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PreCover Inspection Question

RayJr

Active Member
Hi All,

New RV-14A builder here in Canada.

General question about the pre-cover inspection:

How far do you take each piece before inspection? I haven't started building yet, waiting for the tail kit to arrive and trying to research as much as possible. I can't figure out how to know when to stop building each piece.

Ailerons for example, Do you just leave the skins off one side? or does the inspector peer through some holes somewhere?

Maybe the instructions describe when to stop?

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Ray
Ottawa, Ontario
 
Hi Ray

First, are you an EAA member? I'm local EAA 245 president here in Ottawa and we have a LOT of RV guys (I used to be one until I sold my -8 to a couple of other chapter members). Also, the MD-RA inspectors are both members of our chapter.

The short answer to your question is that the inspectors need to see every nut, bolt, and rivet. Some inspectors might get a little snotty about having to use mirrors and flashlights to see into deep corners, but for the most part if they can see everything, you're good. You will NOT find anything in the instructions about build inspections. That is pretty much a Canada thing.

When you are building a part (like an elevator, for example) just make sure before you final rivet a skin or cover or something that you can still see the nuts, bolts, and rivets (generally we mean shop heads).

The reason they need to see everything? They are looking for badly formed/missing rivets, wrong nuts or bolts, missing washers or cotter pins, etc. They are also looking for workmanship issues like sharp cuts, unfinished edges, etc that could turn into failed parts in flight.

Cheers
 
Thanks Mark,

Yup, It's Ray from the Chapter :)

I'm going to be building this thing in NS. I suppose there will be a new group of inspectors out that way.

For the pre-cover inspection. If you get it all done in one shot, leading up to that inspection, all your parts will be 'partially complete'. As in you'll build the whole kit except for some various skins across the whole plane will just be clecoed in place. Then after the inspection you button it all up?
 
Doh! I guess I didn't recognize you without your last name :)

Yes, you pretty much have it. When I built my -8, I got the tail and wings to the pre-cover inspection stage. The inspector at the time said the fuselage didn't need a pre-cover inspection because he could see everything he needed to see at the final inspection. Whether this is true of the -14 or not I don't know. I would ask your inspector.

So, this means I was able to get away with just two inspections which saved a couple $$.

Hope this helps...
 
Right on. That answers it. I will try to make contact with the inspector early in the process and see if they have any opinions about the 14.

Thanks again
 
You’re going to be close to the airport. I have a niece up there that I visit once COVID takes a hike. Hopefully we can visit. There is an RV 14A being built in PEI also. I have a friend building a 14 also. Tail ready for pre cover and a week old mix up on shipping the fuselage and wings. Hopefully he can correct that ( his side not Van’s) and get them picked up tomorrow.
 
You’re going to be close to the airport. I have a niece up there that I visit once COVID takes a hike. Hopefully we can visit. There is an RV 14A being built in PEI also. I have a friend building a 14 also. Tail ready for pre cover and a week old mix up on shipping the fuselage and wings. Hopefully he can correct that ( his side not Van’s) and get them picked up tomorrow.

That's really great. I would love to get in touch with other folks in the maritimes with RV build experience. This is my first build and I already have load of questions. I get the feeling that will only increase as time goes by. Would be great to compare notes.
 
I started my -14A in October in Grimsby, ON and haven't received a lot of advice from MD-RA. Basically, they said all rivets must be seen. I took this to mean visible but not necessarily easily accessible. So, I riveted my skins on, but have not rolled my leading edges on the rudder or elevators or riveted in the spars on the VS and HS. This enables the inspector to assess the skin rivets as well as the structural rivets. There are a couple places that may require a borescope (eg rudder counterweight), but I am building an airplane not an inspection training device. Haven't started my wings yet, but I expect similar.
 
I started my -14A in October in Grimsby, ON and haven't received a lot of advice from MD-RA. Basically, they said all rivets must be seen. I took this to mean visible but not necessarily easily accessible. So, I riveted my skins on, but have not rolled my leading edges on the rudder or elevators or riveted in the spars on the VS and HS. This enables the inspector to assess the skin rivets as well as the structural rivets. There are a couple places that may require a borescope (eg rudder counterweight), but I am building an airplane not an inspection training device. Haven't started my wings yet, but I expect similar.

I suggest you call MD-RA and ask them specifically what to leave open. Maybe they can give you the phone number of an inspector close to you that you can consult with. Much better strategy than building too far and having to re-open a structure (& getting mad at them because you have to redo something).
 
I am working on a 4 project which was fully closed in the US before being imported to Canada. The MDRA required the bottom wing skins to be de-riveted along the rear spar and half a dozen rivets up the ribs to open the area for inspection. All control surfaces had to be opened on one side as well. Best to check with the MDRA inspector assigned to your build to see what they will require or you may end up doing a lot of rework.
 
I started my -14A in October in Grimsby, ON and haven't received a lot of advice from MD-RA. Basically, they said all rivets must be seen. I took this to mean visible but not necessarily easily accessible. So, I riveted my skins on, but have not rolled my leading edges on the rudder or elevators or riveted in the spars on the VS and HS. This enables the inspector to assess the skin rivets as well as the structural rivets. There are a couple places that may require a borescope (eg rudder counterweight), but I am building an airplane not an inspection training device. Haven't started my wings yet, but I expect similar.

I’m building a 10 and am basically at the same stage you are. I called the regional MDRA office and got the song and dance about leaving everything open and that legally the inspector won’t use a borescope to examine it.
I followed this up with a call to the local inspector of whom I explained my situation. Skins closed but leading edges not rolled. He was great to talk with and suggested going forward to leave skins open and not close stuff up. He also suggested that with mirror and a flashlight he’d likely be ok with what was closed up. He also said that because it’s an RV it’s overbuilt and a bad rivet wasn’t going to cause it to fall out of the sky. In speaking with some other builders it seem like it’s the inspectors discretion as to how picky they will be.
Hope this helps.

Keith
 
New builder and have just started my RV-14A build. From what I can glean from this thread is the MD-RA inspector needs to see all the work. I will double check with an inspector, however, I plan to just rivet on one side of the VS, HS and rudder skin and leave the other side clecoed so it can be opened and the inside inspected.. Anyone see an issue with this plan? Thanks
 
MD-RA

Please let us know how it goes with MD-RA. I contacted them with all these questions when I first started building and got a reply which implied that if I needed to ask such questions I was too dumb to build an airplane. Was not impressed with their complete lack of assistance and won’t have any further contact until an inspection is required.
 
Rich
Well, that is a bit of a rough reply from MD-RA, :confused: I will post what information I receive back.
 
This is what I did

Just had my first pre-close inspection done- Empennage and fuselage. I have no complaints with the way the MD-RA process unfolded for me so far. My philosophy was to do as much as I can before impeding the inspector's ability to have a direct view of both sides of any rivet. I don't know how the RV-14A goes together, but here is what I did with my horizontal stabilizer (RV-8A). With the aft spar removed, and the inner rib fronts largely left unriveted, a clear view of all the rivets is possible.
 

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