With a fabric aircraft, how big of a hole is generally cause to break out the duct tape?

My buddy has holed the plane, and we got to talking about what you can / can't fly home with.

I will be interested to see how much paint the duct tape removes.... the paint has to come off for the repair anyway, but we'll steam-off the tape to be careful.

I would patch any hole, regardless of size, prior to flying. You don't want the tail to fill up like a balloon!

Our company policy on the Goose was " no holes in any fabric surface is acceptable and must be addressed before flight". This generally applied to damaged fabric from water spray as a result of a porpoised landing...but I would suggest that the cause of the damage doesn't matter. Fix it before flying it.

Just my 2 cents.

Ditto....fix it, either temporarily to get to somewhere it can be permanently patched, or just fix it, if you're already there.

Duct tape works fine as a temporary, and bear in mind, the tape removing some of the coatings really doesn't matter much, cause in the permanent repair, you're going to have to be building up the coatings again over top of the patch anyway.

How big a hole to patch with duct tape? You're a bit outside the regs as it is, so there really isn't any guidance out there. Note that a hole above a certain size the patch has to be stitched as well as stuck down.....so that might be a good point to begin to think about a permanent repair before further flight.

MTV

Pipe wrap tape, leaves no residue, pulls off clean. I don't leave home without it.

Tape is acceptable in small amounts...

Nothing says craftsmanship like wrinkle free duct tape.

3m silver tape lasts a long time and does not rip the paint off. Duct tape is rotten stuff. I avoid it.

Guys, as previously pointed out, it makes little difference what tape you use, assuming you actually intend to PROPERLY repair the damage at some point. The first step in prepping the damaged area for a patch is probably going to involve MEK, and I guarantee that stuff will remove duct tape goo quite readily.

But, to the point, tape of any kind is a TEMPORARY repair. Get ramp checked with a tape repair, and the Inspector might just yellow tag your pride and joy.

MTV

mtv wrote:Guys, as previously pointed out, it makes little difference what tape you use, assuming you actually intend to PROPERLY repair the damage at some point. The first step in prepping the damaged area for a patch is probably going to involve MEK, and I guarantee that stuff will remove duct tape goo quite readily.

But, to the point, tape of any kind is a TEMPORARY repair. Get ramp checked with a tape repair, and the Inspector might just yellow tag your pride and joy.

MTV

I know of lots of planes flying around up here with "temporary" repairs that have been in place for many years. Tape comes in all kinds of colors and some match the paint quite well. If you get ramp checked flying part 91 tell the inspector to pound sand..