Vinyl on light aircraft

[StuJohnston]

I have a customer that would like to have some zebra stripes on his plane. I imagine that this should work if you can make vinyl stick semi permanently to cars, but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about this. IE What would be the best material or if this is feasible or not.

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I decorated a custy's plane a few years ago. He never complained, but I really didn't follow up either.

We just used regular, Pressure Sensitive, High Performance Vinyl. Don't use calendared vinyl. Use cast, and be careful over the rivets if any.

If you are a competent installer, I'll wager it will be just fine, but having said that, there is a HUGE difference in planes and their airspeed. Cars....not so much.  A Piper J-3 Cub might make 80 knots on a good day (or not...) but an experimental hot rod single seater will do 300 or more! I believe the plane I decorated was a Cessna 172--kinda in the middle. 300 windspeed might be another matter entirely. A modern Mooney can make 200 without breaking a sweat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooney_M20 That might be an issue.

Ha! Nowadays I print shirts, and have never had a complaint that my decorations were BLOWING off....

[sweetts]

I would check with a a&p mechanic about any applicable regulations on applying anything To an aircraft, I thought you had to provide the weight of the paint/ vinyl and where it is located To verify it doesn't change the planes weights and measures and I would stay away from the wings all together. I would think should something happen you would for sure be looked at. That's just me though I witnessed the FAA investigate a mechanic who only changed the oil two months before, not fun or cheap.

Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

I would check with a a&p mechanic about any applicable regulations on applying anything To an aircraft, I thought you had to provide the weight of the paint/ vinyl and where it is located To verify it doesn't change the planes weights and measures and I would stay away from the wings all together. I would think should something happen you would for sure be looked at. That's just me though I witnessed the FAA investigate a mechanic who only changed the oil two months before, not fun or cheap.

Sent  from samsung gem(the worst smart phone ever)

Your smart phone may be bad, but your brain is working just fine!  I didn't think of the A&P angle, but I most certainly should have. SAGE advice....particularly in our litigious society.  Apply vinyl, plane crashes, registered letter from FAA.  I'll pass....

[StuJohnston]

I think that I might be a little slow this morning(ish), what is an A&P mechanic? It is some sort of custom plane i believe, so I have a little work to do it looks like. I wasn't really looking forward to making this work to be honest, so if it appears to be an issue, I will probably just decline.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

A&P stands for Airframe & Powerplant technician. Strict certification standards are in place in order for them to hang up their shingle, and they have to sign off on lots of stuff in aviation. They are reluctant to get sued, no doubt, so they follow procedures and protocols and tend to stay on the cutting edge.

[Gilligan]

Bah, if "something happens" there won't be any graphics left to worry about being blamed for.

[sweetts]

I was just saying with my limited experience I was told any modifications needed to be logged, I remember one guy painted stripes on his plane and during an inspection  he was asked what paint was used, how much in weight was applied and at point from center. Here is a link to a pdf and why I think it might be needed.
http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aircraft/amt_handbook/media/faa-8083-30_ch04.pdf

[mk162]

we do a lot of work for Lockheed Martin and those guys over there know how much paint can make a difference.  They got into some long drawn out monologue about the allowed thickness of paint on a c-130.  My eyes glazed over after about 45 seconds.  I had no idea how complicated it was.