Fuselage Precovering Add-on: Ballistic Airframe Parachute

I opted for installing a Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS) airframe parachute in order to provide insurance for the unthinkable and curry favor with my wife for letting me take the kids up someday. The parachute is deployed in a split second by means of a rocket assembly, which provides great utility when at low level altitudes. In my case, the entire skylight will be ripped off in a deployment. I opted for holding off on purchasing the rocket and chute since there are shelf life issues with those items. Instead I installed the minimum hardware needed before fuselage covering, which includes the kevlar parachute bridles and mounting hardware. I fit-up the whole assembly first with clamps and vise grips to find optimum location. I tried to keep as far forward as possible due to CG issues. I then burned slits through the fabric and installed the band fasteners around fuselage members and transfer drilled through the angle. I then transfer drilled holes through the white mount into the angle and bolted everything together. Triggers will be mounted left of each fore/aft seat. No sense doing that until I have fuze interior painted.

Here's a picture of the 1350 softpack chute with rocket I will be ordering later from the manufacturer. Total weight 29 lbs.

Wing Precovering Add-ons: LRI, Wing Tip Strobes

I purchased Aveo LED aviation lights for the wing tips. They provide strobe and navigation light functions. The setup is brighter, lighter, and more efficient than the conventional incandescent packages. I installed the wiring in the TE spar prior to covering.



I also purchased a lift reserve indicator (LRI) system. Similar to a pitot system, there is a probe mounted on the wing that measures differential air pressure and two air lines which run to an analog gauge in the cockpit. Based on wing angle of attack, the LRI displays how much lift the wing is generating and what is available for you to use at any given time. It becomes very useful in optimizing short field take-offs and landings. Check out at: http://www.liftreserve.com/. The owner was very helpful on followup technical assistance related to installation.

I installed the probe onto the right wing, prior to covering. The probe is mounted on the underside of the wing near the tip (to prevent air disturbance, such as from struts) and a distance of 15% to 30% of the wing chord aft of the LE. The probe pivots and is angled 50 degrees forward. A sheet metal spanner had to be fabricated and mounted between ribs to provide a stable platform for the LRI probe. The probe was then mounted on an aircraft inspection port and the port/probe assembly screwed to the spanner.








The wings are now complete and ready for covering.

Final Wing Precovering Assembly-LE Support Tubes, Misc

After a Summer hiatus, I'm finally back in production. I applied Bondo filler puddy and sanded it to create a smooth contour between leading edge wrap and front spar.

Next I cut 1/2" tubing and spaced between each rib 3-3/4" from trailing edge of LE wrap. Gussets were riveted to each rib at this location and then the tubing was riveted to the gussets. The reinforcing tubes will support the LE wrap during flight and prevent "oil-canning".

I assembled stands I borrowed from Rans and used one on each wing so that the wing can be rotated and braked for ease of work.

Wings: Sheet Metal: LE Wrap Installation

Following are pics of installation of the Leading Edge (LE) Wrap, which was completed nearly a month ago. First pic shows use of Dremel drill with sanding flapper wheel (80 grit) removing the anodization from the spar at bonding area. This is important so that the epoxy bonds the wrap and spar well. The bonding areas also need to be roughed up for bonding with 80 grit sandpaper. Masking tape was used to control alignment of sanding ops on the spar.


Below is LE wrap being bonded to the spar. I used quick clamps at nearly every rib location to distribute pressure on a 1x2 oak strip which then distributed pressure to the LE wrap/spar. Waxed paper was placed under the strip so that it would not stick when removed. The epoxy used was DP-460 (Dow product?) which was applied using a helical mixing tip that mixes resin and hardener automatically so that an even bead can be applied.

Here is the finished leading edge after masking tape was removed and excess glue was removed with an exacto knife.

In a similar manner the trailing edges of the upper and lower root skins were bonded with epoxy (not shown). Next step is to fill-in area forward of LE wrap with bondo filler and then sand to get a nice smooth contour between spar and wrap.

Wings: Sheet Metal: LE Tip Wrap and Root Skins

I'm currently installing pieces of aluminum sheet metal to select areas on the wings. I have installed the leading edge tip wrap (not shown), which is a transition piece used to taper from the tip rib to the next inboard rib. Currently I'm working on fitting up the top and bottom root skins which are installed above and below the fuel tanks. Below are shots of the upper root skin being installed. The hole for the fuel cap and scupper was precut. I'm using a combination of clecos and hand clamps to keep the metal in place on the ribs while I transfer drill through the sheet metal into the ribs. The root skins will get riveted to the ribs.

The long aluminum sheet metal piece shown below is the leading edge wrap. This will get epoxied and riveted to the leading edge spar and ribs, following root skin installation.

Wings: Fuel Vent Lines, Pitot tubes and Flap Cables; Rib Final Install

The flap cables and pitot lines were installed in the wings prior to covering. These lines are routed to the aft root end of the wing where they will be hooked up when the wings are attached.
I installed the aluminum fuel vent lines that extend from the top tee on each fuel tank and routes through the wing through rubber grommets mounted on the ribs to daylight at the bottom of the wing. A section of line also extends from the tee to the wing root.


I zip-tied the flap cable (black) to the compression/diagonal tubes. The flap cable end on the wing will be retrieved from inside the wing following covering. The flap cable end and remaining cable from the wing root side was pushed and stored inside the leading edge spar.

The static/pitot lines (white plastic) were installed in the left wing through brackets riveted to 6 outboard ribs and zip-tied to the diagonal tube leading to the aft wing root. The pitot tube was temporarily installed to fitup the plastic lines. The Pitot tube (not shown, will install following covering) projects into the air from the LE spar and measures differential air pressure in the tubes. One tube is an indication of ram air which varies with velocity and the other measures ambient air pressure. The difference in pressures can be used to determine air speed.

I also was finally able to rivet and final install all of the ribs to the wing frames. Due to clearance problems, I needed to obtain a close-quarters angle drill and a 16" #30 drill bit. The long bit has proven very useful as it can be deflected around obstructions to drill holes. Therefore, the entire wing frame structure is complete.

My next step will be to bond sheet metal to the LE spars. I'm not looking forward to this phase as it will involve the use of liquid adhesives and clamps.

Wings Fuel Tanks: Final Install

After successful pressure testing, the tanks were filled with unleaded fuel and allowed to set from 12/31/07 to 1/19/08. Again, Rans recommended at least two weeks to allow the tank material to interact with the gasoline which they claimed could result in an inch of tank elongation, obviously important to do before riveting the tank to the wing structure. A tank support tube was added to the wing frame and the tank was set in place with mounting brackets attached. Once the tank was clamped so that it lied uniformly along the compression tube and tank support tubes, the mounting brackets were drilled and riveted into the tubes. Below are the installation pics from one of the installed tanks.

Once I get the wing ribs riveted to the spars, I'll then install the fuel lines.