Kobyt

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Posts posted by Kobyt

  3. Posted

    Hey Laurent, the fibreglass wrapped over the tube used to be for fixing the tube to the bottom of the hull. Over time this can be a problem causing corrosion. I guess this is under the rear seat?

    Actually it is a little bit behind the rear seat but yes, it is probably designed to bind with the bottom of the hull..!

    If I understand the impact location, the hard landing actually crushed the 'step' ( le redan). That must have been a substantial hard landing

    Yes, it surely must have been a terrible one! The gear failed and the hull took the damage probably

  4. Posted

    Barkes seem good as well, a little cleaning and they should be good to go! (or should we go full Beringer? :huh::P)

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    Hey Laurent, I find that it is safer to have less brakes than too much brakes on the Amphibian/catalina. When you come into landing the amphibian touches down soooo slow (34Mph) you usually don't need the brakes to slow her down. When using the brakes to correct bad runway alignment on landing ( or try and save a bad landing) it's best to have less brakes as the avid will swing hard around its vertical axis because the wheelbase is really narrow. Also consider that a hard breaking or full power run with brakes set will lift the tail up in the air and slam the nose onto the ground with good noise, the elevator is not enough to overcome the pitching moment (high thrust line..)

    Hope that helps :)

    Thanks for this piece of advice! I think we'll go with the original breaks indeed :)

  7. Posted

    Hello all!

    Time for a quick update! After a halt, Laurent has been able to resume work on our Amphibian, time to strip the fuselage!

    The fabric has been taken off, too bad it was still in a quite good condition, but we have to assess the tubes condition. 

    The rust seems harmless and limited to the surface, great!

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  8. Posted

    Hey Laurent, the fibreglass wrapped over the tube used to be for fixing the tube to the bottom of the hull. Over time this can be a problem causing corrosion. I guess this is under the rear seat?

    Actually it is a little bit behind the rear seat but yes, it is probably designed to bind with the bottom of the hull..!

  9. Posted

    Thanks for the warm welcome Laurent!

    I have no doubt this forum will provide a precious help for our restoration 

    Here's a picture of the tube just above the redan. Not sure if it is very explicit, but most likely the hull went up and bent the tube when the main gear collapsed.

    The hull was probably forced back in place, bending the tube further upward. I am not sure of the reason for the stratification seen over the tube.. 

    Positive point : the bilge pump attached on the tube still works!

    Have fun!

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  10. Posted

    Congratulations on your Amphibian!

    I too am bringing a Catalina to life that suffered an engine out which resulted in a hard landing and some bent tubes and a poor repair of the main gear. Unfortunately in my case the people I bought it from did not tell me about the engine out and hid the damage by putting lipstick on the pig. Even with the experience I have with Avids, I was fooled by a combination of the "car salesman" I I bought it from and the beautiful look of the plane (even with a through look over). The damage was hidden under panels that had a lot of screws to remove, and everything else was PERFECT. So..... I am stuck with figuring out what to do. I am currently working on the strategy to make the landing gear OK with a minimum of reconstruction.

    My goal is to have it in the air this summer.

    I look forward to your posts and I too will share as I work on my bird! 

    Chris

    Thanks for telling us!

    I am always wondering.. are those people considering they did a good job fixing the damage or are they knowingly selling a dangerous plane.. ?

    Would you provide some pictures of your aircraft?

     

  11. Posted

    Thanks!

    It doesn't indeed, but it appears it has suffered at least one rough landing, on the tailwheel first, then it probably slammed the main gear on the ground, the main gear failed.. and the hull had to absorb the impact. So a couple of bent tubes. It was fixed apparently, but quite poorly.. 

    We are still performing a deep pre-check, in order to evaluate and list what we will have to do, I'll share our conclusions soon :)

    Have fun!

    Elie

  12. Posted

    Hi everyone!

    I am thrilled to join you all and post on this forum for the first time.

    Let me quickly introduce ourselves and our project

    Laurent is an professional aeronautic engineer, ultralight and aircraft builder, currently CFI in a piloting school in Cholet, France.

    I am a military pilot, also (very theorically) an aeronautic engineer. I am well into ultralights as well, trikes, autogyros, etc!

    We met this february when I undertook my SEP Seaplane Class Rating in Biscarosse, France, as he has been my instructor on the lovely Piper PA18.

     

    Last Month, we bought an Avid Amphibian, sold to us by a removal man who emptied a barn, sadly after the death of its owner.

    The aircraft is in pretty bad shape, at least the barn has protected it from humidity, but there is a lot of work to do.

    I will post soon in the dedicated category, we'll probably need help on many subjects!

     

    Have fun!

    Elie

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