Problem of cracks in wings Rutan VariEze

[fernandofanelli]

problem of cracks in anchoring wings varieze rutan , Aguiar could tell me if it is normal or dangerous to fly well , or whether to repair .
I'm from Argentina and I'm buying this plane , but I have my doubts about the cracks in the wing anchors .
recommending me
Fernando atte

Edited December 15, 2014 by fernandofanelli

[Kent Ashton]

The Variezes have a history of corrosion in the wing attachments. Much has been written about this. Do a google search for "varieze wing corrosion" and you'll find Rutan's warning and more info

[Marc Zeitlin]

problem of cracks in anchoring wings varieze rutan , Aguiar could tell me if it is normal or dangerous to fly well , or whether to repair .

I'm from Argentina and I'm buying this plane , but I have my doubts about the cracks in the wing anchors .

recommending me

What you are seeing in those pictures are most probably non-structural cracking of the fill and paint around the wing attach fittings.

 

That being said, what Kent has stated is correct - there are long-standing corrosion issues in a small number of Variezes, which have been ongoing for almost 30 years. Before purchasing a Varieze, you should educate yourself on ALL available information about this, and as Kent stated, there is a lot of it out on the web that's available. Per Burt and RAF's review of an in-flight failure of a wing-attach fitting (non-fatal), the maximum G loading of all Variezes was reduced to 2.5 G's, but that's a short term mitigation, and NOT a solution to the issue.

 

I'm in the process of working with a few folks who are extremely knowledgeable regarding VE's to develop an inspection and repair procedure for the wing attach fittings. The Harris' in Tennessee (at EZJets) have done one or more repairs of corroded fittings and have jigs and fixtures for doing the repair, and I've seen three sets of corroded fittings from VE's that were being refurbished for various reasons.

 

The airplane you show here has some very non-standard features around the wing attachments - the top surface oval cover with the screw in the center is very non-standard, and I'm not sure what it would be covering up. If the airplane has lived in a humid and/or rainy area, has been outside for any length of time, or the wing fitting material and alodining cannot be verified (almost all VE's have attach fittings made from 2024-T3 AL, which is extremely corrosion prone unless protected correctly) I would be extremely reluctant to purchase the plane.

 

The inspection and repair, once the procedures are developed, are NOT non-destructive, and will take anywhere from 20 - 80 hours to complete. If you are not a composites expert, I wouldn't recommend tackling the job.

 

Feel free to contact me directly at the email address below if you want to discuss this in more detail.