REFLECTOR: Meeting nice people while building a plane...

[Alex Balic]

Chris-
That leak must be pretty large to pool up on the floor like that- you should
be able to find it pretty fast with soapy water and some air pressure.
 
Alex

  _____  

From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
Behalf Of Christopher Barber
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2008 7:19 PM
To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list; FlyRotary aircraft; COZY
Mailing List; canard-aviators at yahoogroups.com
Subject: REFLECTOR: Meeting nice people while building a plane...


In my case it was the fine men of the Ellington Field/Johnson Space Center
Fire Department when the guys in the hangar next to me (building a P51
replica with a V-12) smelled the a strong odor of gasoline coming from my
hangar and called the Fire Dept.  So the hazmat guys responded and I got a
early morning call from the Airport.  They entered through main door in
which they had a key and soaked up leaking fuel. They were really great
about it.  They called and asked if I could be up there quickly so they
didn't have to cut my lock.  I got there in about 15 minutes.  They were all
very friendly and helpful and curious about the build.
 
So, best as I can tell, I have a leak in the right strake.  Damnit, I
pressure tested this thing a few years ago. I have had 10 gallons in the
plane for a while, however, yesterday I put about ten more gallons of fuel
in than I had before.  I thought I only had about fifteen total gallons in
the plane, after running it though the day, but I drained out a total of
about 25 today (I have been adding a bit at various times as I was doing
test runs).
 
When the field called I had assumed the leak was gonna be at the aluminum
line connections to the sump tank, but we could see a bit of fuel steaming
into the cabin at the apex of the right strake.  I could not determine
exactly where, of course.  SO, the engine development is on hold 'till this
latest little challenge is disposed with.  Damn it.  Oh well, so it
goes.......it could be worse, it could be raining. :-)
 
So, I am heading to the variously list archives to be reminded on the best
way to track this kind of thing down.  Any direction/shortcuts to info y'all
may add will be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
 
All the best,
 
Chris
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