X-Virus-Scanned: clean according to Sophos on Logan.com Return-Path: Sender: To: lml@lancaironline.net Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 18:21:01 -0400 Message-ID: X-Original-Return-Path: Received: from raven.ravenwebhosting.com ([72.9.254.67] verified) by logan.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.4.0) with ESMTPS id 5050863 for lml@lancaironline.net; Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:41:48 -0400 Received-SPF: none receiver=logan.com; client-ip=72.9.254.67; envelope-from=paul@tbm700.com Received: from s01060017ee00b6c0.cg.shawcable.net ([174.0.115.173]:51827 helo=[192.168.15.8]) by raven.ravenwebhosting.com with esmtps (TLSv1:AES128-SHA:128) (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Qh5J2-0001ha-Jl for lml@lancaironline.net; Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:41:13 -0400 From: paul miller Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1084) Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=Apple-Mail-154--581109654 Subject: Re: [LML] Fuel smell in cockpit X-Original-Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:40:55 -0400 In-Reply-To: X-Original-To: "Lancair Mailing List" References: X-Original-Message-Id: <544FA6A2-32E9-4ACB-8CA0-344FBACB523D@tbm700.com> X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1084) X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - raven.ravenwebhosting.com X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - lancaironline.net X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - tbm700.com X-Source: X-Source-Args: X-Source-Dir: --Apple-Mail-154--581109654 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii I understand your comment and agree. In my case, I inspected the = visible systems and eventually convinced myself that the large blue = stains on the wing bottoms (exiting those Andair check valves so much = has been written about recently) were the cause. I convinced myself = that on my steep decelerating approaches that fuel must be on the wing = bottom and dumping the gear opens that gap into the cockpit and that's = why I smelled fuel on approach. It did get worse this past year and = when I opened the canopy (you got it correct RonG) I smelled avgas in = the cockpit even if it was a day later in the hangar. I knew that made = no sense. Nothing was visible so I removed the cover plates in the Legacy center = tunnel just below my knees that cover the Andair fuel selector and = spotted the leaking banjos. The AN fittings for the flare connections = were all tight--just the banjos were 100% leaking. =20 Everyone else can learn that if you smell fuel in the cockpit, it should = be investigated even at the expense of interior removal and downtime. = Thanks Ron. Paul Calgary On 2011-07-13, at 2:54 PM, Ron Galbraith wrote: > You should NEVER smell fuel in the cockpit at any time. If you do, = this should be an immediate red flag and indicates a fuel leak. Every = time I open the door on an airplane, I smell for fuel. I cannot count = the number of times I've mentioned a fuel smell to the owner when I was = to give flight instruction and the answer was always. "yes, it smells = like that if the plane has been shut up for a while-that's normal". = This is not normal and even though it may be a small leak, it is a leak = and that is dangerous on several levels. Just because that's the way = it's always been doesn't mean its ok. =20 >=20 > RonG --Apple-Mail-154--581109654 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii I = understand your comment and agree. In my case, I inspected the = visible systems and eventually convinced myself that the large blue = stains on the wing bottoms (exiting those Andair check valves so much = has been written about recently) were the cause. I convinced = myself that on my steep decelerating approaches that fuel must be on the = wing bottom and dumping the gear opens that gap into the cockpit and = that's why I smelled fuel on approach. It did get worse this past = year and when I opened the canopy (you got it correct RonG) I smelled = avgas in the cockpit even if it was a day later in the hangar. I = knew that made no sense.

Nothing was visible so I = removed the cover plates in the Legacy center tunnel just below my knees = that cover the Andair fuel selector and spotted the leaking banjos. = The AN fittings for the flare connections were all tight--just the = banjos were 100% leaking.

Everyone else = can learn that if you smell fuel in the cockpit, it should be = investigated even at the expense of interior removal and downtime. = Thanks = Ron.

Paul

Calgary

On = 2011-07-13, at 2:54 PM, Ron Galbraith wrote:

You should = NEVER smell fuel in the cockpit at any time. If you do, this = should be an immediate red flag and indicates a fuel leak. Every = time I open the door on an airplane, I smell for fuel. I cannot = count the number of times I've mentioned a fuel smell to the owner when = I was to give flight instruction and the answer was always. "yes, = it smells like that if the plane has been shut up for a while-that's = normal". This is not normal and even though it may be a = small leak, it is a leak and that is dangerous on several levels. = Just because that's the way it's always been doesn't mean its = ok.
=20
=20 RonG

= --Apple-Mail-154--581109654--