I am having trouble with leaking Pitot system  on my IVP.  Attempts to perform IFR cert for first flight  indicate that leaks in the standby altimeter and airspeed indicator are producing 750 fpm leaks -- not acceptable. 

 

Have attempted to repair these with clear fingernail polish as advised by Fred Moreno (thanks Fred) and this improved the situation from about 3-4,000 fpm to the existing 750 fpm.  Only trouble is I was not present when the test was done this morning and to date my only recourse for testing is to have the folks from Lancair avionics do a test and tell me the results.  I do  not know now if the problem is isolated in these two instruments or could be elsewhere because I don’t know if the techs from Lancair made any  attempts to insure the current leak was in the instruments noted; only that they isolated them previously and felt this was where the leaks were.

 

To round out my dilemma, I live on the Washington State  Olympic Peninsula and the airplane is in Redmond across the field from the old Lancair factory.  I have a 130 knot Beech Sierra I use to commute and with the winter weather and my work schedule it’s unpredictable when I can get to Redmond.

 

My question is does anyone have a testing system for checking out the pitot static system  and tracking down leaks so that I can repair them and only  invite Gary Lane back from Lancair avionics when I know the system to be leak free?  If there is a simple design that allows one to assemble such a device that would be good.  If someone has one made up and would loan or rent it to me that would also be good.  If I had something like this I could narrow down the source or sources of leaks and fix them systematically.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Regards,

 

John Barrett, CEO

Leading Edge Composites

PO Box 428

Port Hadlock, WA 98339