In the interest of safety I’m sharing a enormous screwup of mine that could have been disastrous. Last week on my second test flight, during climb out,
I heard a loud boom. I thought perhaps I had blown out a window and checked, but all windows were good. A friend on the ground radioed and said he thought I was back firing so I thought I blew something in the engine. The engine instruments were all good, but I made an emergency landing and taxied to my hangar. When I exited the plane, I saw what the issue was, and it wasn’t the engine. The fabric on the fuselage above my head had filled like a balloon and loudly burst ripping the fabric. I couldn’t see any of this because I have a headliner that stayed intact. The backfiring was actually the fabric snapping in the wind like a flag in a windstorm. Upon closer examination it appears likely that where the fabric wraps around the windshield channel and is glued, that it didn’t hold. Either I didn’t have enough glue or didn’t scuff the channel properly in this area.
In discussing this with airport friends I found out about an old Piper AD on several models that had the same issue in the seventies where a metal trim strip over the fabric and windshield was required. I’m sure that isn’t necessary on the BH when done properly, but obviously I screwed up. When you look at the attached pics you can see the damage. I believe i will have to recover the entire fuselage but if there is another suggestion on an easier or faster repair, I welcome any ideas. Thanks
I heard a loud boom. I thought perhaps I had blown out a window and checked, but all windows were good. A friend on the ground radioed and said he thought I was back firing so I thought I blew something in the engine. The engine instruments were all good, but I made an emergency landing and taxied to my hangar. When I exited the plane, I saw what the issue was, and it wasn’t the engine. The fabric on the fuselage above my head had filled like a balloon and loudly burst ripping the fabric. I couldn’t see any of this because I have a headliner that stayed intact. The backfiring was actually the fabric snapping in the wind like a flag in a windstorm. Upon closer examination it appears likely that where the fabric wraps around the windshield channel and is glued, that it didn’t hold. Either I didn’t have enough glue or didn’t scuff the channel properly in this area.
In discussing this with airport friends I found out about an old Piper AD on several models that had the same issue in the seventies where a metal trim strip over the fabric and windshield was required. I’m sure that isn’t necessary on the BH when done properly, but obviously I screwed up. When you look at the attached pics you can see the damage. I believe i will have to recover the entire fuselage but if there is another suggestion on an easier or faster repair, I welcome any ideas. Thanks
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