Using the original Van's pitot location

[Kelly Johnson(Guest)]

Hello:

I'm building an RV-9A and I really thought that I wasn't at all interested in the Dynon
with the AOA indicator so I drilled the spar and skin in preparation
for the Van's no frills pitot tube as indicated in the plans. Well
now I'm thinking that the Dynon with the AOA indicator is pretty cool
to have. It seems that this requires the Gretz Aero pitot tube mount and it has to
be installed in a place other than where I drilled the hole.

So, what can I use to plug the hole that I won't be using? I guess I
can rivet on a patch but the skin is now missing a rivet in that area.
Plus the patch would overlap the nose section and dimpling this would
be tricky. Is there some sort of plug that is available that will
bolt on in this location? What do people do that want to upgrade from
the plain vanilla Van's pitot tube to a Grets mount on a flying aircraft? Is there a pitot tube that works with the AOA feature that can fit in the hole I drilled for the regular pitot tube?

Thanks

Kelly Johnson

 

[dynonsupport]

Kelly,
Most people put the Gretz Aero mount in the exact same location as the stock Van's pitot mount. I don't see any reason to put it somewhere else. You'd cut the appropriate holes for the Gretz and just mount it right there. That's the upgrade path most customers take.

We only sell one Pitot probe and it uses the Gretz Aero mount. No other pitots will work for the AOA function.

Hope that helps.

 

[Kelly Johnson(Guest)]

Thanks.

Don't you have to cut a large hole in the shape of the pitot in the skin for the Gretz? Since this hole is drilled in the spar and the Gretz mount would straddle the spar how is this possible? Maybe I just don't understand how the Gretz mount works. I'll look at their site again.

 

[Cam]

Kelly

The Gretz mount goes against one of the ribs and the spar, so it will be an inch or two away from the Van's location.  Sounds like you already drilled the hole for the pitot, so did I.  I just used that hole for my Grand Rapids OAT probe.  Also you could use it for your Dynon OAT if you put the magnotometer in the wing tip.  I'll send you some photos if you would like

Cam
RV9A, flying

 

[dynonsupport]

Kelly,
Is the RV-9 location for the pitot different than the earlier RV's? We're used to it being pretty easy to update the mount.

Also, don't forget that to do this, you will need to run an extra pressure line out to the wing for the AOA. This is usually the problem customers have with retrofits, not the mount!

Maybe the RV list would be a better place for this question?

 

[N941WR]

Kelly,

There are some pictures on the wing page of my web site of the Gretz mount.  (www.repucci.com/bill/baf.html)

In the picture taken inside the wing you can see the small patch I put over the hole I drilled for the Van's pitot.  (Still wish I hadn't done that!)  I'll rivet a small disk in the hole to fill it and you will never know it was there once painted.

I put the mount in the same bay that Van's calls for but moved it next to the outboard rib.

Bill Repucci
RV-9 Builder

 

[N941WR]

Ok, you got me to finish filling that hole. Check my web site for details. The original patch I used was too thin and flexed a good bit so I replaced it with something much thicker.

It looks good but is still visible, good thing it is on the underside of the wing.

Bill
www.repucci.com/bill/baf.html