Would you fly IMC <200 knots without static wicks?

Would you fly IMC <200 knots without static wicks?

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Salty

Salty

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Salty
I’m building an EAB and trying to decide whether or not to install wicks.

On the plus side, there’s not much maintenance and it could be a life saver.

On the minus side, it complicates the build (not a whole lot), costs a ridiculous amount of money for a few wires, and I’ve been flying without them on my Mooney and haven’t noticed yet.
 
I know almost nothing about it, but my Lance has been flying since 1976 without them.
 
I fly IMC without wicks all the time. Non-issue as far as I’m concerned.
 
Have you polled your type club chat/forum?
"Lifesaver" I presume you mean struck by lightning?
I know of several a/c that crashed or had a serious problem from that but will static wicks really prevent damage? I guess I'd need to know how often eab's had a lightning event to decide.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Have you polled your type club chat/forum?
"Lifesaver" I presume you mean struck by lightning?
I know of several a/c that crashed or had a serious problem from that but will static wicks really prevent damage? I guess I'd need to know how often eab's had a lightning event to decide.
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I don’t think it’s lightning, I think it’s to avoid large discharges of static picked up in flight.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Ok, the you said livesaver so I misinterpreted that.
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If your aileron bearings weld together when it discharges I’d say it could be a life saver. Maybe unlikely, but possible.
 
100% of my IMC time and into my 3rd decade of flying has been under 200kts and I haven't noticed any difference in wick vs no wick planes.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I wonder if @wanttaja has any data on how often this happens?
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I've read ~4400 homebuilt accident reports, and another ~4000 for production-type aircraft, but don't recall any mention of static wicks. I did a quick search of the 2009-2018 database for all aircraft. Got four hits for "static wick"...

Narrative - 2009-2018
ERA11FA312
CEN12FA487
CEN13IA285
ERA16FA043

In ERA11FA312, it's just referencing the location of fuel leak in relation to a static wick location.

CEN12FA487 referred to "The static wicks on the ailerons, elevator, and rudder were tested using a MEG OHM tester. All static wicks were found to test between 6 to 15 MEG OHMS with 1,000 volts applied, which was within allowable limits."

CEN13IA285 was a Cirrus, and the report said, "There were no static wicks installed on the airplane." Interesting case, static caused by precipitation interfered with communications.

ERA16FA043, a Beech A36, they were just mentioned in passing: "According to a logbook entry dated November 13, 2015, two defective static wicks were replaced, loose headphone jacks at the pilot and co-pilot positions were tightened, and troubleshooting of the primary turbine inlet temperature gauge occurred. There was no other documented maintenance performed before the accident flight." Probable cause was the failure to maintain airspeed on approach.

Ron Wanttaja
 
I'd put them in. I've been in an airplane where a couple wicks were broken. Strange things happened with the traffic system and the static on the radios was ridiculous. Better to build it in and not have an issue, then try to add it later because you've had issues.
 
Jim K said:
I know almost nothing about it, but my Lance has been flying since 1976 without them.
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Same, down to the year make and model. It isn't even something I really think about either.
 
Metal airplane? I think you're good without them. Plastic airplane? I'd put them in.
 
I think all metal certified aircraft coming off the line today with IFR equipment have them. Dunno if that means anything or not.
 
I seem to recall that there's some engineering/science behind how many many to install, their length, and their placement. IOW just slapping some on and thinking it's gonna provide any protection would be a crap shoot. If you do decide to add them, make sure you have a good electrical bond between wherever you mount them and the fuselage otherwise you'd be wasting your time. Personally I don't think the juice is worth squeeze. YMMV...
 
tsts4 said:
I seem to recall that there's some engineering/science behind how many many to install, their length, and their placement. IOW just slapping some on and thinking it's gonna provide any protection would be a crap shoot. If you do decide to add them, make sure you have a good electrical bond between wherever you mount them and the fuselage otherwise you'd be wasting your time. Personally I don't think the juice is worth squeeze. YMMV...
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Dayton Granger has published an installation diagram for the model I am building.

dayton-granger-rv10.png
 
Salty said:
Dayton Granger has published an installation diagram for the model I am building.

dayton-granger-rv10.png
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Well I guess that's something--I don't know who Dayton is but I will take it on face value he has some expertise and did the math to figure it all out. If it gives you peace of mind, go for it. However, I would hazard to say that over 99% of RV-10 builders, myself included, opted not to bother. And FWIW, I'm unaware of any RV incidents that wicks would have helped avoid.
 
There was an incident a few years back where the cirrus pilot departed ADS in a thunderstorm, said he lost instruments, had a chute-deployment failure, and then safely returned to the airport. He blamed static for the instrument failure. If it hadn't been for the factv that it was a cirrus and the chute failed, probably never would have heard about that one. So I wonder if the instrument failure part happens more often.
 
Lindberg said:
There was an incident a few years back where the cirrus pilot departed ADS in a thunderstorm, said he lost instruments, had a chute-deployment failure, and then safely returned to the airport. He blamed static for the instrument failure. If it hadn't been for the factv that it was a cirrus and the chute failed, probably never would have heard about that one. So I wonder if the instrument failure part happens more often.
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I would say that's more of an ADM issue involving the static between that pilots ears than anything else.
 
I always thought static wicks were place on aircraft equipped with LORAN.
 
From cessna, beech, and piper brochures of their current metal aircraft none of which have loran ;) ...

Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 11.26.08 AM.png Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 11.26.27 AM.png Screen Shot 2021-02-18 at 11.26.41 AM.png
 
How much would it cost? And do you plan on flying in IMC?
 
I wouldn't bother. Half the static wick you see on small airplanes aren't even installed correctly or maintained correctly. I bet if a guy took a milliohm meter and bond checked random small airplanes on the ramp half or more of the bonding tests would fail.

I would rather leave them off than fill my flight control skins with holes...
 
PaulS said:
How much would it cost? And do you plan on flying in IMC?
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~ $900 if I don't count my labor. Yes, I plan on flying MVFR / Light IFR
 
I'm getting a wonderful mix of opinions here. lol The poll results are interesting though.
 
I have just 6.9 hours of actual (good flying weather in AZ). On one flight back from Tucson the static was enough to block communication. No wicks on my Cardinal, so I wished I had them.
 
Isn't this a plastic vs metal thing? Plastic planes have them and metal don't? I know my Columbia has gathered a huge amount of static (and this is with wicks). If I was building a plastic plane, I'd want them for sure.
 
MonkeyClaw said:
Isn't this a plastic vs metal thing? Plastic planes have them and metal don't? I know my Columbia has gathered a huge amount of static (and this is with wicks). If I was building a plastic plane, I'd want them for sure.
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All three major manufacturers of metal single engine piston planes are putting wicks on their certified offerings. This may be a case of $1000 now to avoid frivolous litigation in the future, but I'm not so sure.

Salty said:
From cessna, beech, and piper brochures of their current metal aircraft none of which have loran ;) ...

View attachment 94129 View attachment 94130 View attachment 94131
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Salty said:
All three major manufacturers of metal single engine piston planes are putting wicks on their certified offerings. This may be a case of $1000 now to avoid frivolous litigation in the future, but I'm not so sure.
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I doubt it's a frivolous litigation issue, manufacturers generally don't put stuff like that on unless there is a reason. Personally, for $900, it would be a no brainer, I would do it. Make sure you take extra time to do the bonding correctly if you decide to do it. Are you documenting the build somewhere?
 
PaulS said:
I doubt it's a frivolous litigation issue, manufacturers generally don't put stuff like that on unless there is a reason. Personally, for $900, it would be a no brainer, I would do it. Make sure you take extra time to do the bonding correctly if you decide to do it. Are you documenting the build somewhere?
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We're just getting started, so not much to see yet. https://eaabuilderslog.org?s=N87VG
 
PaulS said:
Nice, thanks for sharing. Looks like you have an able and willing assistant there. What engine are you putting in?
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Planning the standard IO-540, and yes, she's gung-ho about it. Learning to drive rivets and everything!
 
I don’t see the point of installing them unless you’re getting static build up. I haven’t heard of that as being a problem in RVs without them. Might reduce damage with a lightning strike but odds of that are slim.

As far as composites, plenty of people fly then IMC without wicks. Flown my Velocity IMC several times without them with no issues. Attaching them to my aircraft wouldn’t do much unless it’s bonded as in faraday cage...which it’s not.
 
As some have hinted, they are there to preserve coms and nav by bleeding off "precipitation" static. Flying in normal IMC is not a big problem. Flying in rain is. The one time I experienced it was when flying in IMC and encountered heavy rain. Shortly, I heard static on my comm and then, nothing. One at at time, my VORs went dead (could tell because they were not completely centered at the time) - twisting the OBSs did nothing to move the needles. I was nervous because I couldn't talk to anyone and was no longer able to navigate. I held heading thinking of what to do when I heard a radio transmission - initially filled with static, then clear (not for me) and, slowly, my navs came back online. I was out of heavy rain by then. Did a comm check to see if I missed any calls. I had not. I vowed to never fly in rain again until I equipped with static wicks.
 
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