AlexPeterson
Well Known Member
Interesting thing happened Sunday. My wife and I flew to an airshow in Janesville, WI, arriving around 1030 in the morning. We parked at a far corner of the airport, along with around 30 other transients just there for the airshow. We were bused over to the show side of the airport. After watching both the Canadian Snowbirds (my favorite flying team, please take comments to another thread...) and the US Thunderbirds, we took the bus back to our plane. Did the preflight, and we hopped in. While we waited in the plane for some other traffic to clear the parking area, a ground volunteer chatted with us from the right side of the plane, probably steadying himself on the wing.
At about 1000 agl, I started hearing some thumping on the right side. Hmmm. We looked around the perimeter of the slider canopy, but couldn't find anything to explain it. I figured the only thing it could be was either an airport cat that grabbed on or the rubber seal in the root fairing. We slowed down and diverted to a nearby airport (didn't see the need to circle back into the busy departures). The seal had come out up to about the wing spar. I removed the necessary screws, and put the seal back in. Since that same seal had been in for 9 years and 1200 hours (and removed/reinstalled at each annual), it seemed curious that it simply decided to come out. After putting it back in, I've flown about 3 hours with no issues.
I have to conclude that the guy who leaned over the wing somehow inadvertently pushed it down or somehow disrupted it.
Interesting coincidence: We didn't see anyone at the airport (Monroe, KEFT), until just before starting up. A guy came up, and said he had a 7 that had the root fairing seal come out on the first flight! I had already gone partway through the hot start procedure, so I wasn't able to talk.
At about 1000 agl, I started hearing some thumping on the right side. Hmmm. We looked around the perimeter of the slider canopy, but couldn't find anything to explain it. I figured the only thing it could be was either an airport cat that grabbed on or the rubber seal in the root fairing. We slowed down and diverted to a nearby airport (didn't see the need to circle back into the busy departures). The seal had come out up to about the wing spar. I removed the necessary screws, and put the seal back in. Since that same seal had been in for 9 years and 1200 hours (and removed/reinstalled at each annual), it seemed curious that it simply decided to come out. After putting it back in, I've flown about 3 hours with no issues.
I have to conclude that the guy who leaned over the wing somehow inadvertently pushed it down or somehow disrupted it.
Interesting coincidence: We didn't see anyone at the airport (Monroe, KEFT), until just before starting up. A guy came up, and said he had a 7 that had the root fairing seal come out on the first flight! I had already gone partway through the hot start procedure, so I wasn't able to talk.