Once while doing a pre-flight on my C-182
many years ago I wiggled the rudder and heard
water sloshing inside. I discovered a plugged drain hole, and a LOT of water
drained out. It was way too much to fall through the clearance holes
where the elevator torque tube exits the fuselage.
Then it dawned on me. At Palo Alto, my former
home drome, the rain is usually accompanied by wind from the south west.
That drove rain against the vertical stabilizer. It ran down to the
horizontal stabilizer and fuselage, and then drained into the clearance hole
for the torque tube, driven by the wind. The wind blew in one side and
out the other. The water dropped out and being unable to drain was stored
in the tail cone area.
A lot of water in the tail would have
moved the CG a bit – in the wrong direction. Or think about climbing
up high above the freezing level. The elevator bell crank may have
decided to stop moving back and forth in a puddle turned to ice.
Hmmmm…
Drain holes work. Put in several. Check
them regularly if you park in the rain.
Fred Moreno AKA
Captain Tuna, Chicken of the Skies