Owning more expensive than renting

On Sat, 18 Dec 2004 13:38:17 GMT, Jon Kraus wrote:

Has anyone found owning more expensive than renting? :-)

After my major overhaul after an inflight cylinder failure on my 1976
Sundowner. I thought I was through the "worst" case scenario, but a new
problem is about to bite me in my rear end that has my A&P scratching his
head.....

Last flight, I noticed under the wing root, some blue dye on my nice shiny
white paint. Thought, ok, maybe when I was topped off, that some fuel
dripped down and left it's traces. Wiped it off, nothing leaking, so I
thought.... Flew the plane, landed, no obvious signs of leaking.

Today, go out, same thing, just enough leakage, that it doesn't make it to
the bottom of the fusalage, nothing on the ground, yet I have a fuel leak
from the root of the wing.

My A&P took a look, sure enough, said I have never seen anything like this.
The Sundowner doesn't have any access panels to the fuel tanks! Everything
is riveted tight as a drum. So.... now do I have a leaky fuel tank, or do
I have a fuel line problem.

A&P said run it today, with the warmer weather and see if I get seepage.
Came back, sure enough, very fine strip of blue from fuel seeping out.

I wiped it off after the flight, to see if I get any seepage. I am
figuring if no seepage, then there is a good chance it's a fuel line
leaking under pressure. I asked for the tank to be topped off as well.

Either way, it's going to be very expensive to repair.... If it's the
tank, the entire wing will probably have to be removed from what I gather,
as it does not appear to be "bladders" according to my A&P.

Total time on airframe is 2253, so be very careful in buying "underused"
airplanes. Sitting on the ramp is worse then being used on a regular basis
as I am learning the hard way.

Allen

On 20-Dec-2004, A Lieberman wrote:

My A&P took a look, sure enough, said I have never seen anything like
this. The Sundowner doesn't have any access panels to the fuel tanks!
Everything is riveted tight as a drum. So.... now do I have a leaky fuel
tank, or do
I have a fuel line problem.

I don't know squat about Sundowners, but I'm wondering how it could be that
here are NO access/inspection holes on the wings. Certainly, there has to
be access to the wing attach bolts. Also, how does the fuel line get
connected after a wing is installed if there are no access points?

I've seen some remarkable snorkeling periscope tools that allow one to
"peek" around corners inside a wing when the inspection hole isn't where the
problem it.

Have you considered that Beech technical support might be able to help on
this problem?

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

--
-Elliott Drucker

I have access to a 20 ft fiberoptic borescope. I'm here in San Diego.
Wouldn't mind playing with it as long as we don't break it. I could never
afford to replace it...


wrote in message
news:YUNyd.5511$h.2950@trnddc04...

On 20-Dec-2004, A Lieberman wrote:

My A&P took a look, sure enough, said I have never seen anything like
this. The Sundowner doesn't have any access panels to the fuel tanks!
Everything is riveted tight as a drum. So.... now do I have a leaky
fuel
tank, or do
I have a fuel line problem.

I don't know squat about Sundowners, but I'm wondering how it could be
that
here are NO access/inspection holes on the wings. Certainly, there has to
be access to the wing attach bolts. Also, how does the fuel line get
connected after a wing is installed if there are no access points?

I've seen some remarkable snorkeling periscope tools that allow one to
"peek" around corners inside a wing when the inspection hole isn't where
the
problem it.

Have you considered that Beech technical support might be able to help on
this problem?

Good luck, and let us know what happens.

--
-Elliott Drucker