Danny 7.
#1. The same issue was reported to vans by another builder in feb of 2010. Nothing was done then. The safety notice could have went out on the first finding because finding of #2 could have been in an NTSB report.
#2. I am not a welder. Does that mean I cannot or should not build an airplane? NO. I feel that this exactly qualifies me to build an airplane. I found a faulty part and made it known to both the building/flying community of the RV-12 and made it known to the manufacturer. I would not expect anything less from a fellow builder. I am sure there are some that would have "made it work" and not told a soul. I hope this is not true. Vans supplies the welded parts, they are responsible for the quality of workmanship. As the builder/installer I am responsible for determining the functionality of the part. In my case it broke while handling it. Yes I looked at it before, I did not see a glaring defect.
#3. I find your comments demeaning and shameful as a fellow RV builder. I hope someone pulls a fire alarm for you one day so you can see the value of calling something out. If you find it troublesome that Van's issued a safety bulletin for under quality parts, then maybe you should not be building an airplane.
I don't know the internal workings of Van's Aircraft. I don't care to. What I care about is the fact that it was made right before something bad happened. The staff handled my call adequately and made it right with me. I have no complaints of Van's Aircraft or their products. Mistakes are made, that is life. It is all in how those mistakes are handled.
KALEWIS, if you read my post again you should see i said the difference between a TACK WELD and a FULLY WELDED part. I was not referencing you in my reply, it was a general statement to the other replies in this thread.
I'll say it again: If someone can't tell the difference between a tack welded part and a fully welded part, and uses them in his plane, it is all his fault when something goes wrong. If this applies to you, maybe i'm calling the "fire alarm" on something that is lacking in your mechanical background, and i highly recommend you(or anyone else in the same instance) get some easily learned advice on BASIC welding procedures.
Just because we don't have to weld any parts on RV's doesn't mean we as builders are not responsible for making sure the welded parts are of sufficient quality (finished to a certain level). And i'm not talking about doing dye inspection, but if that is what you want i'd say go for it. I'm talking about the difference between looking at 20 rivets and seeing that 18 of them are 100% clinched (bent over) instead of properly shaped heads and looking at 20 rivets and seeing one that the head is a little to fat (but no cracks, etc) for our personal liking. First case should be a glaring problem while the second case is 99% of the time perfectly fine.
If this isn't an area anyone feels comfortable double checking, take all the welded parts down to a welding shop and ask them if there are any glaring defects. There are ways to do the basic level of inspection even if you do not have the necessary information.
It all boils down to the builder, he is the final authority on the parts going into the aircraft he is building. when it comes time to fly the aircraft he should be able to say he looked over every part and if he didn't build it to acceptable standards he inspected it and pronounced it acceptable. That's my opinion and nothing the legal system does is going to change it.
KALEWIS- i thought what you did with calling attention to the parts perfectly acceptable, posting on VAF first is fine in my opinion. I was focusing in on this part here:
As the builder/installer I am responsible for determining the functionality of the part. In my case it broke while handling it. Yes I looked at it before, I did not see a glaring defect.
you mention you are responsible. if you looked at it and didn't see something wrong, i would only like to kindly encourage you to gain some basic welding knowledge. For a person trusting his life and some day others to these parts, you should be able to see the difference between a tack welded part and one with a full length weld.
anytime a part is to be joined a weld should run the full length of the two contacting surfaces, look smooth, clean, continuous. Comparing this material and technique to riveting, if a stiffening rib 10 inches long only has a single rivet on each end of the part, it should draw strong objections to being a finished part. I do not condemn your actions to this point, and was drawing general conclusions against other posts in this thread in my previous post(s). But i strongly encourage you to learn some basic information about welding processes because you mentioned you looked at the part and did not notice something wrong
