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Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1998 16:59:30 -0600
From: Snowbird <snbird@ibm.net>
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Subject: Re: Water in the fuselage
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Dave Mould wrote:
 
> In article <72fgbm$f3p$1@supernews.com>, Joseph Bowen wrote:

> > Well, this shows my ignorance, but I've never had the drainholes 
> > in 152s or 172s pointed out to me, don't remember them from the 
> > manual, and they certainly aren't on the preflight list.

Join the club, Joseph.  I did all my PPL training plus a bunch of
flying afterwards in a C172 and I couldn't tell you where the
drain holes are.  It wasn't until I spent two days crawling in
and under and around the plane I was about to buy that I learned
where and what they were, and I never really thought about checking
them on preflight.  I'm not sure where water would get into the
fuselage though, except into the cabin through the air vents (which is
obvious on the carpet) or around the bases of the 
antennae and I do check these.

> Winter's coming up, I guess now's a time for the usual warning about 
> unseen overnight icing.  This is where water pools in the spinner or 
> elevator etc. and freezes solid. Nothing obvious to see on the 
> preflight (...)
> Ice in the spinner causes a huge imbalance that becomes apparent 
> during the runup or before, but ice in the elevator doesn't show till > you find you can't push forward quite enough after takeoff ...

Interesting points, Dave.  But can you really see nothing obvious
on preflight?  

We used to park our plane with the prop horizontal for several
reasons.  One day after a heavy rain, I noticed something unusual
inside the spinner (it was obvious to me anyhow, I guess I worry
about finding bird nests in every crack).  My preflight flashlight
revealed water.  When I turned the prop vertical, a substantial puddle
splashed down at my feet.  Now I think vertical is the way to store the
prop if it's parked outside, but I suspect if you can see water in
there, you could see ice.  

I would have thought that ice in the elevator would affect its 
balance and be noticable on preflight, as well?  Doesn't it feel
heavy?  Also, where does the water get in?

Regards,
Snowbird


