justincarter Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 I will hopefully be picking up my '67 F from bare metal re-spray in the next week or two. Obviously I'll give her a thorough looking over before accepting her back, jumping in and flying away. I'm pretty sure the logs / paperwork will all be in order (including double engineering sign-off) but, mindful that all of the control surfaces have been off (including the entire empennage), what kind of checklist of things would you, as a receiving owner, check before flying away? Comments about the respray itself or the control surfaces checks welcome!! Im just psyching myself up for the big day!! I will of course post pics when she's back home!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilpilot Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 check that your exterior lighting works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffy Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Obviously make sure the control surface balance checks have been done and signed off. Check the Static pressure holes to make sure they are clear and not painted over. Check them to see if paint has run down or formed ridges of bumps right at the static hole. If it has it can disrupt the correct static sense. Wiggle the stabilizer tip fore and aft and up and down for any free play. If there is it could mean loose mount bolts or no bushings put back in. Lift the tail cone lightly to see if there is any vertical play in the jackscrew mount. Slight play is OK. Check over ALL panels and fairings to make sure they are secured properly. If you have the 2 1/4 inch bolts holding the cowl together on either side of the cowl opening (inside the lip) make sure they were put back in. This is something shops not familiar with early Mooneys miss. If you know where to look for nose gear damage from over turning lay on the ground and check it. If you don't know learn. They had to move your plane a lot while it was being painted. Check each and every control surface mounting bolts and wiggle each push pull rod to make sure it is free. No paint on rod ends. Make every surface works smoothly and goes in the correct direction including the flaps. You are the last line of defense to make sure things are correct. You are the one making the test flight after all that maintenance. You may have to sign off the log book that everything is OK after the test flight. Even the best mechanics sometimes miss things. Looking forward to seeing the pictures! Post a bunch of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Yes, please post pictures! New paint jobs are always nice to see. It will be a long time before I see one on MY plane . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takair Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 Everything Cliffy said. I had the cowl half bolts left out. In addition, the gear door bolts in the wheel wells were finger tight. Also had the aileron link bolts in backwards on one side. The clearance was minimal...almost to the point of jam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2016 Report Share Posted January 30, 2016 In addition to all of the other points, I'll add a few others. Check the fuel vents for blockage, fuel cap O rings for overspray, they don't do well with paint, windows for signs for chemical stripper damage. Lastly before making payment take the shop owner and or director of maintenance for the first flight, if they refuse, hold the cheque until they do. Clarence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonal Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 If you can manage it I would bring my trusted A&P or IA and work through all the suggested items as well as the log entries Good luck and please post pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justincarter Posted January 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Thats great guys thanks! Cliffy, what do control surface balance checks look like? - the max and min deflection forces to move any given surface up or down (or side to side)? Basically whats the minimum i should expect? Nice point about the empennage checks - so its horizontal stabiliser tips fore and aft to check the empennage mounting (i.e. one axis) and bottom of the vertical stabiliser up and down for the other axis (jackscrew play). I wasn't planning to pay the final instalment until Ive flown it and there aren't any remaining issues. Ill see if I can get my A+P to check it too. (though He's 150 miles away) yes hopefully it'll be pictures galore in a week or so! justin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyDave Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 16 hours ago, M20Doc said: In addition to all of the other points, I'll add a few others. Check the fuel vents for blockage, fuel cap O rings for overspray, they don't do well with paint, windows for signs for chemical stripper damage. Lastly before making payment take the shop owner and or director of maintenance for the first flight, if they refuse, hold the cheque until they do. Clarence Clarence has probably stated the one thing that would get the attention of everyone involved - painters, A&P, helpers - Excellent idea Clarence!! When I was flying gliders we had to put the ships together every time we flew. We always did a Positive Control Check where one person was on the controls and another on the control surfaces. The person on the controls would say "left aileron up" and the person on the control surface would provide resistance. Then "left Aileron down", etc. We would do this on all control surfaces every time we put a plane together. It's a simple check that can provide a lifetime of flying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 Justin, From your post I assume that you are in the UK and they have a dual inspection of flight controls like we have in Canada. Perhaps the 2 engineers who reassembled the flight controls will go for the first flight with you. It really helps clear the mind when they strap their bums in the plane with you. Clarence Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliffy Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 All flying surfaces (elevator, rudder and ailerons) need to balance at a certain point (CG of the surface ) to avoid flutter when in flight. Anytime a plane is painted the surfaces have to be balance checked on a rig that lets them hang horizontal from their bearings so the weight of the trailing edge can be measured at a certain point. This has to be done before the surface is mounted on the airplane. It also has to be signed off in the maintenance release as having been done. The full procedure is contained in the specific MM for your airplane. I can't imagine it not being done but do make sure that it is signed off in the log book as such. The sign off should note chapter and verse of the MM. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awful_Charlie Posted January 31, 2016 Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 (edited) Justin I see you're on the D- reg, and my Google powers with the LBA aren't that great, but on the basis it is EASA I would certainly go through the CAP747 GR10 requirements and use those as a starting point to go through with the ideas above. As the control surfaces should have been removed and balanced (and no, there's not really a way to check these once they have been re-installed), there should be LAE signatures with a duplicate inspection signoff too, and a CRS *will* be required. A couple of other items I would look at will be any air filters - it may be impractical to inspect each of these, but I would just expect to replace them after a few hours flying anyway, as it's likely there will be paint dust that has settled in places difficult to get at let alone clean. Do all your full and free, and include throttle/MP, mixture/FF and pitch/RPM indications before departure - hopefully you have some experience of what these should look like. Taxiing back to the shop needn't cause any loss of face! Out of curiosity, where did you have it done, and will look forward to a follow up in due course. I'll be heading for a repaint in the next couple of years, so starting to accumulate a list of the good, the bad and the ugly Ben (BTW, I was friends with the previous owner of D-ENKA before he re-registered it and subsequently sold it - I had to look twice at your reg!) Edited January 31, 2016 by Awful_Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justincarter Posted January 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2016 (edited) Thanks folks! Clarence, Yes -2 inspector sign offs needed. Hopefully that means something. The worry is one or both are a passing signature without doing due diligence on the aircraft. Perhaps unfair - but its a pretty closed door process so who know what goes on ! good to hear from you Ben, Ive had D-EKNA for about 6 years. Bought it from Michael Hermann who moved to NYC back then. She's been a great steed. Thanks for the tip - Ive digested CAP747. All good advice. She's being painted at a newish shop near me 'RS paintworks' where 'NA was (until recently) based (Fishburn airfield in NE England). Theres much to tell about the process so far (I'm mid way through writing an article for the PPLIR mag about it) but perhaps give me a ring when you get nearer the time for the final 'low-down' Justin Edited January 31, 2016 by justincarter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1964-M20E Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 I know of someone who picked up a C210 from paint got home and the landing gear would not extend. Couldn't even do manual I guess because he chose to land on a grass strip gear up. Not a good day. I also know of people who have had planes painted did a pretty much normal preflight with a little more detail and everything was fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romeotango Posted February 1, 2016 Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 I had my plane painted at a very reputable shop in Maine. When I picked the plane up, the engine ran rough until I had a backfire then smoothed out. I performed a through run-up and attempted to depart, as I reached rotation speed, the engine died. I got the plane started again and taxied back to the ramp to sort things out. When I removed the air filter a piece of upholstery foam fell out of the air box. They used the foam to prevent paint over-spray from going up through the ram air door hole in the top of the air box and forgot to remove it. The backfire probably blew the foam out and it lied in the bottom of the air box until the engine suction pulled in during my take-off roll. If the foam got sucked in a few seconds later, I would have been in the pines at the end of the runway. The shop was very nonchalant about my near-death experience. All I can say is do a extremely detailed preflight before departing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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