Quote:
Originally Posted by David-aviator
How long do you plan to live?
Nothing lasts forever, build the airplane and go fly it. Your body will wear out before it will with or without priming.
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I think this quote highlights a significant problem in the Experimental category. When builders' talk about building "for life", what they are often referring to is the builder's flying life, not the aircraft's flying life.
There are plenty of old builders out there who will be struggling to fly for another 10 years....but the aircraft they have built may go on for decades.
If builders keep cutting corners on their priming there are going to be literally thousands of rust bucket RVs out there eventually.
There are some builders who say: "I don't need to prime 'cause I'm living in the desert in Arizona". I say: "Yeh, but when you eventually sell it, it will probably go to some-one who lives in Florida".
There are also some builders who say: "Cessna and Piper didn't prime them for decades and some of them are still OK". I say: "Yeh, but most of them are now suffering from severe corrosion problems that are threatening structural integrity and costing GA hundreds of millions a year in restoration costs and as a result both Cessna and Piper have now learnt their lesson and now use an epoxy primer on all of their singles."
From time to time you read posts on VansAirforce about RV builders who are getting corrosion on their Alclad parts even before the aircraft is finished.
When you take on the building of an Experimental aircraft the product you produce reflects, for good or for bad, on the Experimental category until that aircraft is written off the register. The aircraft becomes your legacy to the Experimental category.