Flyin'Bryan
Well Known Member
I searched the forums and found one post that did not quite give me the answer I was looking for, so I am putting this out the group for some help. I am finally getting around to re-mounting my replacement Dynon Heated Pitot Tube. To make a long story short, my first attempt at marking and drilling the mounting holes in the pitot tube and the mast did not go as well as I had planned, and this time I want to try to re-drill new mounting holes in the same mast.
Since the mast is a pretty expensive part, I wanted to try to re-use the same pitot mast by cutting off a little less than .5 inches to remove the old holes, and then mark and drill the new ones. This would put the pitot tube about 6 inches from the bottom wing skin, instead of the typical 6.5 inches from the bottom skin.
Has anyone else ever done this? If so, have you flown with that configuration without any issues? I will put a call in to Vans tomorrow to get their advice, but I was curious if others have faced this same issue and made a similar modification to the pitot mast.
Instructions from Vans on DWG 15A seem a bit vague about the actual distance from the bottom of the wing for the pitot tube by using phrases like "approximately 6-7 inches" from the bottom of the wing. Based on this information I think I am OK if I do this as long as I do not go lower than 6 inches, but I would like to know if anyone is flying with a SafeAir mast and Dynon Heated Pitot in this "slightly shortened" configuration.
Here is a pic with my current mast and the markings I made for trimming it down beyond the existing holes:
Since the mast is a pretty expensive part, I wanted to try to re-use the same pitot mast by cutting off a little less than .5 inches to remove the old holes, and then mark and drill the new ones. This would put the pitot tube about 6 inches from the bottom wing skin, instead of the typical 6.5 inches from the bottom skin.
Has anyone else ever done this? If so, have you flown with that configuration without any issues? I will put a call in to Vans tomorrow to get their advice, but I was curious if others have faced this same issue and made a similar modification to the pitot mast.
Instructions from Vans on DWG 15A seem a bit vague about the actual distance from the bottom of the wing for the pitot tube by using phrases like "approximately 6-7 inches" from the bottom of the wing. Based on this information I think I am OK if I do this as long as I do not go lower than 6 inches, but I would like to know if anyone is flying with a SafeAir mast and Dynon Heated Pitot in this "slightly shortened" configuration.
Here is a pic with my current mast and the markings I made for trimming it down beyond the existing holes: