Waiex Tail Service Bulletin.. WTF!

[142YX]

agreed.

Whatever the root cause, we wont know for the better part of a year if things go they way they usually do with the NTSB.

[fastj22]

Hard to tell. They were pretty quick returning a final report on a Cirrus that a student pilot decided to go offroading with at my airport last month.

[Jonathan McGee]

Hard to tell. They were pretty quick returning a final report on a Cirrus that a student pilot decided to go offroading with at my airport last month.

I imagine it depends on the complexity of the case. Pilot error is easier to investigate than a mid-air break-up, especially if there were no obvious conditions stressing the airframe (e.g. aerobatics).

Does the NTSB ever amend the preliminary findings prior to a final conclusion? (Such as any data extracted from the GPS.)

Of course, someone has unfortunately died from what appears to be a design deficiency. Will there be a (potentially disastrous) lawsuit coming out of this? The waiver only gives Sonex limited protection. You generally can't sign away the rights of a third party (e.g. your family, estate) to sue.

[142YX]

Presidence shows that the likelyhood of winning a case against an experimental designer is low.

[rizzz]

So sad.

This incident reminds me of the RV7A crash in Canada not to long ago:
http://www.tsb.gc.ca/eng/rapports-repor ... 0o0018.asp

Control surface fluttering was the likely cause there.

This is probably not what Sonex is worried about as a few extra/stronger bolts and an extra plate on the spar is not going to address any flutter issue if that were the problem.

[fastj22]

Just got UPS notification that my tail parts have been shipped.
Guess how I'm spending my Christmas vacation?

[MichaelFarley56]

Well, I finally got the service bulletin finished today...

Actually, I started the SB a few weeks ago by match drilling the 7/8" blocks onto the forward spar angle:



For a while I considered calling that good enough, but I want to rivet the aft floor on here soon and realized it would be dumb for me to do that and not finish the SB first. I spent this afternoon cursing while I was ripping up my hands and dropping washers and nuts, but finally got the thing done. I don't know how people do this with the floor on..you have my respect!

[142YX]

Looks really good, that is some really nice craftsmanship.

If you are willing, i would be interested in seeing some higher res photos of the job.. i am especially curious about the clearance we'll end up with between the aft plate and those side rivets

[MichaelFarley56]

I'll take the good camera up today and get some better pics to post. I can tell you that I really didn't want to bend the side skins on my plane, especially the pilot side where the hinge is located, so to make the plate fit I ended up sanding probably around 1/16" off each side and then chamfered the edges for a fit. Once I got it to fit it basically snapped into position and seemed to fit well. I then lightly tapped all bolts into place to male sure all holes aligned, and then finished with installing washers and lock nuts.

Wasn't easy but for peace of mind during my hopeful upcoming FAA inspection I wanted it done. Since I dont have the floor on yet, I'm assuming I also don't need that inspection plate as part of the SB which is nice too.

[142YX]

good call.. i am also in favor of slightly chamfering that aft plate vice bending out the sides and risk damaging the rudder hinge in any way.