REFLECTOR: Thanks, great resource!

[Douglas Holub]

It is a great forum, and I know my aircraft is safer because of it. And for 
that reason I'm going to share my blunder last month.....

I was just swapping a couple of the wires on a toggle switch behind the 
panel.  I pulled off one of the faston connectors and pushed it out of the 
way. It was a ground wire, and happened to land on a wire tied directly to 
the positive battery terminal.  It is the only wire in the whole airplane 
which doesn't have a fuse or circuit breaker between it and the battery. But 
it is the hot lead to the circuit breaker for the Plasma III, and Klaus says 
it needs to go directly to the battery.

I knew there was a problem when I saw a wire glowing red and smelled smoke. 
My first thought was, "It's going to burn, and I don't have a fire 
extinguisher."  That was a very helpless feeling.  The airport had a fire 
extinguisher right next to the plane in the hangar, but it was old and dusty 
and I never noticed it there before.

The wire melted before there were any flames. But it also melted the 
insulation of some of the adjacent wires in the bundle, so I had to pull the 
carpet and cut into the wiring conduit to inspect everything. It had melted 
6 other wires and both nylaflow brake lines. So the next 4 days were spent 
fixing that little mistake.

I reduced the gauge of the Plasma III hot wire from 20 awg to 22 awg so that 
it would melt sooner next time.  I also put it inside its own personal 
nylaflow conduit from the battery lead to the panel.  And I promised myself 
that in the future I would never perform even trivial electrical work on the 
airplane without disconnecting the battery first....

Doug

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kurt Winker" <nmflyer1 at aol.com>
To: "Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list" <reflector at tvbf.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 2014 11:25 PM
Subject: REFLECTOR: Thanks, great resource!


> Just wanted to say thanks for this forum and all who participate, stalk, 
> and watch.
>
> My recent request for some data for my antiquated equipment was met with 
> ideas, help, advice & sound information, and pretty quickly at that.
>
> Compare this, if you will, (insert best Rod Serling Accent), with my 
> recent experience with finding a DAR:
>
> Went to the Albuquerque FSDO. They said they had no interest in doing my 
> airworthiness inspection.   Hmmm.  Even after 33 years of Air Traffic, I 
> have never been too fond of the office side of the FAA. Point 
> reinforced....
>
> Called a DAR that I heard good things about, and had done inspections on a 
> few friends aircraft.
> Waited 2 weeks, no response.
>
> Called back. Finally got a,return call. Was told that he would Email me a 
> list, some things needed to be sent to him before the inspection. I told 
> him I would have the stuff returned In a couple hours. I found it odd that 
> he laughed.
>
> I emailed all his requests to him within a couple hours, and requested 
> confirmation of receipt.
> Nada.
>
> Another email a couple days later... Asking if he received my stuff. Said 
> he got an email from me, and would look at it this weekend... (Ended 3 
> days ago).  Still....Nothing.
>
> Called a different DAR ... & again, had to leave a message. Nada again.
>
> Wondering if others have had this kind of experience. Perhaps it is my 
> profession, but I have no patience for actions like this. Yes, no, or 
> maybe.... Answer the damn question! ...
>
> Whew.  Better now.  Kind of.
>
> Again, this forum is pretty damn cool when you think about it!
> Thanks all!
>
> Kurt.
>
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
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