Today's Message Index:
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1. 09:08 AM - ALERT! ANYONE FLYING AEROCET 1100 FLOATS!! (Paul Seehafer)
2. 11:15 AM - Re: Kitfox-List: ALERT! ANYONE FLYING AEROCET 1100 FLOATS!! (Michel Verheughe)
3. 11:19 AM - Re: Kitfox-List: ALERT! ANYONE FLYING AEROCET 1100 FLOATS!! (Guy Buchanan)
Message 1
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| Subject: | ALERT! ANYONE FLYING AEROCET 1100 FLOATS!! |
Do not fly your Aerocet 1100 floats without reading this carefully
first!
Recently I had two of the cross brace cables fail on my Aerocet floats
because the nicopress sleeves slipped on the cable, caused by not being
crimped properly when manufactured. Needless to say, when you lose the
cross bracing on your floats, it's the equivelent of losing the bungee
chords and safety cables from a bungee style landing gear. All worked
out ok for me, but I fear what may have happened in a different
scenario.
So for anyone flying aerocet floats on their Kitfox or Avids, please
check your nicopress fittings to make sure they are crimped properly.
You will need a nicopress go/no-go gauge to be able to tell if they are
good or not (a $6 tool). If in doubt, re-crimp or replace them.
Without good crimps your floats will sooner or later fail! And even if
you have a lot of landings on your floats (mine had hundreds and
hundreds), it's just a matter of time before the floats will collapse in
operation. Most likely this will happen when subjected to a higher than
average load (in my case it was caused by a very large boat wake).
I have since been told that Aerocet had a service bulletin about this
problem, but I wasn't aware of it until after mine failed.
I don't want to see anyone get hurt, especially knowing there is such an
easy remedy to the problem.
Paul Seehafer
Kitfox IV-1200 Aerocet Amphibs
Message 2
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| Subject: | Re: Kitfox-List: ALERT! ANYONE FLYING AEROCET 1100 FLOATS!! |
On Aug 15, 2007, at 6:03 PM, Paul Seehafer wrote:
> You will need a nicopress go/no-go gauge to be able to tell if they
> are good or not (a $6 tool).
I don't want to sound arrogant or patronising but ... as a sailor I
would never trust Nicopress to support anything aboard. All sailing
rigs use a conical terminal device to end the stays. The more you pull
on the stay, the more it tightens. Of course, those are a tad more
expensive than Nicopress but ... safety first, isn't it?
Yes, I know, I have Nicopress on the wires of my rudder but the force
it must sustain is minimal compare to floats.
In any case, I am glad it went well for you, Paul. And thank you for
letting the word out. While I don't have floats, it's nice to know that
we have this list to report our problem because learning from others'
experience is the best way to safe flying.
Cheers,
Michel Verheughe
Norway
Kitfox 3 - Jabiru 2200
do not archive
PS: An alternative to Nicopress is simply the good old wire spicing.
Not easy if you haven't done it before but maybe a sailmaker can help
you there. A nice splicing dressed with e.g. self-bounding rubber tape.
But the best is the conical terminal because you avoid to make a bend
in the cable around the eyelet. Here is an example:
http://www.bosunsupplies.com/QuickAttachInstruction.cfm
Message 3
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| Subject: | Re: Kitfox-List: ALERT! ANYONE FLYING AEROCET 1100 FLOATS!! |
At 09:03 AM 8/15/2007, you wrote:
>Recently I had two of the cross brace cables fail on my Aerocet
>floats because the nicopress sleeves slipped on the cable, caused by
>not being crimped properly when manufactured.
Paul,
Thanks for the pictures, without them your diagnosis would
have been wrong and you would have had more failures. Your nico
sleeve failed because it was on 1x19 wire. Nico sleeves are intended
solely for 7x19 wire and should NEVER be used on 1x19! (Yes, that's
CAPITAL N - NEVER! Some people try two sleeves on 1x19, thinking that
will work. DON'T DO IT! You can also use them on 7x7, but you
shouldn't be using 7x7 for structural applications anyway.) ANY
STRUCTURAL 1X19 WIRE TERMINATED WITH NICO SLEEVES SHOULD BE
IMMEDIATELY REPLACED BY 1X19 WITH SWAGED AIRCRAFT FITTINGS.
If you require references I'll dig them up, but I know this
well, having worked in yacht rigging and design for 20 years. I also
can't tell you, off the top of my head, what fraction of the wire's
capability a 1x19 nico will carry, since we never did it; but I saw
many failures, mostly Hobie cat rigs.
Now I know this is going to require some work on your part,
since your tabs may not provide enough clearance for the air-fork
clevis, but please take the time to do it right. And please spread
the word. If your hardware came from Aerocet, you might let them know
that they have taken on excess liability in this regard.
Guy Buchanan
San Diego, CA
K-IV 1200 / 582-C / Warp / 100% done, thanks mostly to Bob Ducar.
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