Wing inspection holes

A G Yeoman · Post by **A G Yeoman** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:56 pm

Hi there,
I noticed there was a bit of talk here regarding inspection holes in the leading edge of the Rebel wing.

I have two in each wing, one in front of the front wing attach bracket and one in front of the strut attach bracket (one behind the strut as well). I placed doublers around all.

I have done over 300hrs in my Rebel now, through sometimes quite rough conditions, there is no sign of any form of cracking etc.

Any opinions on this, was I not supposed to do this??

Cheers

Alister

Bob Patterson · Post by **Bob Patterson** » Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:56 pm

Hi Alister !

Sounds like you're OK, with the doublers, but a lot of the
wing strength is from the "D" tube, and it probably isn't a good idea
to put extra holes in it, for those who haven't yet.

My comments are general, as a caution to all ...

The root area is particularly important on the whole wing - I've
seen the steel girder test stands where the wings are mounted and
sandbagged to test when and where they fail. The Rebel wings will start
to crumple on the top, in the first bay out from the root, so that
is an area to absolutely avoid adding extra holes. Fortunately,
there's nothing there to give a reason for holes, so nobody has
had problems. The other high-load area is near the strut attach,
as that is the pivot point for the loads. Check with the factory
for hole sizes and positions, and use doublers.

This explains my unease when I hear comments about builders
skipping rivets on the leading edge skin in front of the tanks -
that is a VERY important area of the wing ! Do everything you can
to ensure that the leading edges are rivetted as close to spec as
possible.

Of course, the failures in testing occur well beyond anything
you should ever experience in normal flight, so there's no need
to panic. It's just a good idea to do as much as you can to prevent
possible future problems ...

The beauty of the Rebel design is that almost all failures
would be progessive and gradual, so you'd still have a good chance of
being able to fly it home for repairs. (Albeit perhaps with a
bit of extra dihedral ! ;-) )

....bobp

---------------------------------orig.--------------------------------------
At 07:50 PM 5/19/01 +1200, you wrote:

Hi there,
I noticed there was a bit of talk here regarding inspection

holes in the leading edge of the Rebel wing.

I have two in each wing, one in front of the front wing attach bracket and

one in front of the strut attach bracket (one behind the strut as well). I
placed doublers around all.

I have done over 300hrs in my Rebel now, through sometimes quite rough

conditions, there is no sign of any form of cracking etc.

Any opinions on this, was I not supposed to do this??

Cheers

Alister
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi there, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>           &n

bsp; 

I noticed there was a bit of talk here regarding inspection holes in the

leading

edge of the Rebel wing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have two in each wing, one in

front of

the front wing attach bracket and one in front of the strut attach bracket

(one

behind the strut as well). I placed doublers around all.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I have done over 300hrs in my Rebel now,
through sometimes quite rough conditions, there is no sign of any form of
cracking etc.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Any opinions on this, was I not supposed to do
this??</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cheers</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Alister</FONT>  </DIV></BODY></HTML>

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