Alina Explains Flap Fail

Alina walks us through her flap motor screw problem and how she handled the situation and what she plans on doing going forward

[scopex]

I am a veteran Air Force aircraft technician and pilot. Alina's maturity constantly astounds me given her age. She did not panic but sought to assess the situation and see if there were any control limitations or hazards. Superb teaching and ALSO debriefing by you William! Talking it through is an excellent way of working through this 'incident'. The loctite is a good idea also NYLOC nuts have been proven to be the best vibration proof nuts. Failing that you can 'wire lock' nuts which is pretty much infalable. Well done Alina.👍🛩

[robertavellinoamericanpatr]

Thanks for the video. Alina really speaks intelligently and knows your aircraft very well.

[rdkr]

Thanks for this update Alina. Greetings from the Netherlands

[davidshettlesworth]

Thank you for an excellent video. Happy to see that you have a good crew that was able to pen-point the origin of the bolt. Carry On Madame.

[BrianPhillipsRC]

Thanks for the video! Glad you got it fixed! - There's a product you can smear over the end that stays rubbery, and can be 100% removed. I used it on industrial scales in forklifts (VERY heavy duty use) on amphenal connectors, to keep them from coming undone. It's cheap, like $5 or less, and you can smear it over both screws, and that would stop them backing out... It's called GOOP, like shoe goo, but I get the stuff in the plumbing section at Menards (Home Depot or Lowes would also carry it, and possibly Walmart too). The product is a RTV Sealant and Adhesive. Works AMAZING, but if you want it gone, use a pair of needle nose pliers, and peel up a corner, and it'll ROLL off like a strong piece of rubber...but you gotta let it setup for about 1-2 hours...skins over in minutes, and looks clear, and nice, unless the sun makes it yellow.

Anyway, thanks for sharing, and hope this helps.

[JohnnyCoops-tywm]

Alina you've got some guts, i can't do heights only if I'm inside a plane. You have some great adventures coming your way. Big up from Essex, England. 👍

[asbinder]

Saw the initial video. Didn't expect to watch this one in its entirety. Good info, and good stuff all around; engaging too. Thanks.

[PiefacePete]

Great process... thanks for letting us sit in.

[grumpyadventures]

Alina is so well spoken. Love watching her grow as a pilot. The girl's got a bright future.

[mothmagic]

As you say good thing it fell on you rather than onto the ground. If it hadn't landed on you you'd not have known it was missing until your next DI. It could have injured someone on the ground or become FOD. Neither of which are desirable. All part of the learning curve. Keep going and carry on being you.

[bluejay]

Glad she ended up ok thats why maintenance needs to be done often checking every thing to every bolt.

[calvinhobbs]

Thank goodness it worked out OK, I flew Quadcity Challenger ultralights for a few years and had a similar experience, it certainly expanded my pre-flight checks.

[sirtango]

It looks like the nut should be on the bottom. That way the bolt can’t fall out! Not sue about clearance issues, wire chaffing, etc. But you might want to wire those nuts onto the bolts and loctite them!

[toddrf]

If this is indeed a blind bolt, I’d be torque sealing it as well as loctiting it. It need to be on a preflight inspection and that torque seal is a giveaway for it working loose. Those nuts got my attention immediately for orientation.

[Montana_horseman]

Good to see where the screw came from. I think I'd be doing a general look at everything in between flights as this craft get older. I'm sure they vibrate quite a bit. Glad this had a good ending. 👍

[speedfinder]

Speaking as a race car engineer here, I might suggest that you have the bolt inserted in from the top. Even If, the nut falls off, the bolt will remain in place and hold the flap motor in place. Unless there is something not visible in the video, this would be better

[larsgotfredsen]

I saw the video from Oshkosh where you added a bolt to your collection 😅. You reacted very appropriately to the situation. As an ultralight aircraft inspector I can only recommend that you add those bolts to your preflight inspection. Adding standard loctite to the bolt is vise, but does not guarantee an eternal solution. In a certified aircraft such a situation would lead to a solution and a recommended inspection interval. In my opinion the recommended interval for an ultralight would be preflight inspection.

[nicodenhaak]

Good catch!
Was there no loctite present on that bolt from factory?
Someone in the comments also suggested to do loctite, and a visable lock indicator.
That would be the best way forward.

[cpunut]

Nice job staying cool which is so important! Blue LockTite seems like a good idea. When you check the bolt after the LockTite cures, don't turn the bolt, since that will lessen the LockTite's ability to hold. Just check to see that it's tight.

I had a flap stuck full down on a touch n go in a DA-40, killed the climb performance by about 70%. A quick Look at the VSI and saw I was going to clear trees by a good margin, and then waited until 500 Ft to troubleshoot. Staying calm is huge when things don't go as planned in an aircraft. In this case it turned out to be a faulty limit switch.

[leokimvideo]

I was astonished how many people are living rough in RV's there