simpkinsona
Well Known Member
No cracks
Inspected this morning. Used flashlight and borescope. No cracks. RV-9a 800 hours.
Inspected this morning. Used flashlight and borescope. No cracks. RV-9a 800 hours.
there was an rv7 fatal december 2015 in Hurricane, UT . the report says wing separated
is this the basis for the sb?
alan
Has anyone done an RV-10 with only a borescope and mirror yet? Just curious if this will be possible. I think it should be doable...but without being in front of my plane, it makes it difficult to guess.
Thanks,
Steve
Completed the inspection using a borescope yesterday afternoon. It was the only way I could see the rivets. No cracks. Took more time to pull the panels than to inspect the rivets.
Phelps RV-7A
I'm sure I'll get a board posting ticket for straying/speculating, but the preliminary report on the Utah event indicates vertical stab likely detached first. Plausible for the wing to overload soon thereafter due to loss of stability. (Point for mentioning - the Utah event is probably not related directly to the aileron attachment cracking issue.)there was an rv7 fatal december 2015 in Hurricane, UT . the report says wing separated
is this the basis for the sb?
alan
Can't swear to it, but it seems to me that I have received notification from Van's on past SB's. However, in every case, I found out about it from VAF or Matronics first. The Van's website has all SB's for all models.Just out of curiosity, how does the company get this info out to owners? I *think* (but can't swear) that I have notified Van's that I currently own my purchased RV-4, but I've never received any notification directly from the company about any SB that applies to it.
Do they attempt to send emails to registered owners, or are we expected to check somewhere every day for service bulletins as part of our pre-flight? If so, where?
Not that I've got my panties in a wad over it, but I just gave about a half dozen Young Eagles rides, plus taking my wife to/from the event, the day after this SB was issued.
I realize that Van's is a small company; yadayadayada, and mailing letters might be seen as too expensive, but an email to registered owners??
Charlie
Scott,
Are you able to share which models discovered cracks?
If the SB is dated 2016-03-28, why are we only hearing about it a month and a half later? Was it just posted to the Van's site, or has it been there for over a month now waiting for someone from here to find it?
Maybe a better question: If it's important enough to put a service bulletin out, wouldn't it be a good idea to make a post here on VAF, where (probably) the vast majority of owners check in from time to time? Certainly more frequently than one goes to the Van's site directly...
We just completed the inspection on all three of our RV's. It took Louise and I less than an hour to remove the six covers, take pictures of the suspect area with a cell phone stuck in through the hole, and then put the covers back on. Would have been quicker if I let Louise use a power driver, but I'm old fashioned and use a screwdriver for inspection covers to avoid buggering things up.
I highly recommend using the cell phone camera. Email the Hi Rez to yourself and then use your big computer screen to really look at the picture. I had a scratch that looked like a crack until I blew it up.
Paul
New kits will have new parts. Completed wings get inspected. What about wings under construction?
Ron, can you send me a PM describing rudder crack issues? Don't want to get the thread off topic.RV-8, 10 years old, 2015 hours. My workhorse: 8 years doing air shows and 6 years of competitive aerobatics. NO CRACKS. (Wish I could say the same for my rudder! )
Just a thought, but here are my concerns with the way this SB was distributed.
And I'm approaching this from a maintenance conscious, liability-aware, non-builder.
The compliance mandate in the SB was "before next flight".
The SB was released on a Friday, on a website that few of us probably check from day to day. I may look at Van's once every couple of weeks? If there hadn't been a post on VAF, I easily could have flown multiple times before being made aware of it. This timing of this release probably caught many people on the road and away from their shop/trusted mech if they are like me and don't perform a lot of their own maintenance.
If I had had an accident/incident that caused damage/injuries/etc and was sued...would I be covered if it was learned I was flying out of compliance? Ignorance is not a valid excuse, usually.
By way of a customer service contrast...we bought a bag of organic frozen veggies at Costco two weeks ago...that was found contaminated with Listeria.
So far, I have gotten 2 emails, 2 phone calls in an aggressive effort to make sure I'm aware of a serious issue with the product sold.
Van's makes a point of having me execute a document with my info on it (and a liability release, too, as I recall) before they will sell me one part or even talk to me in tech support about my aircraft. So...they have the info on most owners, already.
Again...if this thing had a compliance time of say..."in the next 20 hours" or something like that...it would be different. But, as far as the manufacturer is concerned, the aircraft should be grounded until inspected.
Under that proviso, then, I think there's a greater burden of responsibility by them to get that info into the hands of their customers ASAP.
My 2 cents,
Rob
None in mine and the cell phone worked great.
Why don't we quit posting about healthy airplanes and see if anybody found cracks?
Ed
I specifically haven't mentioned the models cracks were found because it really isn't relevant.
I don't want that info to bias anyone's thinking regarding any specific model.
I will say that of the three previously noted, they were not all the same model.
This can effect all models equally so all should be inspected.
BTW, this is also why I think a poll of inspection results is of no value other than to erroneously make some people think that one model is more or less likely develop a crack. The only model with a lower likelihood is the RV-6 because of the stub rib that is associated with hinge bracket attachment.
Dear Scott,
With all due respect I disagree with the holding back of information on what models, what airframe time, how they are flown if known (light aerobatics, aerobatic team, or little old person, notice I did not say lady, back and forth for groceries and church only on Sundays)
I am a 1st time RV-14a builder, and will soon be ready to fly. As with all other builders I have much time, money, energy, mental joy, immense satisfaction, as well as some stress invested into my project.
I would like to have ALL of the information about what may affect my project as it is available. And I mean every single detail. Absolutly nothing should be held back from us builders, ever.
Again I ALWAYS respect your opinions your guidance and your advice.
Please reconsider,
Thanks you,
Rich
I was able to get the aft side of the inspection done using a boroscope. It is tight but you are able to get in to see the rivets in question without removing the aileron.
My 10 with 250 hours and my 6A with 1500 hours were both crack free
Two points that hopefully address your comments/questions
Even though the compliance requirement is "before next flight", the reality is that cracks being present isn't likely a short term safety of flight issue. Setting this as the compliance requirement is a conservative posture for something that until a lot of airplanes are inspected, is an unknown as far as severity and actual number of airplanes affected.
There is no regulatory requirement for a kit manufacturer to issue SB's, Notifications, etc. for kits / designs that are built and certified in the Experimental category (except for E-LSA), and there is no regulatory requirement for an owner to comply with them if they have been issued (but it is a good idea) so there is no way that not having complied with one that you were not aware of should effect insurance coverage.
If one had been posted on the web site 6 months prior to the date you signed off a condition inspection, there was no indication that you did anything to comply, and then an accident was caused by something related to the SB, then you might have an issue to deal with.
(disclaimer: I am not an insurance agent so you should check with yours to confirm...)