Annual condition inspection

Time coming up for the inspection. Is there a format in Van's package? (All my stuff is at the airport). Grandkids have been here all week and I don't recall if anything is in the package. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
For those of you who have already done the first what did you use?
Thanks.
Dick Seiders

dick seiders said:

Time coming up for the inspection. Is there a format in Van's package? (All my stuff is at the airport). Grandkids have been here all week and I don't recall if anything is in the package. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
For those of you who have already done the first what did you use?
Thanks.
Dick Seiders

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Hi Dick,

You will find when you have time to look a fine check list in the Van's maintenance manual for the aircraft and Rotax has a similar checklist in their manual, there is a test question on the Van's check list to see if you read it, good luck. Both are available on line so that you can print a nice fresh copy for every years inspection.

I found the hardest part was finding a spark plug adapter for my compression tester.

Best regards,
Vern

dick seiders said:

Time coming up for the inspection. Is there a format in Van's package? (All my stuff is at the airport). Grandkids have been here all week and I don't recall if anything is in the package. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
For those of you who have already done the first what did you use?
Thanks.
Dick Seiders

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Hey Dick,
Vern is correct. Also don't forget AC43-13 and to make the correct statement about your ELT.

Pete

Vern and Pete, thanks for the feedback. I will check out the manuals.
Dick Seiders

Checked out the insp. check list and am wondering why it is necessary to pull the wings. I haven't had them off at all in a year, and it seems to me that pulling them off and then re installing is both unecessary, and has potential for more harm than good. What am I missing here?
Dick Seiders 120093

Hey Dick - -

Just a quick thought. To take all the hundreds of screws out of the floor plates, it is really nice to have the wings off. If no other reason comes up, that is a good one. Much easier to reach EVERYTHING inside with the wings off.

John Bender

dick seiders said:

Checked out the insp. check list and am wondering why it is necessary to pull the wings. I haven't had them off at all in a year, and it seems to me that pulling them off and then re installing is both unecessary, and has potential for more harm than good. What am I missing here?
Dick Seiders 120093

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Hi Dick,

The best reason to take the wings off is that you can not check all of the bushings that the main wing pins go through with the "Go -- No Go test tool" if the pins are still in all the bushings.

If your wings are correct it only takes 2 minutes to remove them and not much more to replace them so it is no big deal.

Best regards,
Vern

I'll likely take the wings off, but hesitated as they were a BEAR to get on. I used the original Van's supplied seal and there were no instructions at the time to shave the wing skins so did not. If the seal has not relaxed I'll probably go with a lighter softer seal as some had mentioned earlier. Any suggestions as to type and supplier welcome. I also plan to drain and pull tank before anything else as it seems to me that would be a problem with wings off and the 12 on stands.
Dick Seiders

Annual

Dick, In the weatherstrip section at Home Depot is this stuff that is about 3/32 in thickness, self-adhesive. I couldn't find it in gray or black but white looked OK on my bird. Makes all the difference in the world in terms of getting the wings pinned easily. I think it cost about $3 for both wings.

The instructions for draining the tank are prefunctory. I know because I had to do it a couple of times. Run the tank dry with the boost. Then wait five minutes and run it again. Now repeat that procedure until nothing comes out. Then you won't get a face full of auto gas like I did. It helps, too, to prop the tail up a couple of inches so that last couple of ounces can settle in around the finger strainer.

Jim
#264

vernhendershott said:

I found the hardest part was finding a spark plug adapter for my compression tester.Best regards,Vern

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Just take an old spark plug and knock out all of the porcelain and then weld on an air fitting. Then remove the gasket and replace it with an "O" ring................

gasman said:

Just take an old spark plug and knock out all of the porcelain and then weld on an air fitting. Then remove the gasket and replace it with an "O" ring................

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You are of course right, but most of us do not yet have an old spark plug so we have to go buy a new one (about $ 4) then tell me again how simple this is after you have "Just ...knock out all of the porcelain..." these are small plugs and the porcelain is very hard to break once it is down inside the metal body of the plug(I have done two so far and it takes about 30 minutes each of very hard work and some blue language). Many of us do not have welding skills or equipment so this is also harder than just saying do it (I did get a friend to do it and it worked out just fine $ 15 for the beer). It is also a very good idea to use a 6" steel pipe to weld to the spark plug base and then screw on a female air fitting to the other end as this allows you to handle the adapter when you screw it into the cylinder for testing.

Best regards,
Vern