Hello...i've discovered ...may be ??? i dont know yet a mistake on one of my friend's a/c wings. The upper skin and lower skin are both riveted ON the nose skin instead of UNDER all along the spar...is that the right place for these skins ??? what can be the effects on the flight condition ???

Tks a lot

regards from...Somewhere...over the rainbow

Max

Views: 192

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

a/c wings??? If your talking a Zenith aircraft of some sort I would correct the mistake.

In a perfect world, all overlapping joints are done in a way that has the air passing over the airplane holding the lapped joints together. In other words, your wing skins should be tucked under the leading edge skins. If the wing skin is on top, the air can "hook" on the exposed edge of the wing skin and try to "peel" it back. The rivits will prevent this, but it will create drag and may develop some rough edges. Also, this "hook" effect will catch water (if you ever fly in the rain) and drive it into the joint, encouraging corrossion. If the overlap was in the other direction, the wind driven water would roll right over the joint and keep heading aft, never to enter the aircraft structure.

 

In the real world, it most likely will not make a huge difference. My bigger concern with having the wing skins and leading edge skins installed incorrectly would be -- What else did the builder do wrong that could be more dangerous? If the builder was this sloppy in this area, what else is not right?

Hi 

tks a lot for explanation and ideas Bob..  Chris the a/c is a home made.... original..  As you said Bob ... what else is not right.... i dont know... i've just seen this strange wings riveting . gone tell him to paid more attention  when  doing something  ... 

regards From La Reunion

Max

Bob, at one of his Sun-n-Fun talks Chris Heintz advocated the other way around i.e. that a forward facing edge is better than a backward facing edge in order to minimize drag. So perhaps the drag is not the important thing here, but your comment about skins peeling up from between bad rivets is enough to make me keep the skins according to plans...rgrds, Max (the other Max from snowbound Helsinki).

Happy to  " see " you Max .

My question was to get some idea about troubles on this " bad  setting " of top skin... Tks to all of you for yr answer. going today to wash and clean my 701...our field is a grass field and my landing gear is a little bit dirty

wishing you a good day

fly safely

Max...sorry for my poor english

RSS

New from Zenith:

Zenith Planes For Sale 
 

Classified listing for buying or selling your Zenith building or flying related stuff...


Custom Instrument Panels
for your Zenith
:

Custom instrument panels are now available directly from Zenith Aircraft Company exclusively for Zenith builders and owners. Pre-cut panel, Dynon and Garmin avionics, and more.


Zenith Homecoming Tee:


Zenair Floats


Flying On Your Own Wings:
A Complete Guide to Understanding Light Airplane Design, by Chris Heintz


Builder & Pilot Supplies:

Aircraft Insurance:

 
 

West Coast USA:

 
Pro Builder Assistance:

 

Transition training:

Lavion Aero

K&S Aviation Services

Aircraft Spruce & Specialty for all your building and pilot supplies!

How to videos from HomebuiltHELP.com

Developed specifically for Zenith builders (by a builder) these videos on DVD are a great help in building your own kit plane by providing practical hands-on construction information. Visit HomebuiltHelp.com for the latest DVD titles.

© 2024   Created by Zenith.Aero.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service