Wednesday September 6, 2006
Horizontal Stabilizer Drilling (Horizontal Stabilizer)
2.5 Hours

The response from Van was that, while the edge distance in those places was not optimal, it wasn't a big issue. They are "aware" that some of the flanges are "marginal" in some places. So I took their advice and carried on last night.

I spent the evening finishing all rib to spar and skin to skeleton drilling. There are a lot of holes, so it took a while. Both sides of the horizontal stabilizer are now completely drilled and ready for finishing. One thing I discovered is that when you're drilling a #30 hole through several pieces of rather thick metal, it'd be better to drill a #40 pilot hole all the way through before attempting to final drill the whole thing to #30.

Tonight I'll get busy deburring and edge-prepping the spars, ribs, and skins. If I have time, I may prime. Assuming that no problems crop up during the riveting process, I may be able to finish the HS on Friday.

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