Wing Structural Integrity

[lv2plyguitar 172]

Have any of you seen issues with the bonding of the ribs to the front spar? I noticed an AD from Austrailia which was suggesting that the bond was not working well.

My concern is, even though my AVID has never flown, the wing was put together in 1995. Do any of you see issues with the integrity of the wing being compromised due to the age of the structural glue.

[akflyer 1427]

Mine was wrecked twice but all the ribs were still glued on tight to the spars.

[EDMO 1078]

Have any of you seen issues with the bonding of the ribs to the front spar? I noticed an AD from Austrailia which was suggesting that the bond was not working well.

My concern is, even though my AVID has never flown, the wing was put together in 1995. Do any of you see issues with the integrity of the wing being compromised due to the age of the structural glue.

In 2007 I cut apart a wing that had been built in 1984 and had been wrecked in about 1994 - The glued ribs were still solid to the spars. The earlier ones used a different epoxy than the 9460 we use today.

If the builder followed the manual for cleaning and applying the 2216, it should still be a strong bond.

ED in MO

Edited 9 Mar 2013 by Ed In Missouri

[1avidflyer 1983]

Three or four years ago, I flipped my Avid MK IV over while landing too fast in deep snow. I recovered the plane then, and have to say, the guy who built the plane did a lousy job on the epoxy glueing of ribs to spars. I don't think he used any or for sure not enough cotton flox to stiffen up the epoxy and it was very runny and didn't stay in place very well. None the less, none of the joints were broke loose! I did clean and sand that epoxy and add more so there were decent fillets on all the joints just so I felt better about it, but apparently it wasn't necessary. I did hear that Kitfox or Avid did make a wing with no epoxy used just to show it could be done and the fabric held things in place. Can't show proof of that, so take that with a grain of salt. Anyway, I wouldn't worry to much about the epoxy in your wings. I do know that Kitfox had an issue with some of their quickbuild wings on the Kitfox 4. Some of the epoxy was not holding and they supplied a type of crazy glue to pour into the tiny joint to keep things in place. I think it was mentioned that the wings were moved to soon and the epoxy wasn't completly cured. I still have the paperwork from Kitfox for the repair that came with my Kitfox 4 project. Take care, Jim Chuk