Service Bulletin 8-24: Rod End Bearing needs cap washers

We had a partial failure on a rod end bearing, on a lift strut.  The point of failure is where the lift struts attach to the fuselage.  The internal structure of the rod end bearing began to fail, and as a result, the rod end bearing might have slipped over the head of the bolt.   If this had happened, there is a strong possibility that the lift strut might have detached from the bearing bolt on the fuselage, with damaging or catastrophic results.  A simple solution is the addition of a cap washer.  We recommend immediately adding these washers to your aircraft before further flight.  It is important that the top washer is trimmed so that it does not hit or rub the lift strut. 

Failed Lift Strut Rod End Bearing

Another view of Failed Rod End Bearing

In order to prevent these rod end bearings from slipping over the head of the bolt, we are installing cap washers:

Cap Washers, with one trimmed

Here is a photo of the reassembled lift strut attach point, showing the rod end bearings and the cap washers.:

Cap Washers installed on lift strut

The bolt has been reinstalled, complete with quik release key (safety wire is of course also acceptable).

If you need these washers, please contact us and we will supply them at no charge.

The integrity of the rod end bearings should be inspected with each preflight.

Nice Mythbuster Article posted

Carrie Rengers of the local newspaper posted a nice article online about Belite, myself and Mythbusters.

You can read it here.

Rear aluminum fuselage assembly

Here's some photos showing the buildup of the rear of the fuselage in our aluminum ultralight airplane.  Most of the aluminum is 2024 series, but some is 6061.  The amount of labor to get to this picture is about 20 hours.  Still remaining is gusset work, along with a few odds & ends. 

I love clecos!

This is not hard work.  It is a blast to lay it out and have it look like an airplane within two days.

The rudder comes pre-welded, as shown in the photos.

I'm in this picture, but you can't see me.  I'm holding the board up from behind.

Gussets not shown.  The bottom wedge with all the clecos is actually 4 layers of aluminum.

I love the rear section of the fuse.

This bulkhead will have the nylon bearing block for the elevator push pull tube.

Gas tank platform.

One last look at the tail.

aluminum fuselage update

Here's some photos showing some of the ways our fuselage design has mutated from 4130 steel.  I've also made some comments on strength.

The front of the fuselage is made from 6061T6 aluminum, and is welded.  The rear of the fuselage is made from 2024T3511 aluminum, and is riveted.

The hallmarks of this design is that it is very light, very strong, and easy to assemble.  Let's look at some pictures.  The first picture shows that the primary vertical members are 1.0" aluminum square tubing, with .063" walls.  Although the temper is 6061T6, the welding is assumed to reduce the strength.  This particular tubing doesn't have the heavy loads.  However, it is also a primary safety mechanism to enclose the pilot in the event of an accident, so we still want it to be strong.  Assuming 0 temper, the strength of this material is about 4,500 pounds per tube cross section.

1" square tubing used in Belite ultralight aircraft

 

 

The front section of the fuselage is where the engine mounts attach.  We've reinforced this section with 4" gussets.  Here is a gusset at the top of the front fuselage:

Gusset reinforcement

 And here is a gusset on the bottom of the front fuselage:

Gusset reinforcement is on bottom of fuselage

 

 

Now let's look at the front spar crossover.  It is constructed of aluminum tubing (about .080 wall) with reinforcements in both axis.  As a result, it has a critical length of about 12 times its diameter, which means that the effects of "Euler's Buckling" have been reduced or eliminated.  At normal loading, this spar crossover has about 650 pounds of force pushing through it.  At a 4G load, it would have around 2600 pounds of force.  Assuming 6061T0 temper (welded), the cross section strength of this material is about 4000 pounds.

Front Spar Crossover with reinforcements.

Now let's take a look at the rear spar crossover.  We've reinforced it with some 1" square material.  The failure strength is substantially stronger than the front spar.

Rear spar crossover with reinforcement

 

 

 

Here's another view of the rear spar crossover:

The above photo shows the bracing.  The braces help prevent the cockpit from torsionally twisting.

rear spar crossover with bracing shown

The pilot's seat also gets some strengthing:

0.5 x 1.0 aluminum tubing added to pilots seat

Tricycle gear versions of our planes get extra cross channels on the bottom, along with more bracing in the side cabin area:

Tricycle gear airplanes get even more cross channels

 

And now let's show how the rear fuselage is added on.  We start with four longerons built from 2024 aluminum, with an angle size of 0.875 x 0.5 x 0.063 inches.  We then add some bulkheads, a vertical stabilizer, and some rivets.  We also use gusset plates.  Since there is no welding in the rear of the fuselage, the 2024 is an excellent choice.  (You can't weld it, but good golly goodness is it strong.)  Tensile strength of the longerons is off the charts:  each longeron could lift nearly 5900 pounds.  In a few more days, I'll have some photos of the completed rear fuselage.

Rear fuselage of Belite's aluminum airplane

rear view of the rear fuselage of Belite's ultralight aircraft

front view of the fuselage, it's all coming together