In late June of 2016, I flew through pretty heavy rain near Jasper BC. The temperature was in the mid sixties and there was no hail or sleet that I was aware of.

It totally trashed what was a pretty decent paint job (about 8/10). The leading edges of the struts, wings and vertical stabilizer peeled pretty badly.

Since then, I have masked the fuselage for a new windshield install and almost all of the paint under the tape stuck to the masking when I peeled it off. I had flown through a lot of heavy rain, sleet and graupel prior to this peeling event.

I assumed that it was poor paint prep from before I owned the plane until I was thinking about something else recently.

When we landed in Calgary, we saw several planes that were outfitted for cloud seeding.

It occurred to me that I possibly flew through some rain that was " seeded". Does anyone know if cloud seeding chemicals could have caused the damage to the paint? They typically use silver iodide or potassium iodide.

The cloud seeding crafts were an interesting sight. Get a load of the wing leading edges on the Kingair:

I know nothing about cloud seeding and the chemicals involved, but considering the corrosiveness and high concentration of the chemicals I use spraying crops and the small effect they have on the paint of my plane if I clean it regularly, I doubt the cloud seeding was the issue. Especially since it was already raining, the concentration of chemical in the air probably couldn't even register in ppb.

Have you or a previous owner touched up the paint on leading edges, etc? I help my buddy that works on crop dusters with all the monotonous work, and most of the paint issues on the planes come from bad prep on the paint, or touching up with spray paint. On some, I've been able to pull 10 ft long strips of paint off of wings with little effort.

CenterHillAg wrote:Have you or a previous owner touched up the paint on leading edges, etc?

Like most mid to high time skywagons, mine has it's share of damage history on the books. It's likely that all of these parts have been touched up during airframe repair.

I doubt that the chemicals used for cloud seeding were a factor. Additionally, they don't operate around Jasper. They seed storms west of the built up areas in central Alberta to minimize hail damage to insured assets. The insurance companies fund the program.

I'm sure it's disappointing to lose a bunch of paint. I hope you're able to identify the extent of the problem and get a cost effective repair.

Could be the mind control chemicals they use for chemtrails. They are meant to strip paint pretty effectively.
You can wear your tinfoil hat to help protect the paint.

Those cloud seeding planes are really something alright. We don't see anything like that around here.

Once the paint starts coming off in flakes you can lose a lot pretty fast. Like you say, poor surface prep makes it worse. Up until that point, if the paint is still in one piece it sort of hold itself together, if you know what I mean. We lost a fair bit in the rain one time.

http://www.weathermodification.com/

One of my very best friends was with them for many years. He started as a pilot and ended as DOM. He died in a crash last year on a maintenance test flight in Fargo. They're a class and worldwide outfit!! It wasn't their stuff that caused your paint to go away.
John

All I can say is find out what was used as paint on the leading edge of the King Air and use that.

bat443 wrote:All I can say is find out what was used as paint on the leading edge of the King Air and use that.

Haha! Good idea.

Jasper - Alberta, not BC Lol

You said you flew through some weather, was there a large temperature change? In extreme cases aluminum can expand faster than paint, if this happens radically enough the paint will peel off in large sheets.

I have flown a Twin Otter with New, 2-3 months old paint, through heavy rain off Belize. Nearly 2/3rds of the lower wing pealed from the lap joint behind the leading edge to the flap well. Actually felt it in the handling as it went. New paints are not miracle coatings. Small variations in temp and humidity when applied will affect adhesion. Dwell time between primer and top coat will be a factor. Some primers are not as friendly to top coats and never bond well. Sometimes the way the primer is applied is a factor.

I owned a paint shop as a sub off our repair station for several years. ALWAYS do a tape test all over the paint when you pick it up. All our government contracts required it, you should too.