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Message
P-Static is a
surface phenomena. Static wicks will do no good on an e-glass airframe. CAFI put
out a good article on p-static, I believe it's on their website. I plan on using
a conductive primer and wicks on my e-glass Glasair III. I don't know if it will
work, we'll see.
We
had a rather significant P-static event yesterday as we flew through an area
of very fine rain/mist. OAT was 9 deg C at 6000 MSL. I first
noticed the bacon sizzling sound in the headsets, then noticed the Advanced
Flight Systems AOA Pro display going crazy followed by the TruTrak DFC-250
failing and putting the airplane in a shallow descent (display indicated some
sort of failure, I don't recall the actual message). The Dynon D-10 went
out as well. The event lasted about 5 seconds as the sizzling sound
increased till the discharge. The AOA, autopilot and Dynon all came back
and operated properly. I had deenergized the autopilot during the
event. Since then , I have noticed the only thing not working as before
is two of the MAC trim led indicators. The trims work fine. The
radios were not affected. MX-20, GNS 480, SL-30, GTX 33. (all
certified hardware) All the non-certified items could not handle the
event.
Last week, I waxed the airplane for the first time since paint
over a year ago. I used Macguires polish then carnuba wax on the wings
only. Haven't had time to complete the entire airframe yet. When
using the polish, I noticed the hair on my arms would stand on end due to the
static buildup. When I applied the carnuba wax, this did not
happen.
I was wondering if anyone thinks the polish/wax could have an
effect on P-static. The airframe is E-glass without static wicks.
I have flown through rain of this type before with no effect
noticeable.
Mike Salzman
LNCE
Fairfield,
CA
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