Loose stabilizer fairing

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briankelly327
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Loose stabilizer fairing

Post by briankelly327 »

I noticed that the rear screw holding on the fairing between horizontal and vertical stabilizers was very loose today on preflight, allowing a lot of slop in the fairing, and scrapped my flight.

My first thought was why did this piece come loose. Then after trying to tighten it and unable to gain any traction or fix it, the next question is why won’t it grip on and tighten.

If anyone has guidance on what’s going on here or if it’s a safety of flight issue (I’m assuming it is), I’d welcome feedback.

I have the shop putting in a Reiff engine heater next week so I’ll have it looked at and can revert back if interested.
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smoss
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Re: Loose stabilizer fairing

Post by smoss »

the fairing is easy to take off. Just pull it off and look what happened to the screw insert. Put some padding under the rear edges of the fairing so you don't scratch the paint underneath as you pull it forward.
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Steve
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Re: Loose stabilizer fairing

Post by Steve »

Those screws go into nut plates inside the vertical stabilizer. If you cannot tighten the screw, the nut plate may be stripped (that is tough to do).
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