We've been pretty slammed at work lately and haven't made a whole lot of progress on the interior. Also, I've sort of been waiting on Airglass to finish up their STC for their extended baggage kit, but last time I heard from them they were thinking it wouldn't be until January now. So...I haven't painted the flap tunnel yet because I'm waiting to do the extended baggage kit painting at the same time. I'll probably just get the Selkirk kit, I'm getting tired of waiting. Also, we're trying to figure out how to get the seats recovered while still able to fly. I thought about just using a bucket for a seat, but it was too tall. A hangar neighbor has a spare set of old non-adjustable seats that we may borrow while ours are getting recovered. If we can settle on how we want them to be done that is.

We did get some new side panels (I'm not exactly sure what to call them) made and installed that go under the side portion of the windscreen between the door posts and the panel. Attached is a really crummy phone photo with lots of backlight - a necessity for making crappy photos with my phone. Since the photo I've added rubber channeling around the edges to dress the panel up.



Also we've been chasing down air leaks in the cabin and fixing them. We had some water in the rain and air coming in through the cover on top of the plane between the fuselage and the flaps that goes over the access point to the control wires for the flaps and ailerons. It's probably been leaky since the 50's in that spot but the old headliner insulation just soaked up the water and the kept the air from sneaking in. I don't have a photo, but I'm heading down there today and I'll try to remember to take one so you can see what I'm talking about. But in the meantime, here is a fancy illustration:

Dude... now you are TOTALLY copying me...

At least you have good taste....

Thanks you - I do believe that my taste in airplane interiors is improving. You can't blame me for copying you, your plane looks amazing - I hope that someday it will look as good as yours, but at least it's heading in the right direction!

amacbean wrote:.....We did get some new side panels (I'm not exactly sure what to call them) made and installed that go under the side portion of the windscreen between the door posts and the panel. Attached is a really crummy phone photo with lots of backlight - a necessity for making crappy photos with my phone. Since the photo I've added rubber channeling around the edges to dress the panel up.

Looks like a good place for a pocket or receptacle to keep pen notepad etc in. On a couple of airplanes now, I've used peel-and-stick pocket protector sort of things (that came with little give away mini-calendars) to keep things like that plus my little airport info card in.

Hotrod180 - I've since put a holder just like you mentioned on it. I lust after cool, custom made pockets like Greg had made, but that will have to wait until I get the seats redone.

I got to the hangar yesterday and shot a quick photo of where the water was leaking in from the access cover on the fuselage next to the flaps. I labeled it for ease of use.

Now I'm wondering if the covers that were leaking are original or if they are homemade replacements. Anyone know?

amacbean wrote:Now I'm wondering if the covers that were leaking are original or if they are homemade replacements. Anyone know?

My 170 has the same covers, looks original to me.

How did you, or did you, seal the holes around the control cables under that cover to keep the air from coming in? Not an issue in the summer, but I was flying yesterday and it was 20°.

I havent sealed the small hole where the control cables go through, It hasn't been a problem so far.

The covers look original to me as well. Mine constantly loose the screws.

I believe "wing root fillet" is the proper name for that part. As I recall, the screws just do into sheet metal-- no tinnermans, no nutplates, no nothing. When they strip, bump up one size. Of course, you can only do that so many times before it becomes impractical ("got any #18 sheet metal screws, buddy?")

Our screws on the "wing root fillet" have nut plates on the inside of the cabin, someone probably got tired of them stripping and put them in. I sealed the joint, now I just need to find some rain to fly through and check out if it still leaks. It lives in our hangar, so I never noticed the leaking before as I don't usually fly through a lot of rain. But this fall I had it on the ramp in Chandler, AZ during one of those crazy rain storms and the next day the back seats were still soaking wet. The old headliner must have been soaking up all that water in the past.

Mine have riveted on tinnermans (not sure if that's the proper name) for the screws. Is that what you have Allen, when I think of a nut plate I think machine screws, not sheet metal screws. I have the same problem losing screws from that area, it's usually the ones right next to the flap on the rear outboard side of the cover.

Yes, that's what I have Rob. Riveted Tinnermans on the cabin screws, not nut plats. I get them all confused. I haven't lost one of them or the others yet that I know of. Maybe my mechanic replaces them at annual, or maybe I'm just a really smooth pilot...

You guys are in luck, riveted in "tinnerman nutplates" and the standard size MS and NAS nutplates share the same rivet pitch. When you replace them you can go with a nice floating nutplate for a nice #8 machine screw and enjoy the good life!

When I rebuilt my pacer all nutplates were replaced with machine screw types, improved my preflight experience drastically.

Sam

Finally got the Selkirk Extended baggage kit rough-fit into the plane today. We've been so busy we haven't had time to do it. The ELT and the strobe control box were mounted on angle aluminum between the bulkheads where the floor of the extended baggage sits, so they had to be moved first. We moved the strobe unit back towards the rear bulkhead of the new baggage area on the existing angle aluminum framework. Because the floor tilts up towards the back to avoid the control cables going to the elevator, the floor will be above the unit by about an inch. The ELT will be moved up on the side so that it will be easy to access. We still have to build and paint the structure for it, but it's not too big a deal. That's why we haven't put the Selkirk foam on that side. I don't want to mess up the foam when bucking rivets. So, the baggage kit is sitting in the plane and the fit is pretty good. It took a lot of trimming on the back piece to get it to fit right. We will paint both pieces (and the Flap Tunnel) to match the rest of the interior, hopefully next week. I'm thinking about putting the Aero DOT floor on the bottom, too.

amacbean wrote:Finally got the Selkirk Extended baggage kit rough-fit into the plane today. We've been so busy we haven't had time to do it. The ELT and the strobe control box were mounted on angle aluminum between the bulkheads where the floor of the extended baggage sits, so they had to be moved first. We moved the strobe unit back towards the rear bulkhead of the new baggage area on the existing angle aluminum framework. Because the floor tilts up towards the back to avoid the control cables going to the elevator, the floor will be above the unit by about an inch. The ELT will be moved up on the side so that it will be easy to access. We still have to build and paint the structure for it, but it's not too big a deal. That's why we haven't put the Selkirk foam on that side. I don't want to mess up the foam when bucking rivets. So, the baggage kit is sitting in the plane and the fit is pretty good. It took a lot of trimming on the back piece to get it to fit right. We will paint both pieces (and the Flap Tunnel) to match the rest of the interior, hopefully next week. I'm thinking about putting the Aero DOT floor on the bottom, too.

Take a good look at the structural requirements for ELT mounting. They have to be essentially totally inflexible. I'm not sure you'll be able to get there with it mounted to the side of the fuselage, but maybe.......

Be diligent on this, cause, while the mounting requirements haven't changed, due to several accidents where the ELT didn't activate, and some where they literally came loose, the FAA is now leaning hard on mechanics to SOLIDLY mount ELTs.....per the standards.

If the mount flexes at ALL, with a lot of pressure, it won't pass muster.

In my 170, the old ELT was side mounted in the area you indicated.....lots of flex. We relocated it to the belly under the Selkirk baggage, mounted on a plate that spanned two ribs. Made a small door in the Selkirk floor to access. Very clean and solid. Also out of the way of stuff shoved into or yanked out of that baggage comp. I'll bet you snag the thing on something mounted where you're planning.

But the big thing is.....NO flex.

FWIW

MTV

.1 inch or less deflection under a 9G load comes to mind, it's in the instructions

Thats really good to know, thanks Mike. My 406 is mounted on the side of the fuselage on my 180, but I'm going to check it for flex now. If Halestorms numbers are right, I'm sure it won't pass mounted where it is.

The whole mounting of ELT thing has really come to light after several accidents. One of the issues with ELTs in past accidents has been that frequently, the ELT doesn't alert during an accident sequence, even with serious damage to the airplane.

In a very high percentage of those cases, it turns out the ELT mounting either failed or flexed enough that the inertial switch didn't activate the ELT. A disturbingly high percentage, actually.

As a result, the FAA started poking around at ELT mounts and found that a high percentage were not mounted per the criteria that were published by the FAA. That's why they've started placing a lot of emphasis on this issue.

Halestorm noted the criteria for mounting. Basically, the mount cannot deflect more than .1 inch in the most flexible direction, and must be mounted to primary structure. My old ELT in the 170 was mounted to the aft side wall, and it clearly did not meet that criteria.

And, frankly, if you're going to spend this kind of money and effort on something that's an emergency device, it just makes sense to mount it as solidly as possible and at least give that switch the best shot at actually working.

FWIW.

MTV