Flying & Landing Wires

[imacfii]

Excellent post, thank you!
-Aaron

Hi All,
Flying wires all have to meet tensile strength tests, as per AN requirements. This is what the designers go by. Once the pitts and corrosion have been removed and all the nicks dressed out, have the wires tested for tensile strength. If you need the tensile strength specs, let me know. The wires may have enough strength left in them. Some time ago I bought a TravelAir 4000 with a number of old flying wires dating back to the 30's.. None of them made their tensile test specs.
We also manufacture flying wires and tie rods (and AN665 fittings) down here in New Zealand. see www.vintageaero.com for more info or email me at russward@hotmail.com.
cheers, Russ

[JDD]

Thanks for the information. I could not come to terms with the owner of the project I was interested in. But the search for information on flying wires was valuable for the long term. I did find a great EAA article "All about Streamline Rods", March 1969. It goes into great depth on the subject and interviews the then US maker of the rods. He talks about "repairing" the rods but says the costs due to the labor would be the same as new ones and you may not end up with as good rods at that point.

But, what that does tell us is that rods "may" be restored. I also was told that several people have had non-destructive testing done to look for cracks.

I will keep this thread for future reference as I am sure it will come up again as I look for a bi-plane project.

Thanks everyone and a Merry Christmas.