Homebuilt safety and NTSB reports

[1600vw]

Bob, even though I do not build, I too have others look over my bird. But what I ask them to do is look at what others have not looked at. Once I have someone tell me, we looked at every part, only then am I ready to climb aboard for a flight. Now this only happens at time of purchase or at the beginning of the year once repairs have been made.

I know Experimentals or HB do not have to follow any AD's put out by the FAA or anyone for that matter, but is it not in our best interests to look at these AD's, if you can find any on what you fly, and address them?

I fly a Fisher airplane. I called Fisher and asked if any ad's have come up over the years. I received the answer I knew I would, but I had to ask.

[Auburntsts]

100% agree with what Bob Leffler said. I'm a little behind him in my RV-10 build but also plan on holding a "Sharpie" party close to my inspection date with members of my EAA Chapter. I'm also thinking of turning it into a contest of sorts -- the person who discovers the most discrepancies (and there will be some, but hopefully not many) wins a 6-pack of their favorite beverage.

[WLIU]

I encourage you to have your smallest "party" member dive under the seats and into the tail cone. We found a veritable hardware store of stuff in an RV. A pair of dropped reading glasses and the case for them, was recovered from different bays in the belly of an RV. Ask the builder whether they have EVER dropped ANYTHING while working on the airplane and not recovered and removed it from the airplane. Its stunning how small an item can jam a control in flight.

And put a wrench on some bolts. There may be a elf that runs around at night loosening nuts after the builder goes to bed. The builder will swear that he or she tightened every nut and bolt...

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

[1600vw]

Wes: I use that tamper paint stuff on every bolt I inspect or have other inspect. This way when I am by myself looking at my bird I can tell if any of these bolts have moved from the time I had everything inspected.

I never did this at first, but upon checking everything the only way I knew something was not loose was to put a wrench on it. Now I need no wrench just my eyes. I have not as of yet found one bolt or nut that has moved on its own. But I look all the time.

I put this tamper paint stuff on every bolt or nut. Its so easy to check now for a loose nut or bolt that has moved. Like I said I have not found one bolt or nut that has moved.

[rleffler]

I know Experimentals or HB do not have to follow any AD's put out by the FAA or anyone for that matter, but is it not in our best interests to look at these AD's, if you can find any on what you fly, and address them?

ADs aren't really a part of the shortcomings of finding a loose bolt or fitting. However, I do agree with you that addressing them is in everyone's best interest, even if an experimental.

[rleffler]

Wes: I use that tamper paint stuff on every bolt I inspect or have other inspect. This way when I am by myself looking at my bird I can tell if any of these bolts have moved from the time I had everything inspected.

I never did this at first, but upon checking everything the only way I knew something was not loose was to put a wrench on it. Now I need no wrench just my eyes. I have not as of yet found one bolt or nut that has moved on its own. But I look all the time.

I put this tamper paint stuff on every bolt or nut. Its so easy to check now for a loose nut or bolt that has moved. Like I said I have not found one bolt or nut that has moved.

I concur. I use torque or inspection lacquer on everything. If I don't see it, then I get the wrench out to validate.

Two incidents that I'm aware of are with repeat builders. This implies that nobody is immune to this issue. Whether or not it's forgetfullness, got distracted during the process, overlooked, or just plain being lazy (although I think I would be hard pressed to call any homebuilder lazy) is only a contributing factor. The real question is how do you establlish a program in which the appropriate level of due diligence is performed to overcome the original deficency? I think I know how to minimize or reduce the risk, but I'm not sure how to completely eliminate it, since we are all human.

The Tech Counselor program and either FSDO or the DAR may catch things, but they aren't fool proof either. I know it's being overly anal, but I supect until there is a master checklist for each model to check off in an inspection, I suspect things will continue to be overlooked.

[rwanttaja]

What you likely read was that Lycoming had a problem with a vendor and recalled a number of crankshafts.

I think the accident data does tend to show this. My 14-year database of homebuilt accidents shows 120 with Lycoming engines of the 540 series installed. Nine were due to what I call "Engine Internal Issues" (7.5%) of which two are crankshafts. One specifically blames an improperly manufactured crankshaft. The other, six years later, attributes the problem to fatigue, so I presume it didn't have the bad crank.

In contrast, there are 418 accidents of aircraft with Lycoming 360 series engines installed, of which 16 were Engine Internal Issues. That's 3.8%, about half what the 540 encountered. There are four crankshaft cases, but two are wrench errors, not really the crank's fault.

Ron Wanttaja

[rwanttaja]

This is probably the one area that keeps me up at night, since I'm about a month away from getting a pink slip for my RV-10. I think my approach is to invite a group of 3 or 4 builders (not at the same time) over to inspect the RV-10 before the final FSDO visit. To motivate them a little, I'm going to offer them their favorite adult beverage for each building defect or issue they find. In my opinion, there is no room for ego here. Worse case is that I may owe some friends a few drinks, but the positive is that I hope they find anything that I may have overlooked or missed.

And excellent idea, but: Make sure they look at the big stuff as well as the small stuff.

Two local guys built a couple of big four-seat homebuilts (not RV-10s) a few years back. There were unusual airplanes, and garnered a lot of interest among the homebuilder community. Lotsa guys coming by to look at the airplanes. FAA came, and signed off the airworthiness.

When the first one was ready to fly, the first builder taxiied out to the runup pad. He checked the engine carefully, then did a last check of the control motion. Something nagged at him. He checked again.

The ailerons worked backwards.

He taxied back to the hangar. He and his partner checked the other aircraft. It was wrong, too.

They checked the plans. Both were built to plan.

Weird situation: The homebuilt had originally be designed with a yoke. They had asked the designer for drawings to convert the design to a stick, and the designer had messed up....

Ron Wanttaja

[Bill Berson]

Hi Ron,
There was an experimental Wright Flyer B that crashed ( I think July 30)
I read the NTSB final report online. Cause was determined to be incomplete welds.
I wanted to see the Materials Lab report( mentioned in report)with pictures of the weld.
Is this lab report available online?


p.s. I think the empty weight of 1800 pounds (for a Wright replica )is a major contributing factor to the flight characteristics after the prop shaft failed.

[Bill Greenwood]

Ron, that story gives me a cold chill, but think of this. A "controls free and correct" check should be part of EVERY run up at the runway before flight.
But normally you can only see the ailerons from the pilots seat. What ir it was the elevator that was hooked up backwards?

I know of 2 instances similar to that. The control lock for a Bonanza is a metal rod that fits in a hole behind the pilots yoke, It is 2 parts, the rod and the larger red plastic flap the holds the rod. It wears over time, and the rod loosens in the flap. Now, the best course is to buy a new one, but it is about $500. So I epoxyied mine back together. One day I get ready to take off, and do the run up, and I do follow the check list. But I have a thousand hours and 15 years in this plane, and I am not expecting there to be a control problem. But when I tried to cycle the yoke, it won't move at all. When I had pulled off the plastic case, the rod slipped out and was still in the hole behind the yoke. I probably would have noticed it when I began the takeoff roll, but if not I was moments from an accident. I could have seen the big red flap if it was in place, but the rod by itself was hidden.

Another time a friend had his plane , a Helio repainted at a fancy shop. It looked good when it was done, that is if any nosewheel converted Helio looks good. But upon closer inspection, he asked the shop why they had reversed the ailerons? They denied doing any such thing,so he brought out the "before" photos that clearly showed the trim tab used to be on one wing and now was on the opposite one.

It has now, in the last year or so for some control towers to try to pressure pilots of small piston airplanes to avoid the run up just before takeoff. They do it here in Aspen and at Denver Centenial that I know since I fly at those.
Don't let them rush you into doing something dumb.
I have never ever heard them ask one of the pilots in jets the same thing.