Water on the floor

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Charles
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Water on the floor

Post by Charles »

Flew in very heavy rain today. At the end of the flight, there was water on the floor on the passenger side. Any idea by which path it got there and how to plug the leak? It's a 2002.

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OriensFlight
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Re: Water on the floor

Post by OriensFlight »

There are small holes on the underside of the fuselage. With the right amount of rain and pressure-differential, maybe it got sucked in. I’ve seen this happen during the washing of the aircraft belly when using a spray-hose to rinse the bottom.
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Rich
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Re: Water on the floor

Post by Rich »

OriensFlight wrote: Mon Sep 14, 2020 12:32 am There are small holes on the underside of the fuselage. With the right amount of rain and pressure-differential, maybe it got sucked in. I’ve seen this happen during the washing of the aircraft belly when using a spray-hose to rinse the bottom.
These floorboards are separate from and a couple of inches above the outer skin.

The pattern is curious. Mostly it seems to be in the front of that side and seeped rearward in the carpet. We had a similar occurrence while the plane was parked overnight at KSAW (Marquette, MI) on the delivery flight (May, '02) back from the factory. There were heavy rainstorms that night. Could it have come in from the right side forward fresh air vent? That's long been my suspicion.
2002 DA40-180: MT, PowerFlow, 530W/430W, KAP140, ext. baggage, 1090 ES out, 2646 MTOW, 40gal., Surefly, Flightstream 210, Orion 600 LED, XeVision, Aspen E5
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Charles
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Re: Water on the floor

Post by Charles »

That’s an interesting idea. I didn’t have the time to investigate while it was still wet, and now that it’s dry it’s very hard to diagnose. But I’ll try to replicate with a garden hose or pressure washer. In any case, it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

Is there any chance water came in around the rudder cables?
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Rich
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Re: Water on the floor

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Charles wrote: Sun Sep 20, 2020 7:07 pm Is there any chance water came in around the rudder cables?
I don't see it. All 6 cables live within the warm bosom of the fuselage, with the only external exposure being the two long ones where they attach to the rudder. See section 27-20 of the AMM, figure 1.
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Steve
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Re: Water on the floor

Post by Steve »

I'm with Rich. Most likely intrusion point is the air vent hose on the right side of your photo. One other thought - the black rubber plug on the left front aspect of your footwell appears not fully seated. I'm not sure if the other side is exposed to an area that could support water intrusion...

Steve
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