> > As far as I know there is no STC for going back to fabric. > If the FAA or > AP/IA spots it when going through the logs, ( which in most > cases are a > fairy tale anyway) you'll be grounded for sure. Any AP worth > his salt will > spot it on annual anyway, so why take the chance? >
There's no legal reason why you can't do this. No STC would be required for the change from metal to fabric, as the fabric wings are on the original TC. Most present day fabrics do require an STC, however, since they are not the same material as the certification. This is unrelated to the previous covering, what ever it was, though. As others have stated, however, the problem is in restoring the ribs too their original strength. I'm not sure you can make a convincing argument that even a doubler does the trick. I've seen ribs that have holes drilled through the cap strip into the vertical part of the rib. This has got to reduce the strength. Tying them all together with a sheet of aluminum creates a stronger structure than you'd get with fabric. There's been a lot of discussion about this in the Cessna 120/140 arena, for the same reason. Many of them have been metalized over the years and now folks are wanting to go back. I personally do not know of anyone that has actually done it, though. If anyone has or does do it, be sure to let us all know how it went. John
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