Hi gang,
Got a few questions regarding the final assembly of our tailplanes.
I've been putting this step off, but it's time to get it out of the way.
1) When checking the drive pins for level, the left side is a degree or
so out with respect to the right side, i.e. the plane of the pins are
not parallel to each other. I don't think this is a concern as long as
the tailplanes are level with respect to each other before drilling the
holes for the bushings, correct????
2) I've noticed a disturbing tendency for the tailplane bushings to gall
the torque tube, even with light lubrication. Is there a trick to
this? I can see this becoming a real problem down the road as we rig
and de-rig the plane repeatedly.
3) I'm not happy with my hinge fitup on the tabs. The gaps are too
large and slightly uneven. I plan to drill the rivets out carefully and
use a hairdryer to soften the epoxy to pop them off. I'll then get some
fresh hinge stock and try again, using the existing holes in the glass.
I followed the manual to the letter, but ended up with 1/8" to 3/16"
gap. Is there a trick? Now that I know what to look for the second
time, I'm sure I'll do better.
Otherwise, it's going great. I'm amazed at how much "stuff" we have to
inventory between the fuse and wing kits. Impressive job of packaging
and labelling, tho. Hat's off to Europa.
We tried to get a Europa demo flight today up at Appleton.
Unfortunately, this was the first flyable day for demos so far, so they
had a good list of flights to do. Add that on top of some BIG delays
trying to get the factory planes out of Oshkosh put it all WAY behind
schedule. We elected to pass and head home and give the folks that do
not yet have the joy of a Europa in their home more opportunity to go up
today and get hooked. We will plan a weekend trip to Lakeland this
winter and go up and fly. One day we'll actually fly in one!
That's about it for now. Thanks for any help on our questions!
Chris
A159
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