TKS stall strip fell off in flight

[gjkirsch]

Well, it came off flying home last weekend. Now the tube is just hangng there. My shop does not have any experience with this. It is a FIKI install. Anyone else been through this and have some recommendations? Glue and new stall strip are on order.

[johnggreen]

GJ,

One of mine came loose, but I caught it before it fell off. Call the manufacturer and they will send you a new one (only source) with the proper glue and will give you a five minute oral on proper re-installation. They have a tech guy who is simply as helpful as anyone I have ever dealt with in aviation; THAT GOOD AND NICE TOO. Sorry I can't remember his name.

Protect the protruding tube AT ALL COSTS. If you break it they will have to replace the entire TKS covering on that wing at about $10,000; at least that is what they told me.

Another FYI for TKS owners. Check the stall strips and if loose, you can temporarily hold them in place with "aluminum" tape which you can easily find at the building supply or hardware stores. The glue on the tape can be wiped away after tape removal with some TKS fluid.

The bad news GJ is that the new stall strip is going to cost over $1,000.

Jgreen

[Nathan Peterson]

GJ,

I know you're upset... and if you or your mechanic is going to do the work. CAV Aerospace is the factory out in Salina KS. The parts lady

will sell you the normal two part epoxy "Redux Kit" you don't want it. It will cost you $57.00.... but after talking to Tim Werner in Tech support, you want to use "Pro-Seal CS3204 B2.. it has a setup time of 2 hours.

I had one come off and after careful inspection the other 3 looked like they could come off too. Out at the 133 RIB you will have to take off the inspection plate... drill them out. and find the manifold and flush the individual line with distilled water.... flush really well and make sure all of the TKS fluid is out of the panel. You don't want any TKS fluid there as your sealant will not hold well. I used a plunger that you would feed the water into the 5/16" tube... It worked very well. You also want to order new "flat seals" S1201-20 so as to replace when you reconnect.

I went ahead and removed and replaced the other 3... I'm very happy I did and they are on for good. A new Stall Trigger will cost you $1,228.65

If I can be of any more help please PM me and will talk.

Nate

I agree with Jgreen you don't want to break the tube off!.... it will get costly pulling the whole panel off.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/appages/prosealant.php?clickkey=4275

[gjkirsch]

I appreciate both responses. I am sending them to the mechanic. Until this month, the plane has been virtualy maintenance free for the last year. It is making up for it this month. The artificial horison went TU two weeks ago and now the stall strip. The only good news is that my wife will not open any bills that look like they have anything to do with the plane!

[Piloto]

A friend of mine with TKS lost his right wing stall strip also. I fabricated one identical to the original out of 1/2" square aluminum rod in 15 minutes. The 6061 5' rod was $10. Paying $1000 for that strip is totally ridiculous. You actually do not need it, unless you take away the stall warning system.

José

[sellis]

A friend of mine with TKS lost his right wing stall strip also. I fabricated one identical to the original out of 1/2" square aluminum rod in 15 minutes. The 6061 5' rod was $10. Paying $1000 for that strip is totally ridiculous. You actually do not need it, unless you take away the stall warning system.

José

Wow Jose how did you put the thousands of lasar drilled holes in the stall strip that lets the TKS fluid flow out of the stall strip? The TKS stall strip has a tube feeding it with fluid. The stall strip is packed with foam and soaks the fluid up and lets it seep out. You might want to contact your friend and let him know his plane is unairworthy due to unapproved parts. The plane will not stall correctly if one of the stall strips has ice. I'm sure the part you made looks good, but totally unacceptable! Stacey

[Piloto]

A friend of mine with TKS lost his right wing stall strip also. I fabricated one identical to the original out of 1/2" square aluminum rod in 15 minutes. The 6061 5' rod was $10. Paying $1000 for that strip is totally ridiculous. You actually do not need it, unless you take away the stall warning system.

José

Wow Jose how did you put the thousands of lasar drilled holes in the stall strip that lets the TKS fluid flow out of the stall strip? The TKS stall strip has a tube feeding it with fluid. The stall strip is packed with foam and soaks the fluid up and lets it seep out. You might want to contact your friend and let him know his plane is unairworthy due to unapproved parts. The plane will not stall correctly if one of the stall strips has ice. I'm sure the part you made looks good, but totally unacceptable! Stacey

If there is any ice accumulation on the strip it will cause buffeting at a slightly higher speed than before. Stall strips do not induce stall but buffeting. We flight tested and found out that the strip get soaked by the panel fluid itself. The local DER had no problem on approving it.

José

[Piloto]

The future of de-icing technolgy at:

De-icing coatings offer the advantage of lower cost and simplicity without the need of pumps and fluids.

José

[Skywarrior]

People are confusing the little angle-iron stall strips with the TKS fluid delivery strips.

[2jetman]

I just recently took a four hour flight which had me using my TKS fluid for about and hour off and on. As usual the panels continued to occasionally drip on the hangar floor for the next few days. About two weeks later I had noticed one of my TSK stall strips had completely let go and was hanging by a small pice of glue. I inspected the other strips and found that one on the other side was very loose and about to come off and one other was loos when I wiggled it. So three out of four of them need to be cleaned up and rebonded. Had I just jumped in and took off I'm certain I would have lost them in flight. Im not sure why but all of a sudden the glue decided to let go, I wish there was a way to purge the system post flight. 

[aaronk25]

Ah I think Jose deserves a appology pretty quick to judge arnt we

[Alan Fox]

One of the big used plane dismantelers is selling parts of a Mooney TKS system currently on EBAY.... Take a look...

[jlunseth]

It sounds like a great idea (nonparticle coatings) but I looked at one of the websites and it warned against high pressure water, which would destroy the coating.  So what does a wing moving at 200 kts. through a rainstorm create?  Maybe they will conquer that problem someday, it would sure be slick and make it easier to keep the plane clean.

[johnggreen]

Meaning no disrespect to Jose', I cannot imagine that a non-porous fabricated aluminum strip would be a qualified repair.  I could be proved wrong, but it will take a letter from a FSDO office and CAV to convince me.  

 

If for no other reason, I think there would certainly be a dissimilar metal corrosion issue.

 

Jgreen 

[aviatoreb]

It sounds like a great idea (nonparticle coatings) but I looked at one of the websites and it warned against high pressure water, which would destroy the coating.  So what does a wing moving at 200 kts. through a rainstorm create?  Maybe they will conquer that problem someday, it would sure be slick and make it easier to keep the plane clean.

 

There are a few different variations of this sort of coating in recent university research.  I think I have heard of efforts from MIT, Harvard, Princeton and also Carnegie Mellon.  Very exciting stuff.  I also doubt that such a coating would last 30 years.  If it really works, and if it were inexpensive enough relatively I could imagine someday where you get it re-applied seasonally like corrosion-x or something like that.

 

For now TKS seems like that leader, warts and all.

[johnggreen]

Talked to a CAV engineer.  The replacement of the stall strip with non-porous aluminum is fine as a stall strip.  If it is on a known icing installation, no.  Doing so would take the TKS system and the airplane out of the known ice category.

 

And for us TKS owners, Tim is no longer with the company; much to everyone's dismay.  He took a job teaching A&P for Kansas State University.

 

Jgreen

[Piloto]

Talked to a CAV engineer.  The replacement of the stall strip with non-porous aluminum is fine as a stall strip.  If it is on a known icing installation, no.  Doing so would take the TKS system and the airplane out of the known ice category.

 

And for us TKS owners, Tim is no longer with the company; much to everyone's dismay.  He took a job teaching A&P for Kansas State University.

 

Jgreen

Then only fly into the not known icing conditions. Don't ask don't know.

 

José

[johnggreen]

Jose',

 

No thanks.  I will gladly pay the $1200 to keep my airplane fully certified and legal.

 

Jgreen

[Piloto]

Jose',

 

No thanks.  I will gladly pay the $1200 to keep my airplane fully certified and legal.

 

Jgreen

You are the reason why they can sell it for $1200. But don't feel bad the federal government does the same except they use taxpayers money.

 

José

[johnggreen]

Jos'e,

 

Yes, I'm a very bad person.  High AC parts prices are my fault as is the outrageous budget of the federal government.  In fact, if it weren't for people like me, we could probably achieve world peace.

 

Jgreen

[Piloto]

Jos'e,

 

Yes, I'm a very bad person.  High AC parts prices are my fault as is the outrageous budget of the federal government.  In fact, if it weren't for people like me, we could probably achieve world peace.

 

Jgreen

On the contrary John. You are the kind of customer that repair shops loves to have. And the federal government love to tax. And FBOs line man love your juicy tips. Me on the other hand I am looking from whom I can squeeze that extra penny.

 

José

[johnggreen]

Jose',

 

I am absolutely sure of one thing.  You don't know one damn thing about my experience, my airplane, my shop, my maintenance cost, or the condition and dispatch reliability of my aircraft.  

 

Jgreen

[Piloto]

Jose',

 

I am absolutely sure of one thing.  You don't know one damn thing about my experience, my airplane, my shop, my maintenance cost, or the condition and dispatch reliability of my aircraft.  

 

Jgreen

I agree with you 100%. I don't dig on other people's life.

 

José

[johnggreen]

Jose'

 

And with this I will close.  I did not nor do not mean to demean or insult you, your opinions, or the way that you approach a particular "maintenance" issue.

 

I simply choose to do otherwise.

 

Happy and safe flying.

 

Jgreen

[triple8s]

Guys sometimes people are particular, yes some people are  and some not so much. We all have our things we "nit pick" when I bought my plane it had a very nice A/P in it, everything about it works fine. Looks very new, buttons show no wear what so ever. One problem, couldnt find 337 for it, I tried the FAA CD, tried finding previous owner who had it installed, nothing. I couldve flown it like it was, with no paperwork, but my choice is to do things by the book. Thats my choice, so in this case I coughed up 1500 plus $ for an install kit from Cobham and paid an authorized dealer to inspect, test, blah blah blah and other nonsense. Didnt have to do it, doesnt make it fly any different but I know 100% EVERYTHING is documented and is RIGHT on my 48 year old airplane. I have more in it than i can sell it for yes, but I know everything is right and when I sell it, I'll tell the new owner "it is what it is". Thats also a lesson I learned about the prebuy and going through the logbooks. Live and Learn!