Serious Airworthyness issue

S

Steve B

New member
I want to alert all those who own or operate an American Champion product of a problem with early fabric failure. This pertains mostly to aircraft or wings mfg. between 1999 and 2002, but I have seen this problem on another aircraft mfg. in 1995.

While working recently as Director of Maintenance at a West Coast flight school, I was preparing to repair a tear in the underwing fabric of 2001 7ECA which was apparently caused by a pilot exiting the aircraft but forgetting to duck sufficiently. The tear was about 9 inches long and, most curiously exactly followed the edge of a trim tape.

While prepping the area for repair I noticed that I could easily propagate the tear forward simply by applying a slight pressure with my finger, and that it followed EXACTLY the edge of the trim tape AND A VISABLE CRACK IN THE PAINT FINISH.

Upon further inspection I found that the entire aircraft had these cracks in the paint finish along all trim tapes, even where there were two layers of colored enamel.

I gently but firmly poked the fabric with my finger on the upper side of the wing surface over one of these cracks and my entire hand disappeared through the fabric bursting a tear 14 inches long. I placed one finger in the forward edge of the tear and by applying a gentle pressure was able propagate the tear forward and back like it was tissue paper.

The fabric obviously had no tear strength whatsoever, and clearly less than the minimum 50% original (120 psi) strength to be airworthy. I did not have a maul tester to get an actual reading of fabric strength, but I would estimate that it was down to about 5 or 10 psi. As a comparison, I went to a set of wings I'd removed from a 7KCAB to replace with new metal spar wings. I'd recovered these with Stits back in '85. I tried to poke my finger through the fabric using great force and was unsuccessful. I took a razor blade and cut a 12 inch slit in the upper wing fabric and then tried to propagate the tear with my finger as before. I could not.

I called American Champion and was told that they knew about the cracking problem which was caused by the use of an epoxy primer in the painting process during the time period 1999 through 2002. They indicated that only about 10% of the fleet where effected.

They seemed surprised but not a bit interested in the fact that the fabric under the cracks was deteriorated to the point of zero strength. Their only resonse to my description of poking my finger through the fabric was "didn't know about that", but asked nothing further.

The aircraft in question is grounded and awaiting a ferry flight back to the factory.

I believe what is happening here is that a painting process change has resulted in early paint film failure in areas where fabric changes thickness abruptly such as where a trim tape is added, and then a crack propagates up through the paint film to the surface, resulting in the visable cracking.

At this point ultra-violet rays, both direct and reflected off the tarmac are able to use this crack to get directly to, and deteriorate the fabric.

I looked closely at this aircraft one year ago during a pre-purchase inspection and found no problems with the paint. (Incidently, for those doubting Thomas's out there, I probably have more than 10,000 hours of painting experience). The aircraft was a new purchase with only demo flight hours at the time. It has flown about 800 hours now and has always been hangared.

I have not yet notified the FAA about this issue as the owner is working out details of a trade-in on this aircraft. The factory initially offered to recover the entire aircraft for about $15K, however the owner feels this is a warrenty issue and should be done at no cost to the owner.

I suspect that an emergency AD will soon be issued that will apply to all American Champion Aircraft and will call for an inspection for cracks and test any paint cracks with a fabric tester. I also suspect that this will place a great financial strain on the factory, which to me is sad as I have always loved this aircraft and hope to see it in production for many years to come.

IF you own an aircraft or a set of replacement wings, especially those mfg between 1999 and 2002, but again, ANY American Champion product, you should immediately inspect for cracking in the paint film, especially directly over the edge of trim tapes. The cracks can be very subtle but are especially visable while looking at a low angle to the finish. The paint film curls up slightly at the edge of the crack and in reflected light will reveal a crack which might otherwise be invisable while looking directly at the fabric, especially over dark colors.

If you find such cracking, you should have an A&P check the fabric for sufficient strength and contact the factory with any negative results. Fabric strength will deteriorate in direct proportion to exposure to sunlight, both direct and reflected, so how your aircraft is used and stored will determine the degree to which your particular aircraft is effected.

The subject aircraft flew nearly every day, and many times all day as a rental aircraft.
 
Steve-

I discovered cracks along the tape edges three months after my 2001 7GCAA was delivered. The factory initially offered to repair it, then to recover using lighter colors claiming dark colors were the problem, finally they offered partial compensation for an outside recover. Then the moment 12 months expired they ceased responding to me. Since that time I have documented many post 2000 ACA built aircraft with the cracks, actually more in light colored aircraft then in dark colored aircraft. I have also documented one additional case of the fabric spiltting completely thru and ACA recovering the aircraft, they are well aware of the problem, they have many different explanations but in reality they probably have no idea why their homebrew covering system has failed. I will accept UV as an issue on the upper surfaces, but question UV's effect on the lower surfaces. We have a case of hail penetrating both upper and lower surfaces and completely shredding the fabric, another of rocks thrown from the wheels going thru the upper and lower surfaces of the stabilizer/elevator.

This is a huge problem, one that ACA has been long aware of, and it will adveresly affect every post 2000 ACA customer, and will potentially devastate ACA as well.

Tom-
 
Thanks for your input, Tom. It is interesting what you have to say about colors. The subject airplane is yellow with black sunburst and although the cracks in the yellow areas are much more visable, it was easy to see the cracks in the black area when looking at a low angle and using reflected light as I mentioned.

About the 12 months issue. According to a lawyer friend of mine, there is an implied warranty which exceeds the 12 month period. No one would assume a cover job to only last 12 months, so if this is your airplane, I think you have good legal recourse.

As for the underside of the wings being just as affected, reflected UV light is everybit as damaging and prevelant as direct, and that is why the initial rip occured on the lower side of the subject plane. It just happened to be the location where a force was applied when in fact ALL the fabric was below legal strength.

BTW: Did you ever file a Manufactures Defect Report (MDR) on an aircraft, or do you know if one was ever filed regarding this issue? Seems the FAA would get involved at that point.
 
Steve-

Since my problem was noted AND acknowledged by both the dealer and ACA three months after delivery it is a valid warranty item until resolved. While I have documented offers to resolve the problem from ACA getting them to honor same has proven difficult, impossible. There is reason to suspect that individual legal action against ACA will result in nothing more then expensive delaying tactics on the part of ACA. While a class-action suit will accomplish nothing except to enrichen a few lawyers we need to collectively join together to force ACA to understand that they are not dealing with a few isolated individuals, that this is a fleet-wide concern. I have attempted to develop interest by posting my concerns, the details, on the Yahoo Citabria Pilots Group for the past few years to no avail. I think this issue is far more prevelant than indicated by the confirmed cases of cracking, the marjority of owners have no experience with fabric and are so awed by the shiny finish that they are unaware of the major airworthiness issue lurking in the near future.

The owner of the other confirmed case of lower surface splitting was informed by ACA that it was the result of a bad batch of fabric, since a batch of fabric is much more than required to cover one small aircraft and none of the sources of aircraft grade Dacron have any knowledgte of ANY bad batches of fabric that seems like nothing more than additional obfuscation on the part of ACA. I have an e-mail from ACA that states the problem is too much pigment in dark colors, another owner had ACA tell him the same thing at Sun-N-Fun, then there is the story of a "bad batch of fabric", all of which have been disproven by the many confirmed cases of cracking in light colors.

I discussed my problem, and concerns, with the FAA National Resource of aircraft fabric, he relayed my concerns to the MIDO responsible for ACA. My guess is that the MIDO inspector knows nothing about fabric and accepted ACA's line about the virtures of their in-house developed covering system. To the best of my knowledge there has been no QUV meter testing, there seems to be no UV protection at all, beyond the light stabilizers that protect the paint pigments but NOT the substrate, the fabric.

While I concur that reflected UV is just as serious as direct UV the fact remains that reflected UV has been reduced by absorbtion by the reflecting surface. On the other hand the lower surface is in tension which could easily cause the splitting to occur there first. There are many questions remaining, the possibility exists that this failure is a simple as lack of UV protection or much more complex. ACA uses a clear sealer coat, a grey primer coat, and then a finish coat of PPG Delta system polyurethane. I have spoken with PPG, and have the Delta system spec sheet, there has been no testing on fabric, there is no UV protection for the substrate, and it is suggested ONLY as a finish coat on fabric AFTER the fabric manufacturers sealing and finishing procedures have been accomplished. ACA claims to use fiberglass surface tapes but in repairing wings damaged in shipping we felt the tape used was self-adhesive medical cotton tape?? ACA also acknowledges using a 3M water-based adhesive to attach the tapes. There exists the possibility that there is an incompatibility in adhesion, in shrinkage rates, or even that the water-based adhesive gets stiff and prevents flexing at the tape edges. The possibility exists that we have two problems, first a general lack of UV protection, second cracking at the seams.

Tom-
 
Steve-

A few others points to ponder.

As the holder of a Production Certificate ACA has a FAA mandated responsibility to notify the FAA if they become aware of a potential airworthiness issue. Since they have already recovered one aircraft with split fabric and are aware of yours they cannot claim ignorance of this issue. When ACA informed the owner of the Decathalon that had split fabric it was due to a bad batch they should have immediately informed the FAA so the "bad batch" could be tracked, or informed the FAA there was a problem with their covering process, this would seem to place them in substantial breach of their responsibilities.

The FAA looks at cracked finish as a cosmetic issue until proven that it is an airworthiness concern, otherwise there would be vast fleets of aicraft with ringworm grounded. This brings us to why I feel this is much more complicated than a simple UV issue, if it was only UV think of all the ring-wormed aircraft that would have shredded fabric.

Because the FAA treats cracks as cosmetic it will take owners willing to go to the FAA to get their attention, and only the FAA will cause ACA to take notice.

Tom-
 
Steve-

I ordered my plane, Maule Blue and Lemon Yellow in Jan. 01, I have an e-mail from someone in GA who tried to order a Maule Blue aircraft in Nov. 00. ACA refused the order because they had problems with dark colors in warm climates, the purchaser was in GA, this proves that ACA was well aware of the problem, but also that they didn't understand the extent or cause, and continued to deliver aircraft with a covering system that had known problems.

Tom-
 
Tom,

Have you contacted AOPA about your problems dealing with ACA? They are very much in tune with the FAA and might be of significant help in resolving the situation with your particular aircraft, and this fabric issue.

There is also the MDR route. This is the official way to notify the FAA of a significant manufactures defect or safety issue, and believe me, they take it quite seriously.

Any A&P or holder of an airmens certificate can file an MDR with the FAA.

You can also take your case to the small aircraft directorate in Oklahoma City, giving them all the info you've dug up. I think I can find the person I worked with regarding the NPRM for a spar AD. Remember that debacle?

The FAA call ME (I was in shock!!) over that one looking for my advice and comment. The inspection procedure I routinely used to look for spar cracks involved using small wedge blocks, a mirror and a "bend a light" tool to look in existing inspection holes. I gave a detailed inspection procedure to the FAA and then (apparently) the Am Champ Club demonstrated this inspection procedure to the satisfaction of the FAA and the NPRM was withdrawn. Later on, this same exact inspection became the required inspection with one notable exception. I had recomended that only a mechanic with spar crack experience do the inspection, but the FAA did not agree. After all, anyone with a mech. license is able sign off an inspection like this, even if they've never done one before.

Point is, the FAA man I worked with was very knowledgable and not at all inclined to blindly put out the AD ACA was calling for (which seemed to me to be more of a "marketing directive" than an airworthyness one) but rather weigh all the info and make a good decision.

What with this new and rather well documented aircraft sitting in CA with deteriorated fabric, I think the time has come.
 
Steve-

I am an A&P with 40 years experience in fabric, and a professional pilot.

While we both know aircraft fabric should not show cracking 3 months after delivery to the FAA that is no more serious than ringworm, on dope, therefore my cracking is nothing more than a squabble between a customer and ACA at this point. The FAA is aware that polyurethane covering processes tend to crack much sooner than dope or Stitts so until there is a proven airworthiness issue it doesn't warrant FAA action. Remember also that an STC'd covering process must meet FAA standards, whereas a manufacturer could finish the aircraft with dried, pigmented , maple syrup if it was on their Production Certificate, often approved by someone with zero knowledge of fabric.

I've spoken with many mechanics around the country who have reglued tapes on ACA aircraft, who have serious concerns about ACA's "process" but no one wants to be the one who rocks the boat. The owner who had the other confirmed case of splitting was happy with ACA's recover, so it could be said ACA bought his silence. I've suggested that M&D reports be filed by those with confirmed airworthiness issues to no avail.

AOPA is a great organization but they do not act as intermediaries in commercial disputes, nor can they, or will they force any manufacturer to honor a warranty, to remediate a condition that results in an AD. However if the FAA becomes aware of your splitting and the other confirmed case is then brought to their attention then the confirmed cases of fabric cracking should be of interest as well.

The bottom line is that while I've collected much background that gives me reason to question the durability, suitabilty, of the ACA covering process I don't have an airworthiness issue at this time, you do.

Tom-
 
Steve-

Could you send me a private e-mail, Tom (at) theAirport.com, I need more info on your aircraft.

Tom-
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top