Ray Lovinggood wrote:
Bruce,

Ditto on my LS1-d.

However, this summer I did have the mylar on the lower
surface of one wing give some problem. The 'safety'
tape kept the mylar from leaving the ship, but the
mylar somehow broke away from the double-sided tape
and it rotated 90 degrees, more or less and was perpendicular
to the wing. Of course, this happened in flight.
So, I was flying around with a 30 mm high spoiler in
front of the aileron. The length of the 'spoiler'
must have been five feet (1.5 meters). This started
on the first leg of a 300 km FAI triangle. Since the
airplane flew fine, except for some 'into the draggy
wing' stick I had to hold during the flight, everything
went fine. So, how did the mylar rotate 'up' and create
the spoiler, even though the leading edge of the mylar
was taped to wing? Why didn't the airflow keep the
mylar pushed down against the wing? If you know, please
tell me!

I guess some airfoils are more susceptible to problems
with mylar than others.

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
LS1-d

At 16:12 16 October 2006, Bruce Greef wrote:
BB wrote:
IThere have been several accidents resulting from
seals coming loose,
and causing a 'spoiler' effect on the control surface.
One is here

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?e...07X04237&key=1

I think there was at least one Grob crash in Germany.
Some manuals
specifically state there has to be tape on the elevator.

So, yes, this is a serious issue. Since hearing of
the first crash,
'check condition of mylar and hold-down tape' has
been part of my
critical assembly check.

John Cochrane BB

Finally - one undisputable advantage of the all flying
tail on my Cirrus. ;-)




A lot of us use 3M adhesive remover to get the sticky up after removing
the mylar and transfer tape. Don't apply new transfer tape until you
clean the 3M adhesive remover off or the new tape will come loose in a
short time. I like to clean up with Acyli-Clean from Dupont on the
surface prior to putting the transfer tape down. Available at auto
paint stores.

A friend bailed out of his Ventus A some years back because the mylar
came loose in front of the elevator. Don't cut corners here.

WM