DATE: 9-11-2024 TIME: 3:06
My local tech counselor’s life seems as hectic, or more hectic, than mine. They say if you want something done ask a busy person. I think he’s had a lot of asks.
Rather than pester John, I decided I would take my vertical stabilizer, which is already closed up, rudder, which is not closed as it was pending an inspection by the tech counselor, to Abernathy Field, Pulaski, where Randy Jones, airport manager, commercial pilot and A&P was kind enough to take a look at my work so far. Randy was very complimentary about the quality of the work and the consistency of the riveting. He did point out one rivet I could probably squeeze again, which I did. I also had some questions with regard to the instructions in the manual and a minor oopsie on dimpling for which he provided very helpful suggestions.
After visiting Abernathy, EJ and I continued with the preparation of the horizontal stabilizer, inserting the spar caps and match drilling, finishing off the machine countersinking and final drilling. We also had to go back and torque up some of the nuts on the vertical stabilizer and HS rear spar as I did not have a decent in/lb wrench when we initially assembled them.
What we found worked really well with the spar caps was putting a cleco in every, or almost every, hole as we drilled. We used a LOT of clamps to hold the spar cap tight against the web and the flange, and then inserted a lot of clecos as the drilling progressed. We ended up with a very nice snug fit between the spar caps and the spar.
