A good friend bought a RV-12 at the end of last year 2024. He bought it from the original builder who was selling it because of health reasons. The plane was a 2010 kit, first flown in 2011. The plane had a little over 700 hours on it and was well built. I helped with the pre-buy. After the sale it was bought to my hangar and together we went over all the critical areas and fixed some minor details found in the pre-buy. He flew the plane home and has put 10-15 hours on it since. It is now condition inspection time and he asked me to help him out with his first inspection. I know the -12 inside and out so it was nice to be able to share my knowledge with another owner. Along with all the regular conditional inspection items we did a handful of Service Bulletins that had not been done while the plane was sitting for the past year before the sale. We also added a few custom items I have done for my -12, we spent about a week total very thorough all over this plane. Long story short we are on the last day putting all the covers back on and my friend shows up with a SB item to discuss.
SB 04-2-1, inspect fuel tanks, Feb 1 2004. (Note, this SB was issued 6 years before this kit was built).
“Van’s Aircraft, Inc. recently received a report of clear protective plastic sheet having been found inside fuel tanks. In 2000, the color of the applied protective sheeting was changed to a “blue” to minimize the possibility of inadvertently leaving it in place during construction. Prior to this change, the sheeting was clear and more difficult to detect on the skins. It has come to our attention that at least one QuickBuild RV-6 aircraft produced prior to the change has been found with some of the protective sheeting inside the tank”.
We discussed this SB and my feeling was (after spending several weeks working on this plane after the buy, and now for the conditional, thoroughly going over it and finding no “builder errors”, also considering the quality of the build (well built), and the fact this SB was issued way before this kit was manufactured. I really didn’t think there was anything to be concerned about. BUT on an abundance of caution we pulled out the bore cam and fished it down the filler neck, looked left, right, up , down and into the frame a glint of blue, it looked like a small piece of plastic sheet, further investigating was required.
After draining the tank and more exploration with a stiffer camera and the filler neck removed we saw a much bigger piece of plastic. My real goal was to look at the filter screen in the tank, the only easy way was to remove the plumbing from the bottom. The filter screen came out with very little contamination. Next we shoved the camera up that hole to get a better overall pic. Sure enough the protective plastic on the top of the tank had never been removed. It had been cut back where the sections were sealed so there were never any leaks. The camera view showed the protective sheet hanging loose inside the tank. With some creative work tools the 10” x 13” plastic sheet was removed through the tank outlet hole and then the tank was thoroughly inspected again with the bore camera. We gave the tank a passing grade and the plane passed inspection this weekend 2/22/2025.
Possible accident adverted, this pilot and his wife are now flying with more peace of mind.
SB 04-2-1, inspect fuel tanks, Feb 1 2004. (Note, this SB was issued 6 years before this kit was built).
“Van’s Aircraft, Inc. recently received a report of clear protective plastic sheet having been found inside fuel tanks. In 2000, the color of the applied protective sheeting was changed to a “blue” to minimize the possibility of inadvertently leaving it in place during construction. Prior to this change, the sheeting was clear and more difficult to detect on the skins. It has come to our attention that at least one QuickBuild RV-6 aircraft produced prior to the change has been found with some of the protective sheeting inside the tank”.
We discussed this SB and my feeling was (after spending several weeks working on this plane after the buy, and now for the conditional, thoroughly going over it and finding no “builder errors”, also considering the quality of the build (well built), and the fact this SB was issued way before this kit was manufactured. I really didn’t think there was anything to be concerned about. BUT on an abundance of caution we pulled out the bore cam and fished it down the filler neck, looked left, right, up , down and into the frame a glint of blue, it looked like a small piece of plastic sheet, further investigating was required.
After draining the tank and more exploration with a stiffer camera and the filler neck removed we saw a much bigger piece of plastic. My real goal was to look at the filter screen in the tank, the only easy way was to remove the plumbing from the bottom. The filter screen came out with very little contamination. Next we shoved the camera up that hole to get a better overall pic. Sure enough the protective plastic on the top of the tank had never been removed. It had been cut back where the sections were sealed so there were never any leaks. The camera view showed the protective sheet hanging loose inside the tank. With some creative work tools the 10” x 13” plastic sheet was removed through the tank outlet hole and then the tank was thoroughly inspected again with the bore camera. We gave the tank a passing grade and the plane passed inspection this weekend 2/22/2025.
Possible accident adverted, this pilot and his wife are now flying with more peace of mind.
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