wrote:
: Skin crack patches are not permitted on the stabilator or rudder or
: vertical stab of any PA28 models. You must re-skin to be legal.
: Fortunately PA28 tailfeather skins are readily available from Piper or
: authorized parts dealers and are not too awful expensive either. The
: labor to drill out all the old rivets and replace is the real PITA
: here.

: BTW, patches *are* permitted on PA28 flap skins, and believe it or
: not, also on aileron skins for older cherokees, but you must rebalance
: ailerons if you patch them. The PA28 service manual even has a section
: that tells you what thickness aluminum to use for those skin patches.

This is a point of confusion, IMO. As far as I can tell from my PA28 service manual, control
surface repairs are possible, since they have a description of how to do it. That includes how to check
the balance and state that they're often balanced at the forward end of the range to "allow for repairs."
The only "official" information I've heard that says repairs aren't permitted has been 3rd or 4th
generation word of mouth. I've also seen a number of PA28's *with* control surface repairs.

What gives?

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss, Ph.D., PPSEL-IA *
* Electrical Engineering *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************