- Joined
- Dec 29, 2013
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Hello,
I have finished rigging my wings for my Pitts S2B and for some reason the top left aileron is off be a couple of millimeters. The wings themselves are level (use leveling boards) all the tensions are in spec. All the other ailerons are perfect except the top left one.
The adustment on the left slave strut is maxed out with a low profile nut.
Has anyone ever seen an issue like this before?
My thoughts are to either find a smaller nut or machine the slave strut and expand the threaded portion. If I take the nut completely off then everything matchs perfect. However, my IA said he called Aviat and they said that that nut has to be there.
This issue has gotten blown to such proportions that my IA wont sign my ferry permit because the wings could fall off and my ferry pilot wont fly it now becuase of the extreme danger involved. They all say "something" must be wrong, my pilot wants me to fly a guy up from Aviat to look at it - not going to happen. I suggested having the wings NDT to satisfy everyone but im not going to go bankrupt over it and I highly doubt they travel to conduct the tests.
Is the issues as seen on the photos extreme enough to justify these kinds of responses. There is no indication of damage anywhere on the wings and I have bore scoped the inside of the wings as much as possible and did not see anythng bad.
I am through the first exam for my A&P and if I push hard could get the A&P and simply sign off my own ferry permit and then return my plane to service once its moved and I get the aileron level.
Another issue is that one of the drag wires inside the wing moves side to side as it appears from the bore scope that the electrical tape at the cross location is loose, he wants to tighten them up but to do so requires removing one of the flying wires to get at the nuts. This is not too big of a deal but I also dont want to over tighten them. How big of a deal is this?
If these are really life and death your wings are going to fall off as soon as you snap roll it then I will entertain these things more seriously. However, "something" being wrong is not a game plan to completeing an annual or a good reason to keep me grounded yet another year.
I dont want to fly an unsafe plane but I get the feeling that they are being unreasonable, its a biplane, the rig is not going to be in micro meter tolernces. Granted it was WAY out of tolerances when we started this but its not anymore.
Maybe im wrong but I dont think so.
I have finished rigging my wings for my Pitts S2B and for some reason the top left aileron is off be a couple of millimeters. The wings themselves are level (use leveling boards) all the tensions are in spec. All the other ailerons are perfect except the top left one.
The adustment on the left slave strut is maxed out with a low profile nut.
Has anyone ever seen an issue like this before?
My thoughts are to either find a smaller nut or machine the slave strut and expand the threaded portion. If I take the nut completely off then everything matchs perfect. However, my IA said he called Aviat and they said that that nut has to be there.
This issue has gotten blown to such proportions that my IA wont sign my ferry permit because the wings could fall off and my ferry pilot wont fly it now becuase of the extreme danger involved. They all say "something" must be wrong, my pilot wants me to fly a guy up from Aviat to look at it - not going to happen. I suggested having the wings NDT to satisfy everyone but im not going to go bankrupt over it and I highly doubt they travel to conduct the tests.
Is the issues as seen on the photos extreme enough to justify these kinds of responses. There is no indication of damage anywhere on the wings and I have bore scoped the inside of the wings as much as possible and did not see anythng bad.
I am through the first exam for my A&P and if I push hard could get the A&P and simply sign off my own ferry permit and then return my plane to service once its moved and I get the aileron level.
Another issue is that one of the drag wires inside the wing moves side to side as it appears from the bore scope that the electrical tape at the cross location is loose, he wants to tighten them up but to do so requires removing one of the flying wires to get at the nuts. This is not too big of a deal but I also dont want to over tighten them. How big of a deal is this?
If these are really life and death your wings are going to fall off as soon as you snap roll it then I will entertain these things more seriously. However, "something" being wrong is not a game plan to completeing an annual or a good reason to keep me grounded yet another year.
I dont want to fly an unsafe plane but I get the feeling that they are being unreasonable, its a biplane, the rig is not going to be in micro meter tolernces. Granted it was WAY out of tolerances when we started this but its not anymore.
Maybe im wrong but I dont think so.
