International Cessna 120/140 Association Issue 402 Spring 2017 Feb/Mar/Apr 1946 Cessna 140 - Nigel Arnott and Chris Leon, Southport Australia (story on page 4) In this issue Tech-Talk by Ken & Lorraine Morris 2017 Convention Preview Summer of Pancakes INDEX I’m a SID’s Convert (cover story) page 4 Tech Talk - by Ken and Lorraine Morris page 10 Newton Kansas 2017 convention preview page 14 Upcoming Events page 18 Summer of Pancakes page 20 Officers President Virgil Warren [email protected] Vice President Blake Mathis [email protected] Secretary/Treasurer Brett and Tory Swartzendruber [email protected] Past President Ken Spivey [email protected] Board Members Merchandise Coordinator Director of Maintenance Jeff & Cindy Tourt [email protected] David Lowe [email protected] (270) 929-3776 State Rep. Coordinator Gene Adkins [email protected] Technical Advisor Victor Grahn [email protected] Website Coordinator (231) 740-2354 Rob Swanland [email protected] DISCLAIMER This newsletter is for educational and informational purposes only. Newsletter Editor Readers are reminded that Federal Air Regulations Part 91 places primary responsibility for ensuring the airworthy [email protected] Christian Vehrs condition of the aircraft on the owner or operator. Any person who maintains, modifies, or otherwise changes an aircraft must do so in accordance with Member at Large manufacturer’s recommendations and all applicable FAA Scott Ross [email protected] regulations. Active Supplemental Type Certificates C-85 Carburetor David Lowe (270) 736-9051 Continental 0-200 Cessna 120/140 Gary Rice (361) 441-3754 Continental 0-200 Cessna 120/140140A Randy Thompson (530) 357-5440 Alternator Installation Fred Lagno (410) 827-7896 Cowl Fasteners Cessna 150 Exhaust Wing Fabric Attach Rivets Ken and Lorraine Morris (815) 985-2034 Advertising Rates (815) 985-6489 Full year subscription includes ad placed on the association website and annual Shoulder Harness Installation Membership Directory Jack Hooker (815) 233-5478 PER ISSUE PRICE Vortex Generators Ad Size Half-year Full year Cub Crafters (887) 484-7865, ext. 209 (3 issues) (4 issues) Leading Edge Landing Light Full Page $200 $180 John Nichols (845) 583-5830 Half Page 110 100 Fuel Selector Valve Cessna 120/140 1/4 Page 70 56 Sierra Hotel Aero (651) 306-1456 1/6 Page 55 45 1/8 Page 45 35 Lycoming 0-235, 0-290D, 0-290D2 Cessna 120/140/140A 1/10 Page 40 30 Gus Warren (386) 341-6172 Page 3 I'm a Cessna SID's Convert… by Chris Leon "How can I go wrong?” These were my fateful The control cables were due for replacement words as I secured title to Cessna 140, VH- in 2018 and the instruments needed COO. I'd just sold my 180HP Super Cub and had calibration. Some corrosion was reported in plunged into deep withdrawal symptoms the ailerons and the stabilizer in addition to having owned her for two decades. The little the usual external corrosion on the wing Cessna offered an opportunity to do some inspection hatches. The aircraft hadn't flown cheap flying with a purchase price of $15,000 for about 2 years and needed an annual. and a little 85HP Continental C-85, surely it would be very cheap to own and operate. I was of course aware of the need for the upcoming Cessna Supplemental Inspection Documents or SID's inspection. This inspection has been quite controversial and I, for one, thought it was overkill. After all, aircraft are looked at in some detail at least every year when the annual inspection is done. Part of the annual inspection is to comply with the Air Worthiness Directives or AD's which focus on known shortcomings of each particular aircraft type. My view was that the SID's inspection was overkill and was unlikely to reveal any additional airframe problems given the maintenance history of the little aircraft I'd just bought. Charlie Oscar Oscar, serial number 10805, was built in 1946 as N76384 and had been rebuilt I arranged for Charlie Oscar Oscar to undergo in 1986 in Texas, USA. She had been an an annual in Adelaide where it was located in Oshkosh winner shortly after her rebuild and order for me to be able to fly it back to presented very well. She'd been imported into Southport where I would arrange the routine Australia in the early 90's and had most of her control cable replacement, the SID's time in Western Australia, Far North inspection and a weight reduction program. Queensland and South Australia. From her The LAME was briefed as to what was external condition it was obvious she'd been required and after a battery replacement, loved. instrument calibration, annual inspection, transponder calibration and a few other The pre purchase inspection showed that the important punch list items, she was all ready airframe had about 5000 hours; the engine to make the big journey from Adelaide to had recently had 2 new cylinders fitted and Southport. had about half its life remaining before overhaul. Page 4 I'm a Cessna SID's Convert… by Chris Leon Southport Sydney Adelaide I spent a very happy long weekend getting to know my new charge, exploring her flight envelope and reconciling the differences between a Cessna 140 with 85HP and my old Super Cub with 180HP. This was a revelation, which required several long days in the Barossa and several other wine growing areas plotting the weight reduction program for Charlie Oscar Oscar (more on this in a separate article). Over the Easter break in 2015, I flew Charlie Oscar Oscar first to Sydney where I spent Easter with family and friends. After Easter I then continued my journey to Southport. The aircraft performed well with the exception of a pulled generator circuit breaker, which took me some time to find and an errant pilot tube cover that denied me Airspeed Indication for a short period. I continued to marvel at the great cruise performance of the clean little airframe. I wished for better load carrying capacity and better climb performance which lead into my weight reduction program plans. On arrival at Southport, I arranged to deliver Charlie Oscar Oscar to Nigel Arnott at Boonah, so that Nigel could start to weave his magic on the little Cessna 140. Nigel had worked on several Cessna 140's and was just completing a SID's inspection on the local gliding club's tug, a Cessna 152 with a Lycoming 0-360, so he was in an ideal person to help me with Charlie Oscar Oscar's future. Page 5 I'm a Cessna SID's Convert… by Chris Leon Nigel and I sat down and planned the After removing the headliner it was noted program for the next few months, which was that there was a non-standard plate riveted to include a weight reduction program, the and bolted to the forward face of the carry control cable replacement and the SID's through structure. This plate was removed to inspection. In addition to this there were a reveal a hole corroded through the rear spar few items of routine nature that needed carry through! attention: hinge replacements, universal replacements, etc. I worked with a friend on the initial dismantling of the aircraft and sourced parts for Nigel allowing him to focus his magic on the airframe. My first shock came when Nigel called after removing the wings. The wings are attached to the fuselage with 4 large bolts. These bolts attach the main and rear spars to the fuselage via aluminum blocks that are in turn bolted into a hat section spar carry through, which is riveted to the cabin roof. The front hat section on the starboard side was found to have very severe corrosion. Essentially all the material around the main wing attach bolt had corroded, and the corrosion was well advanced into the material the held the mounting blocked in place. Front starboard wing attachment fitting A photo of this part of the hat section makes it is easy to see why I'm very lucky that there was no major turbulence between Adelaide and Southport! Rear Carry Through Spar Corrosion Having found the bad news on the front spar At this point it became clear that the cabin carry through structure, we turned our roof and the associated wing carry through attention to the rear spar carry through. This structure needed to be totally rebuilt; a major necessitated removing the cockpit headliner, project. which is something very seldom done, short of a SID's inspection. Page 6 I'm a Cessna SID's Convert… by Chris Leon The corrosion in the ailerons that had been noted earlier required the replacement of both Aileron Spars and the corrosion proofing of all components before the Ailerons could The port leading edge spar and the stabilizer be rebuilt. skins were all replaced and all parts were corrosion proofed. Aileron Spar Corrosion Aileron rebuild in process The horizontal stabilizer corrosion turned out Fresh horizontal with new skins spar to be much more severe than indicated in the earlier reports with the stabilizer leading The X-ray inspection of the engine mount edge spar massively corroded. The lower revealed 8 cracks that needed repairing in flange had disappeared, as had much of the addition to some tubes that needed web. replacement due to corrosion. Horizontal stabilizer leading edge spar Page 7 I'm a Cessna SID's Convert… by Chris Leon Charlie Oscar Oscar has now been returned to flying status. I feel very comfortable with the status of the corrosion prevention program and the integrity of the airframe.