Whirlwind rv200 spinner check

[erich weaver]

I noticed hairline cracks in the two fill-in pieces of the spinner for my rv200 prop awhile back. When the two parts are removed and flexed with your fingers, the cracks are readily apparent on the painted side. Whirlwind is fixing them at no charge. Might be worth a close look next preflight.

Erich

 

[B Cunningham]

Whirlwind is fixing them at no charge.

Yet another example of a reputable vendor that stands behind their product with honest customer service!

 

[jonweisw]

Can you be a little more specific as to where exactly this happened? I was one of the early users of the WW line and one of the first to get the 200RV and suffered through several episodes of cracking in the spinner bulkhead attachment brackets (those metal plates that go under the prop bolts and hold the spinner bulkhead on) which was a common problem 5y ago. Finally, they designed a fix - those fiberglass tabs that hold the bulkhead halves together- to beef up the assembly, and it seems to have worked. What kind of engine are you using? What kind of ignition? How many hours do you have on it and when was it dynamically balanced last?

Excuse my short rant of this, but I have very strong feelings on this topic. For certain components on our aircraft, I think that it is fine to be passive in failure analysis and trend monitoring, but for a mission critical, single-point-of-failure, component such as a propeller, we deserve more than just a replacement. As a community, we deserve some transparency as to the frequency with which this occurs, the suspected cause, and the company's plan going forward to monitor these issues and potential fixes. Just as you didn't rely on your airworthiness inspection to determine your comfort level with your build (I'm assuming that you used a technical counselor and some other knowledgeable eyes), we shouldn't accept that just because the company isn't 'legally obligated' to follow up on failures because these propellers are non-TSO'd, that we are comfortable with their level of proactive accident prevention.

When I was having my issues, I went to Osh and ranted to the new owner of WW (they had just changed hands from California to Ohio) about this issue, while simultaneously placing an order for an MT. Fortunately, they designed a fix which solved the problem and I have been very happy with my WW ever since (I just had an overhaul and it was fine). You should press them to explain to you why they think that this happened and if they have heard of this happening before. If they have, you should demand to know exactly what their plan is for dealing with this. Above all, you should share all the data and your entire experience with this community so that if WW will not be proactive about this, as a group of past and potential consumers, we can.


Jon Weiswasser
N898JW RV-8
550h and counting

 

[Guy Prevost]

Be careful during installation of these parts.

Can you be a little more specific as to where exactly this happened? I was one of the early users of the WW line and one of the first to get the 200RV and suffered through several episodes of cracking in the spinner bulkhead attachment brackets (those metal plates that go under the prop bolts and hold the spinner bulkhead on) which was a common problem 5y ago. Finally, they designed a fix - those fiberglass tabs that hold the bulkhead halves together- to beef up the assembly, and it seems to have worked. What kind of engine are you using? What kind of ignition? How many hours do you have on it and when was it dynamically balanced last?

Excuse my short rant of this, but I have very strong feelings on this topic. For certain components on our aircraft, I think that it is fine to be passive in failure analysis and trend monitoring, but for a mission critical, single-point-of-failure, component such as a propeller, we deserve more than just a replacement. As a community, we deserve some transparency as to the frequency with which this occurs, the suspected cause, and the company's plan going forward to monitor these issues and potential fixes. Just as you didn't rely on your airworthiness inspection to determine your comfort level with your build (I'm assuming that you used a technical counselor and some other knowledgeable eyes), we shouldn't accept that just because the company isn't 'legally obligated' to follow up on failures because these propellers are non-TSO'd, that we are comfortable with their level of proactive accident prevention.

When I was having my issues, I went to Osh and ranted to the new owner of WW (they had just changed hands from California to Ohio) about this issue, while simultaneously placing an order for an MT. Fortunately, they designed a fix which solved the problem and I have been very happy with my WW ever since (I just had an overhaul and it was fine). You should press them to explain to you why they think that this happened and if they have heard of this happening before. If they have, you should demand to know exactly what their plan is for dealing with this. Above all, you should share all the data and your entire experience with this community so that if WW will not be proactive about this, as a group of past and potential consumers, we can.


Jon Weiswasser
N898JW RV-8
550h and counting

I believe he is talking about the fill in tabs on the spinner that you put behind the prop blades after you install the spinner.

It is very, very, easy to crack these during installation. In fact, I would challenge most WW200RV owners to flex these parts slightly next time you have them out. At the least, I bet you have cracks in the gel coat / paint. You have to be very careful to not push too hard on the screwdriver when you install the screws that join these parts to the spinner, or you will crack them. Once the screws are installed most of the way, they take up the load and you can push as hard as you need to tighten them. It's not a huge design flaw in my opinion. Many aspects of airplane maintenance require care.

My installation technique has become to start the screw between the spinner and filler with my fingers first, then lightly install the aft screws that hold the filler to the backplate, then tighten the first screw, followed by the aft screws.

I have cracked mine and fixed them myself, but I'm guessing a flew a few hundred hours before I caught the problem. That said, the problem appeared to be just a crack in the paint/gelcoat. The carbon fiber can handle this much better than the stuff on top.

This is not nearly as big of a deal as the early Whirwind spinner problem. The parts can't flex further when the screws are tightened, the pieces are fullly constrained even with the cracks.

I just assumed everybody had experienced this --it's really very easy to cause this problem when tightening those screws.

 

[erich weaver]

Yes, Guy is correct, the cracks I experienced are on the fill- ins for the spinner, around the prop blades, not on the backing plate or the associated metal bracket. It's entirely possible that the cracks are just in the gel coat- i couldnt see the cracks at all on the other side, and it didn't appear that the parts were anywhere close to flying apart. Im not sure how the cracks developed- perhaps during installation like Guy suggests.

Erich