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Hi! Buzzman,
We read your page too late.....after we lost tail feathers at 3000 feet! We are fine, but
it was an ugly crash ....we "landed" between a chainlink barb wire fence and a
cargo truck trailer. Since there was only a 5 foot space, we lost wings. The leading edge
horizontal stabilizer tube jury strut attachment point is where the plane failed. Our
recommendation is to bolt the jury strut bracket on to this tube, not pop rivet. This
failure caused us to go in and out of stalls, not to mention other loss of control. No we
did not deploy the chute. The pilot thought it would not deploy properly, that it would
tangle in wing or something else, trying to tear its way out. Do you have any experience
or know of anyone who has deployed on a Challenger II with bag Second Chance (900#) placed
as recommended by Challenger?
Thank you, Nancy
Nancy
I want you to be careful when drilling a hole in the stabilizer. While your idea will work
you will need to use AN 3 bolts anything larger will weaken the stabilizer I also suggest
you change the jury struts to chromoly steel rather than aluminum. Before doing any
drilling make sure your stabilizer has been sleeved.
I haven't had any experience with a
parachute on a Challenger and am not familiar with the factory recommended mounting As far
as the Second Chanz chute goes make sure to have the repack date checked. Second Chanz has
been out of business for several years now and it is probably time for a repack. BRS can
repack the chute into their new VLS system which can be mounted almost anywhere and has
the advantage of being able to be repacked by a local rigger.
The Buzzman
I own a 1993 Challenger II with everything near standard. Has DCDI 503 with starter and
cockpit mods for Specials, otherwise standard. This morning, July 23, 1997 while flying I
experienced failure of the pop rivets holding the dorsal fin to the fuselage. These were
stainless steel 1/8 in. rivets going into a aluminum tube. I believe the failure occurred
because the prop, a 54 x 36, comes very close to the front of the dorsal resulting in a
lot of vibratory movement. The front two brackets were completely lose resulting in the
dorsal moving to the left. This made the elevator operation very stiff due to the dorsal
rubbing. When I removed the dorsal I found the other two brackets were also very lose.
This could have been real trouble. Fortunately it was only an incident.
Have you heard of any others with this problem and what is a fix that is better than the
original attachments? Thanks for any good ideas.
John Wiebelt
e-mail Jawiebelt@aol.com
John for more troubleshooting reports on the Challenger check out
www.ultralightnews.com - under Troubleshooting the Challenger
Is it possible to place tanks in the wings in my Challenger II - and to use the room
behind the seats for the battery and baggage? What about weight? Can I buy such tanks
anywhere?
Hans Havsager
Hans
I have put a Quicksilver MX gas tank on the root tube of my dacron covered Challenger 11.
If fits in nicely and all I had to do was cut it for the gas cap.
There is a company in Canada which builds an plane called the Chinook Plus two, they use a
wing that is very similar to the Challenger and they use tanks located out on the wings
the company is called ASAP you can find their number in the two place buyers guide on my
website. An area that you can use for storage is the area directly below the engine. Just
cover the top and build in a side door and storage area, you can put about 4 lbs of weight
here.
I would not recommend having a battery directly behind the pilot, nor up in the nose like
most Challenger installations, in an accident the acid from the battery could injure the
person in the second seat.
If you are going to mount the tanks out on the wing DON'T DRILL ANY HOLES IN THE STRUTS,
use clamps and mount the tanks as close to the attachment points as possible for strength.
One problem with using wing tanks is that you will have to have some kind of a one way
valve or shut off to prevent fuel going from one tank to the other during long slow turns.
or when one tank is out of fuel.
U.B. Judge
Hi BuzzMan,
I have a 277 on my single place Challenger. I've also had lots of engine problems.
Finally, at only 120 hours, the crankshaft seals failed. Would uprighting the engine help?
Thank you,
Dave
Dave
Don't blame your engine the 277 is one of the most reliable in the industry. The problem
is that you are using a belt drive which puts pressure on the crankshaft bearing liners,
which of course allow the crank to move up and down which will destroy your seals.
It usually also damages your magneto!
Converting to an upright mount using a Rotax gear box 2.58 to 1 ratio with a 60 inch prop
will greatly increase your performance in both cruise and climb and will extend your
engine life to about 300 hours between rebuilds. I did this to the first single place
challenger I had climb rate went up to about 700 feet per minute and cruise to 55 at 4900
rpm. I later switched to a 447 and then for more info on the mount check out my website.
The single place mount in basically the same other than the spacers required to lift the
engine will be different.
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