DonFromTX
Well Known Member
I have not been following this board much lately, so if this has been covered forgive me. Another thing to look out for:
My Air Force 1 has not yet flown, had been in storage for a while with a new owner. It needed a condition inspection in preparation for test flying, so I went to the airport to look it over a bit; to my astonishment, the wings had been reinstalled - but the flaperons were not connected to the aircraft!!!
The wing main pins were in, but the flaperon piece was not into the nylon parts, and that black round thing was not in the pipe of the fuselage - on both wings! I had not known that it would be able to make such an error, but there is, between the flap controller and the fuselage, give on springing parts to allow the wings to be locked in place, with the control portion not so.
Three of us wrestled a while with it, but rounding that black plastic part and lots of persuasion finally got it to go where it needed to be. I had no idea that there was enough spring in the parts that the wings could be installed without the flaperon being engaged. Because there is such movement allowed, some have suggested perhaps a hole drilled thru the flaperon piece and the nylon blocks with a safety pin might be a wise idea. Has anyone else experienced this? Whichever one let go first would have made some fancy flying necessary!
My Air Force 1 has not yet flown, had been in storage for a while with a new owner. It needed a condition inspection in preparation for test flying, so I went to the airport to look it over a bit; to my astonishment, the wings had been reinstalled - but the flaperons were not connected to the aircraft!!!
The wing main pins were in, but the flaperon piece was not into the nylon parts, and that black round thing was not in the pipe of the fuselage - on both wings! I had not known that it would be able to make such an error, but there is, between the flap controller and the fuselage, give on springing parts to allow the wings to be locked in place, with the control portion not so.
Three of us wrestled a while with it, but rounding that black plastic part and lots of persuasion finally got it to go where it needed to be. I had no idea that there was enough spring in the parts that the wings could be installed without the flaperon being engaged. Because there is such movement allowed, some have suggested perhaps a hole drilled thru the flaperon piece and the nylon blocks with a safety pin might be a wise idea. Has anyone else experienced this? Whichever one let go first would have made some fancy flying necessary!