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Tie Down Effects


paul m

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Hi everyone,

 

I'm thinking of purchasing a CTLS, but due to cost of hangaring at local airport, will tie down outside. Can anyone share their experiences on any effect (from heat, sun, cold, rain, snow etc) this has had on their plane including on the engine at start up time.

Thanks. I'm based in NJ.

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I'll speak for the heat... don't worry... you can see from *this* post, heat hasn't been a problem. I'd try my best to get a covered outdoor tie-down, as the UVs can cause damage over time. I've read that the composite materials themselves are protected by the layers of base and finish paint. At the least I'd make sure I keep 'er polished. But the interior will be subject to damage as well. Get some sort cover (Aviation Covers or Bruce's)...

 

I'm sure there are some CT'ers that can speak for the cold and wet.

 

Tim

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Routinely, make sure all airframe drain holes remain open (see MM). Mother nature will clog them and trapped moisture or standing water will effect the material in relatively short order. Recommend maintain wingroot gap and underfin/fuselage gap seals, year in and out.

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I'd be very wary of the cumulative effect of wind on the tie down point. If it was possible to move it to the lee side of a structure before a big blow was coming I would. Another long term effect I'd watch for is any kind of 'acid' rain in your area. It has the effect of forming what the ladies would call cellulite and it tends to appear where the rain hangs around the bottom half of a structure and is apparent in low angle light levels as dimples.

Mac

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Thanks for everyone's suggestions. Hangar is over $900 per month so paying 7 or 8 percent of the cost of a plane every year seems kind of steep. A "reasonable" hangar at $500 per month is 35 minutes away. Does anyone have experience with preheating in cold weather. No electricity with the tie down so that leaves propane tank?

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Thanks for everyone's suggestions. Hangar is over $900 per month so paying 7 or 8 percent of the cost of a plane every year seems kind of steep. A "reasonable" hangar at $500 per month is 35 minutes away. Does anyone have experience with preheating in cold weather. No electricity with the tie down so that leaves propane tank?

What temp does ROTAX/FD require preheating?

 

I drive 40 minutes one way to an unheated hangar. The time spent driving and cost is worth it when I consider; I'm not risking mother natures wrath and spending time in the cold preparing to fly and recovering after operations. I think the more one ground/manhandles a plane the quicker it ages. In any case, if I were outside and 10 minutes away I could see spending 30+ minutes, or more, taking off frozen covers, sweeping snow and deicing plus another 30 minutes after operations. Not sure how I'd preheat outside in the dead of winter. What are the risks using propane heaters around composites. I can't imagine leaving heat ducting unattended either under the cowl or in the cockpit--they can melt things. What does the ROTAX/Flight Design Operator Manuals say about preheating. And at what temp is it recommended to preheat? Also, not sure how to deice a composite plane anyway. Don't know how deice chemicals would interact with composites. All just opinion, I think even a 60 year old rag bag champ deserves at least stone cold hangar, at least one that I would fly. Thanks for your thought provoking post. :D

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I agree with you, a hangar is a great value and defrosting a plane could be costly on the long term.

 

As for preheating, the Operator Manual doesn't say anything about it. You can you use a ''Red Dragon'' preheater

http://www.flameengineering.com/Preheater_12voltDC.html

or bring a small portable generator and use a heat gun..it works great but it takes some time.

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I flew in Alaska for 40 years, much of that in Fairbanks. Very few Alaskans have the luxury of a hangar, heated or not. I've done my share of preheating. All of that experience was with rag & tube or spam cans but alot of those have fiberglass in or near the cowl. It was not unusual to see blistered fiberglass up and down the flightline from careless preheating.

 

If you are preheating it will be very helpful to have an insulated cowl cover. You also need to make sure you heat long enough to get the oil in the tank warm. It will start long before the tank oil is warm but you aren't doing the engine any favors. Of course, our synthetic and semi syn oils are more fluid at low temps than the aviation oils I was dealing with.

 

I think I would drive the 35 minutes for a hangar. And consider a partner.

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...

 

I think I would drive the 35 minutes for a hangar. And consider a partner.

 

John, I think you're on to something...what might be interesting is a partner....in the southeast. He could take the plane in the winter months; I could take it in summer. We could do a Sun n Fun hand over. It would give me an excuse to do at least one long cross country a year.

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Do as everyone else in NY and NJ do and move to the South. You'll find a higher quality of life, less expensive hangars (if you can find one that's available), and a much longer flying season.

 

wlfpckers, you beat me by a minute. I had a related thought...send the plane south even if I can't go!

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I agree with you, a hangar is a great value and defrosting a plane could be costly on the long term.

 

As for preheating, the Operator Manual doesn't say anything about it. You can you use a ''Red Dragon'' preheater

http://www.flameengineering.com/Preheater_12voltDC.html

or bring a small portable generator and use a heat gun..it works great but it takes some time.

I remember Lycoming had a preheat standard temp. I think it was 10 or 20 degrees F. Our flying club upped it to 40F for mandatory preheating with a dragon type device. Some Guy melted the panel one fine day and put us all out of operation for a long time. I wonder why ROTAX or Flight Design does not publish a preheat temp...? Why Not? especically on their certified models....hey there you go, maybe the ROTAX F Models have a published preheat temp. Why not use that. It must be a good standard if certified. Anybody know?

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  • 1 month later...

I recall that someone on the other forum showed a picture of their preheat system: A hair dryer stuck in the air intake hole in the cowl, held with bungie cords. Don't know how well it worked. Moving to California is even better than moving to the southern US, so I can't speak from preheater experience! WF

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My CTSW was stored outside under a tent structure west of Boston, at 6b6.

I have Bruce' covers, both the Canopy+Engine and empennage components.

I kept the controls locked with a seatbelt on the stick, so Stabilator up.

 

I had composite dimpling down to the core of the stabilator, on the

lower surface. The part failed annual inspection in March 2010,

and I didn't get a new one until Aug 2010. Took a while to fabricate

one, and then a while to ship it. FDUSA kept me updated on progress.

The damage occurred slowly over winter when I wasn't flying much.

 

I've now moved to a shared hangar at KASH to prevent further damage.

 

I think that moisture got in due to the tail up storage, and went through

freeze-thaw cycles. The dimpling was just aft of an internal spar.

The drain holes were not the lowest part during storage, and the

gap to the trim tab and associated counter weights, holes and hinges was up.

The trim tab gap seal (bottom) was intact, as well as gap tape on top.

I know about avoiding alkaline chemicals, and used only Composiclean, and

the (older) Rain Dance blue wax, neutral ph. I think New England has

acid rain, not alkaline. To figure out the root cause, FDUSA said they

would drill out a core to send to FD Germany. The foam core has been

changed from Rohacell to something else in newer design...

 

On a related note, I had dimpling of the sub-fin and had that

replaced in the past. Water had gotten inside when the drain

hole was plugged. Now, I have two drain holes, and pre-flight

inspection is done by poking both with a pipe cleaner.

The extra weight and aft CG was not good for my landings.

Approx 2 gal of water was removed.

post-148-058940400 1283951505_thumb.jpg

post-148-053791300 1283951524_thumb.jpg

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I have seen this same thing just a few months ago from someone who has his plane stored outside. No one was sure why it happened. It was worse on the trim tab. The trim tab is getting replaced.

I think that was my plane, but it had only been based outside for a few months when you worked on it and the stabilizer is still pristine; only the trim tab was all dimpled up, top and bottom. Still no idea why but that's how it was when I got it. Anyway, I did used to have a Varieze based outside near boston which moved with me to San Jose. It was Imron painted but was always getting skin cancer through the winter freeze/thaw cycles at Hanscom. Any microscopic pinhole seems to be enough to get a blister started. It all stopped when I got to CA.

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