ExperimentalAero™ 

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Flop Tube Alert

There has been discussion about the life span of the inverted flop tube in the fuel tank.  I recently helped out in the repair of an RV-4 that was certified in 1989.  When resealing the fuel tanks and replacing the fuel senders (root access tank panel removed) I notice the inverted flop tube was rather stiff.  I then inverted the tank and observed that the tube only moved to about the middle (vertical) of the tank.  This condition if left alone would mean that inverted flight could only be performed with a fuel tank that was more then half full.  We replaced the old flop tube with a new more flexible one.  The photo below shows the significant difference in flexibility between the old flop tube and a new one.

Last Update: 05/24/08

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