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Production Acceptance RV-12

BOORSMA

Member
Well after nearly four years I am making the final inspection and getting ready for the madden flight. While going through the "Production Acceptance Procedures" I found that the rudder when moved to the right stop is 7 1/4" from center and when moved to the right stop it is 6 7/8". The book says it should be 7 1/8" either way. I measured the rudder horn and sure enough it is off center by 1/8". It appears that when it was welded it was not straight. I hope this is not something that I need to worry about since to fix it I would have to order a new rudder kit. I would hate to have to do that since the rudder is on, painted and ready to fly. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Also, when testing the airlines for the pitot tube I get a drop of 10 knots over 30 sec. instead of the maximum allow leak of 10 kt over 1 min. I wire tied all the connections in the front of the plane and the only remaining possible leaks would be in the tail section and the fuel tank is installed so it would be a major task to get back there. . . . I am hoping the leak will not be that big of deal. . . . . or is it?
 
I suspect the 1/4" is not a show stopper, but check with Van's, they would be the final authority.
 
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Well after nearly four years I am making the final inspection and getting ready for the madden flight. While going through the "Production Acceptance Procedures" I found that the rudder when moved to the right stop is 7 1/4" from center and when moved to the right stop it is 6 7/8". The book says it should be 7 1/8" either way. I measured the rudder horn and sure enough it is off center by 1/8". It appears that when it was welded it was not straight. I hope this is not something that I need to worry about since to fix it I would have to order a new rudder kit. I would hate to have to do that since the rudder is on, painted and ready to fly. Any feed back would be appreciated.

Also, when testing the airlines for the pitot tube I get a drop of 10 knots over 30 sec. instead of the maximum allow leak of 10 kt over 1 min. I wire tied all the connections in the front of the plane and the only remaining possible leaks would be in the tail section and the fuel tank is installed so it would be a major task to get back there. . . . I am hoping the leak will not be that big of deal. . . . . or is it?

It's a bummer; but I do believe this is time for some deep breaths....and do what you gota do! For sure call Van's...they will give you the skinny.
 
Yeah, call Van's. For normal flying, full rudder will not be used except for slipping to lose altitude or during a crosswind landing. If you never make full-rudder crosswind landings, then it is not an issue.
 
Like the others say, call Vans. Technically, if you're building and registering ELSA, you need to care about the details of the PAP. If you're registering EAB, you get to decide what's acceptable and what's not.

I'd address both of those item's if it was my aircraft. Especially the pitot issue. The rudder item they can tell you how much you need to care about.
 
Thanks everyone for the good advise. I did contact Vans and they quickly responded with some good recommendations included here.


Reply from Vans:

The rudder is probably just slightly asymmetric but not enough to cause any trouble. If you want you could file off the stop slightly to increase the travel, but it?s not going to make any noticeable difference
The leak on the pitot will give you an inaccurately low airspeed, which will make doing the flight testing difficult if you want to get good numbers. We have been able to access the AGRS by bending down the top of the baggage bulkhead, and reaching back to the unit to reseat the tubes, but you need long arms to do it.

Van's Aircraft, Inc.
14401 Keil Rd NE
Aurora, Oregon 97002
503.678.6545
[/I]


Ya know, This forum and the Vans support staff have been great during my whole build process!
 
Thanks everyone for the good advise. I did contact Vans and they quickly responded with some good recommendations included here.


Reply from Vans:

The rudder is probably just slightly asymmetric but not enough to cause any trouble. If you want you could file off the stop slightly to increase the travel, but it?s not going to make any noticeable difference
The leak on the pitot will give you an inaccurately low airspeed, which will make doing the flight testing difficult if you want to get good numbers. We have been able to access the AGRS by bending down the top of the baggage bulkhead, and reaching back to the unit to reseat the tubes, but you need long arms to do it.

Van's Aircraft, Inc.
14401 Keil Rd NE
Aurora, Oregon 97002
503.678.6545
[/I]


Ya know, This forum and the Vans support staff have been great during my whole build process!

Reseating the tubing in the adhar would have been my guess....I had the same issue. Used a little silicon lube on the tubing (use to do this with RO water systems...same type fittings) and leak stopped.
 
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