New Polyfiber Medium -4 Fabric

[Clayton Harper]

JimH,
Well, I'll be darned.
It would not have worked for me however, the PA-16 is not on the PMA list.
andya,
I have been told that too. As it comes off of the big roll it is stamped Ceconite or PolyFiber. Some other products that are migrating together are SuperSeam and PolyTac.

[Steve Pierce]

Yes this is true, got it from the owner of Poly-Fibe. Superflight is a different company and use a different mill for their fabric.

[Clayton Harper]

Jim,
I don't think one company can just decide to change the fabric used to their own company's fabric from the original company's fabric named in the STC. Anyone chime in here.
Anyway, I got on the phone and found and bought 10 yds of Medium 3 at Weber Aero Repair in MN, talk to Kevin. They are the Bellanca repair center in sight of the Bellanca Factory there in Alexandria. I also found 3 or 4 yds of Medium 3 at Wick's and some at STITS LITE BY F&M ENTERPRISES in Granbury, TX. If you just need a small amount to finish a project, it is still out there.

I spoke to Jon Goldenbaum, who wrote the PolyFiber and Ceconite manuals. On pages 1 & 2 it says one must use their fabric for certified aircraft to comply with the STC. He believe the document you have may allow you to use PolyFiber with the SuperFlite but not vise versa. He said what happens: A new to the aircraft IA finds the fabric marked with the wrong stamp and won't annual it short of a recover job. He used the example of a Ceconite fabric with pink PolyBrush coating, "not legal".

[Steve Pierce]

He used the example of a Ceconite fabric with pink PolyBrush coating, "not legal".

Unless they screw up and then they let you mix Coconut fabric with the Poly fiber process. All the other systems just require certified fabric.

[Jim Hann]

JimH,
Well, I'll be darned.
It would not have worked for me however, the PA-16 is not on the PMA list.
andya,
I have been told that too. As it comes off of the big roll it is stamped Ceconite or PolyFiber. Some other products that are migrating together are SuperSeam and PolyTac.

It is in there, page 29:
Screen Shot 2014-04-29 at 19.05.01.jpg

I spoke to Jon Goldenbaum, who wrote the PolyFiber and Ceconite manuals. On pages 1 & 2 it says one must use their fabric for certified aircraft to comply with the STC. He believe the document you have may allow you to use PolyFiber with the SuperFlite but not vise versa. He said what happens: A new to the aircraft IA finds the fabric marked with the wrong stamp and won't annual it short of a recover job. He used the example of a Ceconite fabric with pink PolyBrush coating, "not legal".

Not to be sarcastic but spoken like an OEM. Of course he doesn't like it, it may (will?) cost them sales because of the bad reputation the new fabric has. I've seen this in other industries although the certification levels are not the same. It is a PMA the same as Univair has for ribs and other airframe parts. I would add a copy of the PMA approval to my logbooks just like the PMA tags from the ribs in my wings. Gives a good documented paper trail.

Screen Shot 2014-04-29 at 19.26.29.jpg

The other thing about Superflite, they stamp it at the edge so you normally cut off the STC-PMA stamp. Knowing that, it makes it even harder to prove it IS Superflite vs. anything else.

This is a reason to like Stewarts even more, they have it in their manual to use any approved fabric. My airplane is a mix of Superflite and Ceconite, at their direction.

I also know an IA who was doing this fabric switch before it was approved but most of the airplanes he does go in a museum after they are test flown.

Jim

[gliderman]

In defense of Polyfiber and Mr.Goldenbaum: he couldn't have said anything else without opening himself to all sorts of grief. Can you imagine if there was ever a "prang" and it was found that different covering systems were mixed and a comment attributable to Mr. Goldenbaum saying that it was ok in contradiction to FAA and STC approvals? you know where you folks live and the lawyers.....
can we say "lose everything you worked for".
I used the Polyfiber system on my recent recover jobs and I had a couple of yards of ceconite- enough to recover the landing gear- when I mentioned using it- my AME gave me " the Look". we all know it comes from the same roll but......

I know the darn stuff aint good for you and stinks but who can argue with 50 years of proven track record. I'm rather conservative so I will stick with what I know....
also a little birdy told me that they too are working on a water based system

ok enough preaching- back to your regularly scheduled programming

Shane-o

[Clayton Harper]

So Jim,
How does your paperwork read?

Aircraft covered I/A/W STC SA1008WE, except Superflite Fabric was used instead of Poly Fiber Med 3, refer to Page 29.

Why do that? Is Superflite a lot cheaper?

I know an IA that does a 20 Min Annual, if you count his getting out of his truck and getting back into the truck.

[Curly]

I don't think it really matters which system you use - the one thing that does really matter is to follow the STC instructions to the f...ing letter!
My understanding of the accident that killed Steve Wittman was a fabric failure due to not following the STC.

And Clayton - that IA should be put out of business - before he kills someone, if he has not done so already!

[Steve Pierce]

The new Poly fiber fabric is a tighter weave and the Stewarts coatings don't perpetrate it like they do Super fight fabric. The new Poly fiber fabric is harder to work with and you don't get the absorption that you got in the old fabric. I spoke with John at length about this.

[Clayton Harper]

I don't think it really matters which system you use - the one thing that does really matter is to follow the STC instructions to the f...ing letter!
My understanding of the accident that killed Steve Wittman was a fabric failure due to not following the STC.

And Clayton - that IA should be put out of business - before he kills someone, if he has not done so already!

My point EXACTLY.