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Pitot Tube Failure

R

RFSchaller

Well Known Member
Today as I entered the pattern my airspeed on my D180 and D100 west to zero. I thought it was some bolockage, but after I landed and checked the pitot tube it slid right out of the spinner. It had cracked circumferentialy at the file mark where the retainer screw contacts it. The airframe has 670 Hours. As I was repairing it a fellow RV-12 owner stopped by and told me he is aware of another RV-12 that had the same thing happen.

There is no easy way to check the pitot tube integrity at annual due to the failure point being inside the poly block behind the gear box and the pitot hose is sealed in place with RTV.
 
Governor Valcik had a pitot tube failure. I think it was in the area of the hub. I am sure he or one of his staff will comment soon.
 
Mine broke too right at the dimple mark right around the 200 hr mark. Replaced it with a new one but did not dimple it and all is well at 435 hours. Yes I had my prop balanced at about 10 hours.
 
RFSchaller said:
Today as I entered the pattern my airspeed on my D180 and D100 west to zero. I thought it was some bolockage, but after I landed and checked the pitot tube it slid right out of the spinner. It had cracked circumferentialy at the file mark where the retainer screw contacts it. The airframe has 670 Hours. As I was repairing it a fellow RV-12 owner stopped by and told me he is aware of another RV-12 that had the same thing happen.

There is no easy way to check the pitot tube integrity at annual due to the failure point being inside the poly block behind the gear box and the pitot hose is sealed in place with RTV.
Click to expand...

Had the same failure on the way back from Oshkosh this last year....did not re-dimple the new one.
 
rk2436 said:
Mine broke too right at the dimple mark right around the 200 hr mark. Replaced it with a new one but did not dimple it and all is well at 435 hours. Yes I had my prop balanced at about 10 hours.
Click to expand...

Probably more critical for the fatigue life of the pitot tube is precise spinner alignment described in the install process).
I think the prototype is still using its original pitot tube (well past 2000 hrs).
 
Scott

I'm curious, is the original 12 with more than 2000TT, still on it's first engine? Has any top-end work been done to it? Compressions still good?

Sorry for redirecting thread...
 
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