fuselage portion. Once properly installed, lit does not appear that there was any permanent bending of parts.
There was an effect from this improper installation, I was asked to move the stick from side to side and determine if it always was that stiff to move, it took far more than normal force to move the stick when in that mode, which is what made me look closely at the connection.

I forgot to add: When building this plane, I had installed and removed the wings probably a half dozen times at least by myself, and never had any problems with them sliding right into position at the flaperon connection. I am at a total loss as to why this happened on this installation (by a person who had never installed the wings previously).

DonFromTX said:

Once properly installed, lit does not appear that there was any permanent bending of parts.
There was an effect from this improper installation, I was asked to move the stick from side to side and determine if it always was that stiff to move, it took far more than normal force to move the stick when in that mode, which is what made me look closely at the connection.

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I would inspect entire control mechanism for damage including Flaperon bearing brackets. Remove baggage floor and seat pan for thorough inspection.

Piper J3 said:

I would inspect entire control mechanism for damage including Flaperon bearing brackets. Remove baggage floor and seat pan for thorough inspection.

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I agree.

Don, if the wings were installed with pins inserted, and the plastic guides were not engaged in to the flapperon torque tubes, there is most certainly damage.

Your statement that the aileron control feel has a lot more friction than it originally did is a huge clue.

Hopefully no one considers flying this airplane until someone more familiar with the RV-12 control system does a thorough inspection of it.

Certainly the jury is still out on damaged components. I was not clear, the binding in the side to side stick movement totally disappeared when the parts were engaged as intended. It APPEARS that there is enough spring action to allow this to happen without actually making a permanent deflection on any of the parts, as evidenced by the complete engagement of the coupling when finally installed correctly.
My primary purpose in posting is to alert others that this CAN happen and would probably be a fatal mistake. If the wings don't go on easily, find out why!

DonFromTX said:

It APPEARS that there is enough spring action to allow this to happen without actually making a permanent deflection on any of the parts, as evidenced by the complete engagement of the coupling when finally installed correctly.

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Your call, but I would not fly this airplane until complete and thorough examination of all moving parts, brackets, bearings, skins, doublers, loose rivets, and everything else. And even then, I'd be suspicious that something damaged is overlooked...

Curious as to how do you remove the wings on AirForce 1 when it has fuel tanks in the wings, Don?

Wing removal works quite easily actually, quick disconnects on the fuel and vent lines. Draining the tanks makes them much more easy to handle than when they are full of course.

We pulled the wings off of 836BL yesterday. The root end of the wing is a lot heavier than the other end, so that was why I was curious. Time for some primer and paint for the main landing gear.

Good luck with the sale of your friends RV-12 N756TS. Another dismal day on the stock market, no end in sight on the drop.