Gaffer Tape?

[Mahatma Kote]

Photo taken on a recent domestic NZ Flight.

I assume there is a good explanation for taping up parts of passenger aircraft, but...


http://media.apn.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/sideswipe014.jpg

As reported by sideswipe today http://www.nzherald.co.nz/column/story.cfm?c_id=702&objectid=10501905


(And whatever happened to good old kiwi ingenuity and #9 fencing wire? :ok:)

[Islander Jock]

They could have at least sprayed over it with a bit of grey primer so it wasn't so obvious to the punters. :E

Good ol Gaffa - airframe on a roll

[ampan]

Mahatma: the great Kiwi cure-all is #8 fencing wire, not #9.

And I've fixed many things with #8, although all of them were of the fence variety.

[HotDog]

It is totally acceptable to use speed tape as a temporary repair on minor damage to non structural airframe components until replacement or permanent repairs can be facilitated. Another journalistic molehill transformed into a mountain.:yuk:

[bushy]

In the days when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (or maybe a little later than that) I was involved in skydiving, and went to England to see what all the noise was about.
Nylon parachute canopies were sometimes damaged during opening by friction, which resulted in little holes in the fabric. The proper repair involved more fabric, a sewing machine and lots of time. The English club I went to found a solution that just involved some sticky tape and a couple of minutes. Surprisingly it worked fine, but looked bad. Some canopies had lots of black sticky tape patches.
Fortunately, I had my own parachute.

[JaseAVV]

yeah that's a totally acceptable looking temporary repair to a composite fairing.
There would no doubt be a requirement for it to be re-inspected regularly for integrity until it could be properly repaired.

[chimbu warrior]

Note that high-speed tape (instant airframe) and Gaffa tape are 2 totally different products, the latter having no place in aviation.

High-speed tape has far greater strength and rigidity, and is perfectly acceptable in the way it has been used here,

[MELKBQF]

The area that is taped over with high speed tape is where the upper and lower fairings meet. It’s likely that the upper faring had been removed during overnight maintenance and insufficient time was available for the sealant (used for aerodynamic reasons) to cure before the aircraft was scheduled to re-enter service. It’s a perfectly normal maintenance practice to apply high speed tape over the top of a fillet seal that hasn’t completely cured, it is then usually removed by engineering when the aircraft terminates the next evening.

[illusion]

When I saw the headline- GAFFER TAPE and NEW ZooLAND mintioned, I thought this would be an interesting article............NOT

[frothy]

Bushy
Your right, back in the days of round canopies(goin back a while) always had some ripstop tape in the log book bag. At least I made the repairs the same colour as the canopy:)
Nothing wrong with 100mph Tape either

Frothy

[Jet_A_Knight]

Gaffer tape is too fukcing expensive to waste on aeroplanes!:8

[lestump]

:hmm:This looks like the same sort of tape that Airservices Australia is currently using to patch up the Australian ATC system. (This material is also known by the term "Goodwill of ATC staff") Note well that by the end of this year, they will have run out of all available supplies of such tape and the new Minister, CEO and Board will have to try to spin their way out of the ensuing PR disaster.

For myself, retirement will come soon enough...... but hopefully, not before the Minister devrees thant ASA offer an appropriate pay rise and maybe even retention bonus offers for the old farts approaching retirement, who constitute more than 20% of the total Aussie ATC staff numbers.

We'll see I guess.

I wish you all good luck.

[komac2]

I assume there is a good explanation for taping up parts of passenger aircraft


you obviously never saw the amount of Bog splatted around the underside of the old Air NZ 7372s.

[undervaluedATC]

lestump,
how come this comment is not in the thread on AsA staffing levels?

[hard_yakka]

A number of aviation people (myself included) must have emailed the author of the column to set her straight as there has been a follow-up (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/column/story.cfm?c_id=702&objectid=10502393).

The "Sideswipe" column in the New Zealand Herald is a light-hearted feature where people send in amusing or interesting "not-real-news" items.

The compiler, Ana, is quite happy to enter into correspondence when something isn't quite right.

[deadhead]

Absolutely. Ana is an awesome chick, and this one is strictly for laughs.

In this case it just happens to be at our expense. Let's get over it.

Actually, I laughed my ass/arse off, knowing full well it was strictly for laughs.

And, it just shows Ana's integrity, that she doesn't get so pissed off that she throws her toys out of the cot and refuses to print a subsequent follow up/explanation when she gets called.

Now that's my kind of chick.:ok:

[PyroTek]

As they say:
"If it's stuck and shouldn't be, use a hammer, If it's unstuck and should be stuck, use Gaffer"...

However, Slightly unnerving... tape holding an aircraft together, couldn't the tape have a possibility of freezing and unsticking during cruise?

[Veruka Salt]

... atleast Qantas would use staples ... :E

[deadhead]

"Tape," as you call it, is used all the time.

No aircraft has been brought down because it was stuck together only with the stuff.

No aircraft has been involved in an incident because the tape came off in flight and ended up someplace it shouldn't have, or worse, compromised the structural integrity of the airframe.

BUT!!! There have been plenty of airframe failures not associated with tape in the long(ish) history of aviation, most of which ended up in a fatal accident.

Hmmm...I'd start worrying about whether the rivets and camlock fasteners are going to hold next time you go flying if I were you :E

[empacher48]

No aeroplane has come apart in flight because tape was holding it together, but I do remember a 757 (I think in Peru) that was bought down because tape was left covering the static ports...

Not really the same thing as I don't think Boeing put static ports on fairings..

[Chief Erwin]

We once pushed a seneca III out of a hangar, only to collect the plastic wing tip which inturn shattered it.
Having not another sitting in our over stocked store, we did the only thing possible, grabbed the tape, assembled the jigsaw puzzle with tape on both sides, bogged the edges, primed and painted until the new one turned up.
Which was quite a few flights later and removed as it was fitted in perfect looking condition.:D
Should be a course in tape application.:ok:

[deadhead]

In the Peru accident the masking tape was meant to come off before flight.

So you are right, not the same thing.

[mootyman]

I have seen on at least two aircraft that this is acceptable, not to hold the fairing on but to stop the sealant flying out of the joint that in this pic the tape seems to be covering. I imagine that the aft faring had to come off and instead of the engineer just whacking it back on he may have gone to the effort of resealing the gap that is between the two fairings and doing per AMM. This practice is even recommended when installing windscreens and there is not enough aircraft down time to let the sealant cure.

[goin'flyin]

Chief Erwin wrote "Should be a course in tape application.:ok: "

I totally agree, some pride should be taken in tape application.:8
"Wrinkles in duct tape is a sign of poor workmanship - BE CAREFUL!"

[LeadSled]

Folks,

From a fridge magnet on my message board:

Duct tape is like the Force,
It has a light side and a dark side,
And it holds the world together.

But, fercristsake, don't confuse duct (gaffer) tape with 3M High Speed tape).

Tootle pip!!

[Spanner Turner]

From the Maintenance Manual:



CAUTION: OBEY THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE PROCEDURE TO APPLY THE AERODYNAMIC SMOOTHER. IF YOU DO NOT OBEY THE INSTRUCTIONS, DAMAGE TO THE AIRPLANE SURFACE CAN OCCUR.

(25) Apply the aerodynamic sealant (AMM 51-31-01/201).
(a) If you must dispatch the airplane before the sealant is fully
cured, do the steps that follow:
1) Install the High Speed tape on the top of the sealant.
2) Remove the tape when the sealant is fully cured.



:ok: :ok:

[Bolty McBolt]

Come off it Spanner !!!!

We all know that shiney silver tape IS the only thing holding the trailing edge of that fairing on...

Sealant pppffftttttttttttt :}

[Spanner Turner]

We all know that shiney silver tape IS the only thing holding the trailing edge of that fairing on...



That may be so my friend (it's held on bigger things) but at least I've got a Manual reference to sign it off with.

:ok::ok:




some pride should be taken in tape application.:8
"Wrinkles in duct tape is a sign of poor workmanship - BE CAREFUL!"


I couldn't agree more goin'flyin, a good high speed tape job should be just a tiny bit below a permanent repair!

:ok: