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Broken Skylight

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tinnemaha(at)hotmail.com
Guest

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 9:33 am Post subject: Broken Skylight

Happy New Year to all,



I'm about 12 hours into phase I testing of my S-5 TD with Lyc.  Everything 

was going great until I decided to try slips yesterday.  Left aileron, right 

rudder no problem (IAS = 65 mph), but right aileron, left rudder (same 

airspeed) & a sudden 'bang' took about 3 or 4 square feet off the skylight 

portion of my continuous windscreen/skylight.  A little shook up, I slowly 

went straight home & landed without further incident.  Among other things, 

I'm thankful that it happened with just me and 4000' of altitude near home 

base rather than with an unsuspecting passenger in a remote place on final.



Before I state what I believe the cause to be, has anyone else had this 

experience?  I couldn't find anything in the archives.



Thanks,



Grant Krueger



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kitfoxmike

Joined: 05 Dec 2006
Posts: 373

Posted: Mon Jan 01, 2007 10:16 am Post subject: Re: Broken Skylight

I had my skylight lift and brake off the wood in the right rear corner, didn't notice it until in flight, was lifted up about an inch in flight and settled down when on the ground.  I was able to just put angle pieces of aluminum at the rib that the winscreen attatches to.  Sounds like you're going to have to replace the windscreen.  I also have a problem with the rivits being pulled out on the right front at the bend.  I did find a solution, and that is to heat the windscreen as you install with a heat gun at the bends.  Try practicing with a scrap piece, you will be amazed at how it bends and keeps it's form.  What I did for now was take all my bends on the windscreen and heated them, I could here everything creek and settle in.  This summer I plan on doing another install and plan on heating the bends as I install, should be a much eisier install and should no longer have a problem with brakage.

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smokey_bear_40220(at)yaho
Guest

Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 10:43 pm Post subject: Broken Skylight

--- Tinne maha <tinnemaha(at)hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi Grant,



Yes, there has been several failures of the cockpit

rib caps coming off and lifting with the skylite.  I

think yours is one of the less violent, if that helps.

 It has been 4-5 years sind the last one, if memory

serves....



Based upon list advice, I added aluminum angles unde

the caps and riveted them to the ribs.  The skylite

bolts then go thru these angles to reinforce the caps.

 I think I did every other bolt....



Congrats on your flying!  Sorry about the skylite

though.  Sounds like testing served its purpose, but

you will be grounded for a bit to fix it?



Kurt S.  S-5



 	  Quote: 	
		   Happy New Year to all,

 

 I'm about 12 hours into phase I testing of my S-5 TD

 with Lyc.  Everything 

 was going great until I decided to try slips

 yesterday.  Left aileron, right 

 rudder no problem (IAS = 65 mph), but right aileron,

 left rudder (same 

 airspeed) & a sudden 'bang' took about 3 or 4 square

 feet off the skylight 

 portion of my continuous windscreen/skylight.  A

 little shook up, I slowly 

 went straight home & landed without further

 incident.  Among other things, 

 I'm thankful that it happened with just me and 4000'

 of altitude near home 

 base rather than with an unsuspecting passenger in a

 remote place on final.

 

 Before I state what I believe the cause to be, has

 anyone else had this 

 experience?  I couldn't find anything in the

 archives.

 

 Thanks,

 

 Grant Krueger


	


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Tom Jones

Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Posts: 752
Location: Ellensburg, WA

Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:41 am Post subject: Re: Broken Skylight

Grant,

I can remember one case of a kitfox lexan windscreen cracking with a loud bang in flight.   It was in winter and the temperature was very cold.  With the help of an A&P, the owner drilled and safety wired it together and flew it for another few days that way.



Do you have a theory as to why your skylight broke?  I gather from your other post that yours is not lexan.

Tom Jones

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tinnemaha(at)hotmail.com
Guest

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 7:40 am Post subject: Broken Skylight

I feel pretty dumb admitting it, but I'm pretty sure the (ACRYLIC) skylight 

broke because I didn't have the back edge (from left wing trailing edge to 

right wing trailing edge) fastened to the airframe.  No problems at all in 

12+ hours of flying this way, but as soon as I started the slip (at 65 mph) 

to the right and 'bang!', it was gone.  I'm guessing it started where the 

back corner is peeled up to allow for wing folding.  No explanation as to 

why the extended slip to the left didn't cause any problem.  Any ideas?



Grant

Time: 06:42:44 AM PST US

Subject: Re: Broken Skylight

From: "Tom Jones" <nahsikhs(at)elltel.net>

Grant,

I can remember one case of a kitfox lexan windscreen cracking with a loud 

bang

in flight.   It was in winter and the temperature was very cold.  With the 

help

of an A&P, the owner drilled and safety wired it together and flew it for

another

few days that way.



Do you have a theory as to why your skylight broke?  I gather from your 

other

post

that yours is not lexan.

Tom Jones



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Tom Jones

Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Posts: 752
Location: Ellensburg, WA

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:14 am Post subject: Re: Broken Skylight

Grant,

I can only make a guess.  Something may be different...like propwash, spireling slip stream, amount of power on or off, degree of wing low from one side to the other.  It was probably just a matter of time before the skylight blew out and that time came at the same instant you tried the right hand slip.



Thanks for sharing your experience.  It is one we all can learn from.

Tom Jones

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Tom Jones

Joined: 12 Mar 2006
Posts: 752
Location: Ellensburg, WA

Posted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:41 am Post subject: Re: Broken Skylight

Grant,

Here is some information that may shed some light on what happened.  according to this article, when a high wing airplane is in a slip, the upwind wing (the low wing when slipping) has an updraft at the wing root.  Here's a link to the article  http://www.av8n.com/how/htm/roll.html

Tom Jones

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