As a coincidence, I did an annual on a cessna yesterday that has been flying about two years after being restored by an A&P. At some time the wings had been removed.
I found one of the AN bolts at the right aileron bellcrank with no nut. Luckily the bolt was installed properly (head up) or it would almost surely have fallen out by now with disasterous consequences. There was also 1 bolt on each side missing from the lower wing strut bolster plate.
About 10 years ago I was performing an annual on an Aeronca chief and found the left rear wing spar to fuselage attach bolt had no nut and was backed out almost 1/2 inch. The plane had just gotten back from a trip from Texas to Alaska and back. Again the bolt was installed properly with the head forward. This plane had been annualed 4 times since rebuild. The owner told me his previous IA (deceased) "never took the wing fairings off"
I encourage anyone who has a plane that has had the wings or tail off to do a THOROUGH inspection of all connectors. Always have someone come back and check your work, 4 eyes are twice as good as 2, to hell with pride.
Bill
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Subject: [COUPERS-TECH] Control mast
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 20:19:17 EST----[Please read http://ercoupers.com/disclaimer.htm before following any advice in this forum.]----My mechanic has found some of the bolts in the control mast upside down (nuts on top). He says that the normal convention is to have them right side up unless otherwise stated in the service manual. Is it normal in the Ercoupe control mast to have the some bolts inverted or was this the easy way to get the cotter pins in? Is there a safety issue if there is no interference? I think they are the ones connecting to the rudder arm.Earl Schell N93826============================================================================== To leave this forum go to: http://ercoupers.com/lists.htm
