Posted for "Mark Ravinski" <mjrav@comcast.net>:

 Lancairians,
 The yellow tape shows where the hairline cracks were first noticed.  (at
about 900 hours)
 A test was conducted by having one guy push down on a horizontal tail tip -
another guy push up on the opposite tip - a third guy inside the tail cone.
 The guy inside could see the cracks "move" or open and close a little bit
with sunlight coming through as pressure was applied.
 
 I made a foam plug of the shape of the area.  Then from that a mold was made
in a box which duplicated the aircraft shape.
 Then a foam and glass plug was made in the mold.  This plug weighed 2 oz and
was bonded into the tail.
 Then 4 plies of glass were bonded over the plug to give the fuselage a well
rounded structural shape on top.
 
 Tim Ong looked at it at Oshkosh and said "it was a good fix".
 
 
 Mark Ravinski
 360  1470 hrs
 
 
  From: Csims440787973@aol.com
  To: lml@lancaironline.net
  Sent: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 6:29 AM
  Subject: [LML] Re: Strength vs. stiffness
 
 
  If you have the pictures available, I would like to see them.  I am building
and have heard various solutions to the problem of the cracks round the tail.
 I would like to do this right if other builders have already solved the
problem, I would like to follow the correct path.
 
  Charles Sims
  360 builder
 
 
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