At 09:57 PM 6/10/2009, you wrote: >DO believe the Gas system should be >thoroughly inspected regularly. To that extent I would also prefer to >make the wing skins above the tanks removable with Zues fasteners. I am >also considering making the front deck and removable wing skin panels >out of aluminum rather than fiberglass (usable for small cargo such as >overnight bags and such). Any comments? Thanks >Glenn Martin +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My comment would be that it sounds like a bit of "over design". Some commercially built aircraft have removable panels to service the tanks but I've never seen them removed on an annual inspection to inspect the tanks. If you don't have any fuel leaking, they are good. Fuel lines, hoses, etc., different story. I've helped work on aircraft that not only could you not inspect the tank (rubber bladder) , it took days to change the thing through small sections of removable wing panels. If you are concerned about fuel in the cockpit, as I was / am, an emergency dump system will be as complex and weigh as much as just eliminating the header tank, go with wing tanks in the outer panels only, and build in some redundancy. That's the route I went and it has worked for 350 hours of flight time to date. My backup system saved my bacon early on in testing when I lost my main electrical buss. I switched on the backup system and the engine never even sputtered. My forward deck is not removable but I do have two small access panels in that area that allows me some access to the back side of the panel area. If you go with wing tanks only, it will affect you C.G. numbers from full to empty tanks. Properly built, wing tanks will cause less of a C.G. shift as you burn off fuel and in my case, my C.G. moves forward about 1 inch from full to empty. A large header tank will cause the C.G. to shift to the rear with fuel burn. Not good if it goes too far rear. I'd also suggest dropping the idea of using aluminum panels and stick with glass / resin. Aluminum panels will make your bird look rather "butchered up" and glass / resin will be just as serviceable and easier to work with. Remember, all this is just my OPINION, so take it for what it's worth. Anyone wanting more info on my setup can e-mail me direct or check it out at the Gathering in 98 days. Larry Flesner
