High wings and structural strength

"Kev" wrote in message
oups.com...

karl gruber wrote:
The landing gear springs on my Cessna are titanium.

Holy smokes, I just read that those are over $11,000 a set !! Pardon
my asking, but I just have to know why someone would spend that much on
a set of Cessna legs. Is it a bush pilot kind of thing or do you
cycle landings every few hours or ????

Thanks!
Kev


Well, I bought the first set. At the time they were less than half the
present price. And, I got about half the rest from the sale of the original
steel gear. The cost of raw titanium has gone through the roof since then.

Maybe more money than brains, but they did cut 25 pounds off the empty
weight of my 185. Plus they look great and next to nobody has them.

And contrary to "news," there are no used ones out there. I doubt if more
than 10 ever sold and they've only been available for the past three years.

Someday some archeologist will come upon a pile of aluminum oxide with some
weird shiny new looking titanium springs sticking out and will wonder what
the hell is THAT?

Best,
Karl
"Curator" N185KG

karl gruber wrote:
"Kev" wrote in message
oups.com...

karl gruber wrote:
The landing gear springs on my Cessna are titanium.

Holy smokes, I just read that those are over $11,000 a set !! [...]

Well, I bought the first set. At the time they were less than half the
present price. And, I got about half the rest from the sale of the original
steel gear. The cost of raw titanium has gone through the roof since then.

Maybe more money than brains, but they did cut 25 pounds off the empty
weight of my 185. Plus they look great and next to nobody has them.

Hmm. So about $100 per pound lost, which isn't too bad. Especially
compared to speed mods like gap seals etc, which cost what? $1000 per
mph gained? Something like that? It's been a while since I
researched that.

Someday some archeologist will come upon a pile of aluminum oxide with
some weird shiny new looking titanium springs sticking out and will wonder
what the hell is THAT?

No kidding!

Thanks for the interesting reply,
Kev

Maybe more money than brains, but they did cut 25 pounds off the empty
weight of my 185. Plus they look great and next to nobody has them.

Whoa! That's actually a good deal, then. 25 pounds is a nice pick-up
in your useful load!

Although I gained five pounds back yesterday by having my old DME
yanked out of my panel -- AND the avionics shop bought it from me for
$150 bucks!

By golly, Atlas just LEAPED off the runway after having that old tooth
pulled...

;-)

Happy Thanksgiving!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Kev wrote:



Hmm. So about $100 per pound lost, which isn't too bad. Especially
compared to speed mods like gap seals etc, which cost what? $1000 per
mph gained? Something like that? It's been a while since I
researched that.

Gap seals are dirt cheap. I can get gap seals for my ailerons that are
really just tape. Around $100 for the kit. Several companies sell gap
seals for the flaps of Cessna's. Maybe $300 for a typical 182.

News,

Where do you get the "just tape" aileron gap seals?

Karl



"Newps" wrote in message
. ..


Kev wrote:



Hmm. So about $100 per pound lost, which isn't too bad. Especially
compared to speed mods like gap seals etc, which cost what? $1000 per
mph gained? Something like that? It's been a while since I
researched that.

Gap seals are dirt cheap. I can get gap seals for my ailerons that are
really just tape. Around $100 for the kit. Several companies sell gap
seals for the flaps of Cessna's. Maybe $300 for a typical 182.

Newps wrote:
Kev wrote:

Hmm. So about $100 per pound lost, which isn't too bad. Especially
compared to speed mods like gap seals etc, which cost what? $1000 per
mph gained? Something like that? It's been a while since I
researched that.

Gap seals are dirt cheap. I can get gap seals for my ailerons that are
really just tape. Around $100 for the kit. Several companies sell gap
seals for the flaps of Cessna's. Maybe $300 for a typical 182.

Gap seals should be dirt cheap, but I can't find any for less that
$450, with 8 hours labor (another $500 at least), for about $1000
installed. Where are you finding a $100 legal kit?

Kev

On 23 Nov 2006 09:15:40 -0800, "Kev" wrote:

Gap seals are dirt cheap. I can get gap seals for my ailerons that are
really just tape. Around $100 for the kit. Several companies sell gap
seals for the flaps of Cessna's. Maybe $300 for a typical 182.

Gap seals should be dirt cheap, but I can't find any for less that
$450, with 8 hours labor (another $500 at least), for about $1000
installed. Where are you finding a $100 legal kit?

Mine cost $5 for a lifetime supply, at Lowes Aerospace. On Experimentals, at
least, we can just use duct tape. I replace it every three years or so, if it
looks like it's starting to separate.

Doesn't improve the speed (very little WOULD, in this airplane) but it increases
the aileron effectiveness.

Ron Wanttaja

Not being a Cessna guy anymore I don't recall which companies sold the
tape kits. Here's a few links for gap seals.

http://www.skywagons.com/modaddress.html

http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog...407/index.html

Get with the Cessna Pilots Assoc and they'll help you out too. There
was always a lot of talk on the web board about these gap seals.




karl gruber wrote:

News,

Where do you get the "just tape" aileron gap seals?

Karl

I didn't think you could get them. Hey, I all over the net!

Karl


"Newps" wrote in message
. ..
Not being a Cessna guy anymore I don't recall which companies sold the
tape kits. Here's a few links for gap seals.

http://www.skywagons.com/modaddress.html

http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog...407/index.html

Get with the Cessna Pilots Assoc and they'll help you out too. There was
always a lot of talk on the web board about these gap seals.




karl gruber wrote:

News,

Where do you get the "just tape" aileron gap seals?

Karl

What materials are used for the spar in GA planes? I seem to recall
that large jets use titanium for the most critical structural
elements, but I presume that's too expensive for small planes (?).

--


Spars are usually made of Spruce,Aluminum, and Occasionally Magnesium
in most the stuff I fly.

Also I have flown several high wing aircraft where the wing root is
attached to the fuselage by two 1/4" bolt t on each wing. Given that
much of the load is actually carried through the Struts.

Brian