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Alpha 40 repair question - 7/10/2008 9:46:43 PM   
rcw


 

Posts: 6
Joined: 1/26/2008
From: Arlington Heights, IL, USA
Status: offline 		I recently crashed an Alpha 40 RTF nose down. The crash broke out the firewall, cracked it, and delaminated it; other than that there was very little damage. I've cut a new firewall and am trying to figure out the alignment. With the fuselage sitting level (at least the horizonal stabalizer is) the marks left by the old firewall are not perfectly vertical. The deviation is the thickness of the firewall ( 0.25" ) over a 3" rise. If this is true, the the plane was originally put together with about a 5 degree down thrust. That seems excessive to me; 1 or 2 might be reasonable. Am I measuring this incorrectly or should that plane actually have that much down thrust?

       Post #: 1

RE: Alpha 40 repair question - 7/11/2008 1:50:14 AM   
WCB


 

Posts: 708
Joined: 9/8/2003
From: Mount Airy, NC, USA
Status: offline 		Usually about 3 degrees.

(in reply to rcw)
       Post #: 2

RE: Alpha 40 repair question - 7/11/2008 2:32:05 PM   
rcw


 

Posts: 6
Joined: 1/26/2008
From: Arlington Heights, IL, USA
Status: offline 		Thank you. That seems like a more reasonable number.

(in reply to WCB)
       Post #: 3

RE: Alpha 40 repair question - 7/15/2008 6:25:58 AM   
Andrewmc


 

Posts: 119
Joined: 7/17/2004
From: Cape Town, , SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline 		I have an Alpha 40 at home. When I get home this evening I will measure the firewall angles and post them.

I also had the firewall pop out of the frame and I didn't even have to crash it just set it down on the nose wheel a bit hard. Every thing looked ok when I took the plane back to the pits for refueling. Then I noticed that the spinner was not sitting square in the fuse. It seemed that the firewall was originally bonded with a hot melt type glue, certainly not epoxy. Dressed all up again and was able to use the original firewall - just clicked back into position. I added 1/2" spruce tri stock vertically behind for added strength been great ever since.


(in reply to rcw)
       Post #: 4

RE: Alpha 40 repair question - 7/17/2008 7:49:20 PM   
Andrewmc


 

Posts: 119
Joined: 7/17/2004
From: Cape Town, , SOUTH AFRICA
Status: offline 		Sorry about the delay in posting... what can I say!

I have measured the angle of the firewall in my Alpha and it is 5 degrees.

There is no side thrust.

On the photo I have scribed a line with a sharpie on the outer edge of the firewall.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

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(in reply to Andrewmc)
       Post #: 5

RE: Alpha 40 repair question - 7/20/2008 7:45:53 PM   
rcw


 

Posts: 6
Joined: 1/26/2008
From: Arlington Heights, IL, USA
Status: offline 		Andrew,

Thank you for the actual measurement!

It seems the Alpha 40 has some problems with its firewall installation. This plane is actually my second copy. During the 4th flight of the first one we heard a loud "pwang" and the engine quit. The plane began handling really weird then. Fortunately I was up with a really great instructor. He took the plane and was actually able to land it with the engine and firewall hanging by the push rods. Apparently the firewall pulled out in mid flight.

I will give Horizon/Hanger9 at least a bit of a compliment here...they were really prompt in replacing the entire plane without any hassle.

Bob

(in reply to Andrewmc)
       Post #: 6

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