Wesael
Well Known Member
I was working on a friends Rv-8 the other day and while cleaning the belly something scared me to attention.
The pictures did not turn out very well but you can see the loose rivets on some of them.
This is the bottom of the tail cone directly under the 3rd bulkhead from the rear. (I dont have the plans so I am not sure what the part number is).
It is the one under the front spar of the HS. If someone has the part number handy I will edit this and include it for identification.
The airplane has +-680hrs.
In talking with the owner we figured the joint suffered excessive stress during a "very hard landing" that took place a long time ago and over the years the skins have been moving and wearing on the rivet heads.
When looking at the rivets you could push up and down on the outboard edges of the horizontal stablizer torquing the tail cone and see the skins flexing back and forth.
A note to put on the annual inspection would be to check this rivet line very closely. Especialy after an extra hard landing.
For technical information this "hard handing" involved bending the tail spring.
The pictures did not turn out very well but you can see the loose rivets on some of them.
This is the bottom of the tail cone directly under the 3rd bulkhead from the rear. (I dont have the plans so I am not sure what the part number is).
It is the one under the front spar of the HS. If someone has the part number handy I will edit this and include it for identification.
The airplane has +-680hrs.
In talking with the owner we figured the joint suffered excessive stress during a "very hard landing" that took place a long time ago and over the years the skins have been moving and wearing on the rivet heads.
When looking at the rivets you could push up and down on the outboard edges of the horizontal stablizer torquing the tail cone and see the skins flexing back and forth.
A note to put on the annual inspection would be to check this rivet line very closely. Especialy after an extra hard landing.
For technical information this "hard handing" involved bending the tail spring.
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