Four Years of Ops - Building Lesson Learned

[pvalovich]

I've been chasing a static leak in my -8A. Finally admitted defeat and called the SoCal Pitot Static Guys company for assistance. Randy did a great job - and had all the equipment to do it right. Lessons learned:

1) To avoid possible water intrusion (I had none - but the potential was there) T the two static ports above the port.
2) The fittings supplied with Vans Static Kit aren't very good. Upgrade.
3) Think about - really think about - future static systems repairs/maintenance in designing layout of your system.
4) Beware of improbable discrepancies - I focused on the T fittings and instruments. Turns out the line from the static port T to the panel had a hole - caused by who knows what. Had to be replaced.
5) Ensure the holes through the spar webbing are large enough to accommodate additional hose/wires. Mine weren't - and it literally took hours to wrestle the replacement static line through the tightly compacted bundles.
6) On the T fittings - don't forget pipe dope and inserts.

I thought about drilling another hole through the spar webbing, but was unsure of how many holes are acceptable. I already have one hole for the rudder cable, and 2 3/4 inch holes for wires. Anyone know if there is a hole limit?

[Leland]

I had a leak in my static system due to a missing insert. JR Rutkosky fixed it for no additional charge while doing my bi-annual pitot-static check. It only took him ten minutes to find the leak an another five to fix it. He covers northern California and Oregon and gives an EAA discount. He works out of LVK but takes orders for checks until he has enough at various airports. He can do several small planes a day, but the jets sometimes take a few days. E-mail address: precisionstatic@aol.com .