Ageing Aircraft

[RV6AussieNick]

Today I received a pamphlet in the mail from CASA, (Australian Civil Aircraft Safety Authority) detailing potential problems with older ageing aircraft. Interesting read as it highlighted many potential problems caused by how the aircraft is hangared or not hangared, high flight cycles, environmental effects, the list goes on.

This got me thinking about older Van's aircraft, I know there are some RV's out there with flying hours in the thousands, (awesome) what defects has owners of older models found, stress cracking, corrosion, wire damage, structural damage.

I am in the middle of a rebuild of my RV-6, the only thing I have found so far has been cracking of the engine mount around the landing gear attach points even after the engine mount/landing gear beef up mod had been carried out 8 years ago. The airframe is in good condition with some filiform corrosion emanating from rivets on the underside of the wings, probably caused by the environment the previous owner kept the aircraft in.

I'm interested to hear how other owners aircraft have been ageing.

Cheers,

[Vern]

I have a 1947 all aluminum Luscombe 8E. It is in great shape. I once owned a 1939 Luscombe 8A. It was structurally very sound when I rebuilt it. It had no coating inside the fuselage yet was clean as a whistle. Luscombes are noted for corrosion problems on the rear spar carry thru channel where moisture gets trapped by outside airplanes.

Years ago I hiked back into the Rockies to examine a WWII B-17 wreck that had been exposed to many harsh mountain winters. The skins had no coatings and the aluminum looked like it had been made yesterday.

I have also poked my screwdriver thru castings on aircraft with intergranular corrosion. I've seen RV kit skins in storage just a few years old that needed replacing. On flying RV's I'd really keep an eye on the battery locations, especially on older models with unsealed batteries like the early RV-6's with a battery box between the rudder pedals.

Seems like avoiding moisture that stays in constant contact and salty sea breezes is important. Dry environments are very good for planes. Urine/ nests of critters do bad things.

Modern primers are so tough compared to the old zinc chromates we used to use.

More concern now is aging pilots! How to keep them going (me!)