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Thread: Fabric reinforcement A.D.

  1. #41
    Administrator Steve Pierce's Avatar
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    Default Re: Fabric reinforcement A.D.

    Quote Originally Posted by DaleLindstrom View Post
    This SL included in the AD shows the trim strip.
    Thanks, I posted the wrong document. The service letter shows the aluminum strip that does away with the repetitive inspection and actually fixes the issue.

  2. #42
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    Default Re: Piper Fabric Modification Kit - PA-22

    Quote Originally Posted by DaleLindstrom View Post
    Even though this only applies to cotton or linen, AD 74-17-04, R2 includes Piper SL362B. This adds an aluminum trim strip/channel at the top/rear of the windshield.
    And if you read the thread linked in this one you will find that there have been several airplanes that lost the fabric attachment at the windshield that were covered with polyester fabric that the AD did not apply to. Pilots I talked to said it took all the power they had to get the airplane back to the airport and removed the fabric all the way back to the wing trailing edge.

  3. #43

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    Default Re: Piper Fabric Modification Kit - PA-22

    I didn't mean to imply that it wasn't a good idea to install it on all short wings. Just that the AD only REQUIRES it on cotton or linen.
    And there's probably not many covered with those materials now.

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    Default Re: Piper Fabric Modification Kit - PA-22

    I was just pointing out there is a reason to install the kit on aircraft covered in polyester as well. I believe it is a serious issue.

  5. #45

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    Default Re: Piper Fabric Modification Kit - PA-22

    What get’s me on the issue is that Piper didn’t specify the type of fabric in their service letter but the FAA called out cotton or linen in the AD. That kind of oversight isn’t likely with today’s FAA. My parts manual is from 1954, did Piper ever update the parts manual to include the trim piece?

  6. #46
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    Default Re: Fabric reinforcement A.D.

    This thread saved me some money. My Pacer is getting its annual. Our new mechanic is making sure all ADs are complied with. He insisted that this one was missed. I remembered this thread and was able to point out that he missed the fact that my Pacer is not covered in linen or cotton.

    Juergen
    Pacer N3342Z

  7. #47
    Gilbert Pierce's Avatar
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    Cool Re: Fabric reinforcement A.D.

    You have to be really careful when reading AD’s. The FAA has a program to make writing rules easy to read. The flunked the course in my opinion.
    I have had two cases recently where a repetitive AD was complied with that didn’t apply. In both cases the successive mechanics just read that the AD was complied with, next due at 100 hours and repeated the work.

    In my opinion, like Juergen, every aircraft owner should know what AD’s apply to their aircraft, when they are due and what they entail to comply with.
    Last edited by Gilbert Pierce; 09-10-2020 at 08:45 AM.

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    Default Fabric coming loose from top of windshield?

    I just read about the fabric coming loose aft of the windshield on a shortwing Piper.
    I thing think there is an AD on this requiring a metal piece to protect this area. AD 74-17-04 calls for the metallic strip for cotton and linen, but it would be a very good idea even for synthetic fabric along with perhaps a double layer of fabric. Kit 754 404 includes the metal trip strip and the fasteners needed. The windshield top has to have cutouts to clear the hardware.
    W.F. Robinson, who told Charles Lindberg where he could swap his Indian Motorcycle on a flying Jenny, told me to do that when I bought my Pacer. N7011K from him when I graduated from Auburn.

  9. #49

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    Default Fabric coming loose from top of windshield?

    The fabric is supposed to wrap and be glues inside the windshield channel and around the front face of the carry through tube. From reports, the aircraft in question appeared to only have the fabric glued to the top half of the windshield channel. All that said, it would still be a good idea to have the trim strip, or put the skylight STC in.


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    Last edited by dgapilot; 10-27-2020 at 07:43 PM.

  10. #50

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    Default Re: Fabric coming loose from top of windshield?

    Piper's Service bulletin 174B discusses it at length and includes a drawing:


    a4813f48-69fb-40fe-9567-5e5163b49b27.jpg

    The original service bulletin required the fabric to be pressed all the way into the channel and then extend all the way down to the fuselage tube - per the drawing.

    Piper found that wasn't happening on recovers. In the Service bulletin they specified that if any degradation at all was found in the fabric in that location that a 2 1/2" pinked edge tape be added over the fabric on top and wrapped over into the channel - again per the drawing.

    Piper described the inadequate recovering work as being done in a "in a very careless manner, creating an unsafe condition." This was in 1961 and covered the J-4, J-5, PA-12, PA-14, PA-15, PA-16, PA-17, PA-20 and PA-22, which at that time would have all been cotton or linen covered.

    ------

    Following the service bulletin in 1961, there were a series of ADs and amendments on the subject that superseded each other starting with AD 61-06-06 and continuing to AD 74-17-04 and amendment 39-2865 issued in 1977. The final amended AD stated:

    74-17-04 PIPER: Amendment 39-1919 as amended by Amendment 39-2154 is furtheramended by Amendment 39-2865. Applies to the following Models which are coveredwith cotton or linen (emphasis added) at the critical area on top of the windshield where the fabric attaches tothe channel: PA-12, Serial Numbers 12-2904 and higher, except 12-2907, 12-2911, 12-2914, 12-2915, 12-2917, 12-2925, 12-2950, 12-3028-S and 12-3901 through 12-3903;PA-14; PA-15; PA-16; PA-17; PA-20; and PA-22 airplanes, Serial Numbers 22-1 and up,certificated in all categories.

    To prevent sudden failure of the fabric at the top of the windshield where the fabricattaches to the channel, accomplish the following:

    1. For all airplanes, unless already accomplished, the indicated Piper Kits or equivalentparts approved by the Chief, Engineering and Manufacturing Branch, FAA, EasternRegion, must be installed within the next 25 hours in service after the effective date ofthis AD on airplanes which have fabric exceeding three years since installation:

    (a) Kit 760 799 effective on: PA-12, Serial numbers 12-2904 and higher, except 12-2907,12-2911, 12-2914, 12-2915, 12-2917, 12-2925, 12-2950, 12-3028-S and 12-3901 through12-3903; all PA-12S and PA-14 airplanes.

    (b) Kit 754 404 effective on: All PA-15, PA-16, PA-17 and PA-20 and PA-22 AirplaneSerial Numbers 22-1 and up.

    2. For all airplanes at every 100 hours in service after accomplishment of 1(a) or 1(b),remove the metallic strip and inspect the fabric over the top surface.

    (a) If no cracks or fraying are found, reinstall the metallic strip.

    (b) If any cracks or fraying are found, prior to further flight, add a fabric reinforcementstrip (pinked-tape) starting from a line formed by the intersection of the windshield andthe leading edge of the channel and extending aft at least three inches from the trailingedge of the channel. Reinstall the metallic strip.

    3. For all airplanes which have fabric installed within the last three years, every 100hours in service after the effective date of this AD, until three years are accumulated,inspect the fabric over the top surface.

    If any cracks or fraying are found, prior to further flight, install Piper Kits or equivalentparts approved by the Chief, Engineering and Manufacturing Branch, FAA, EasternRegion, as in 1(a) or 1(b) as appropriate.

    Upon request and appropriate substantiating data submitted through an FAA maintenanceinspector, the compliance time specified in this AD may be increased by the Chief,Engineering and Manufacturing Branch, FAA, Eastern Region.

    Piper Service Letter No. 362A pertains to this subject.

    This AD supersedes AD 61-06-06.Amendment 39-1919 was effective August 16, 1974.

    Amendment 39-2154 was effective April 9, 1975.

    This amendment 39-2865 is effective April 11, 1977


    ----


    In essence, the final AD required installation of a metal strip over the fabric at the windshield attachment point on all of the affected aircraft with more than 3 years of service since a recover. A 100 hour inspection was required if less than 3 years of service had passed since the recover, with a strip to be installed at 3 years of service. If the 100 hour inspections found or any wear of the fabric under the strip, installation of the a wider tape extending from the leading edge of the channel to a point 3" aft of the trailing edge of the channel was required.

    You'll note I added the emphasis in the AD "which are covered with cotton or linen". By 1977 Ceconite, Stits, Razorback, etc were in common use and Cotton and Linen were in sharp decline. The inclusion of that language in the AD clearly implies that degradation of the fabric in that area isn't a problem with "modern" Dacron fabrics and that the AD doesn't apply to Dacron covered aircraft. I suspect excluding newer fabric covering processes from the AD requirements was the purpose for the final amendment, but I'd have to find those interim amendments to confirm that.

    -----

    In any event the exclusion of modern Dacron fabrics, and the recent reappearance of the fabric separation issue takes us full circle back to the original service bulletin. The original issue wasn't concern over degraded fabric, that came later. The original issue was improper attachment of the fabric in a manner where it did not extend into and then down past the channel to the fuselage tube.

    In other words, while wear and degradation in that area is not an issue with modern fabrics, modern mechanics doing recent recovering jobs have either forgotten or never knew in the first place that they needed to wrap the fabric all the way through the inside of the channel and down to the fuselage tube. They have also apparently not been aware that for good measure putting a 2 1/2" pinked edge tape over the front edge of the channel to protect and reinforce the underlying fabric is a really good idea.

    Fabric recovering was on the verge of becoming a lost art for awhile. One of the positive things that has occurred with both the LSA regs and the increased popularity of new iterations of the Cub, SuperCub, Champ and Citabria by Legend, Cub Crafters and ACA is a resurgence in interest in both vintage and new production fabric covered aircraft.

    The downside is that it while it is increasing demand for mechanics who are able to do fabric work, the new crop of mechanics doing fabric work don't always have the institutional knowledge the older generation of tube and fabric mechanics had. Consequently, a whole lot of wheels are going to get reinvented as aircraft specific techniques get re-learned.
    Last edited by LarryV; 10-27-2020 at 10:13 PM.

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