Fix-A-Flat

N8293A · Post by **N8293A** » Thu Aug 28, 2003 9:12 pm

Are there any reasons to not use an emergency tire inflation product like Fix-A-Flat on our aircraft? Last weekend I had a tailwheel tube fail at a grass strip with no facilities to assist my making the repair. Fortunatly, I wasn't far from my home base, and I had a cell phone with me, but what an inconvenience! I talked to two seperate A&P's and got two different answers. The one said he thought the sealant might be corrosive to the metal parts of the wheel, and would not recomend there use, the other said for an emergency repair he could not think of a significant reason not to use a can. Does anybody have any recomendations about specific products for this purpose? Thanks. Steve

N1478D · Post by **N1478D** » Thu Aug 28, 2003 10:32 pm

For one problem, your tire would be out of balance the instant you used fix-a-flat out of a can, this is so for cars too, but it hurts worse on an airplane.

n3437d · Post by **n3437d** » Fri Aug 29, 2003 12:16 am

A lot would depend upon where I got the flat. If it were at a place with repair facilities or within walking distance to a garage I would get it done there.
If I were in the "boonies" I would use the "McGiver" approach - anything goes!.

As for the fix-a-flat in a can. A great emergency precaution. If there were some way the get the tail wheel elevated then you can "squirt and spin" to balance the deposit.

FWIW - the cost of replacing a tube and tailwheel is cheap compared to being stuck someplace you don't want to be.

Or you can be really creative and do a wheel landing and taxi to your tie-down with the tail wheel just off the ground until the very last moment, let it drop and then replace the tube.

mit · Post by **mit** » Fri Aug 29, 2003 3:16 am

Cripes, had the A&P that said it might be corrosive ever heard of inner tubes? It may be cheaper to fly it out on a flat tire, and ruin the wheel than wait for help. The only flat I have ever had was on the North Slope after a rock cut threw the tire and tube. Do you think I waited for help?

Post by **GAHorn** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 7:08 pm

Never use "Fix-A-Flat", "Gorilla Snot" or any other such product in any kind of tire or tube (other than a slow farm-tractor for continuing thorn problems), unless you're willing to 1) throw the tire away and 2) live with considerable damage from a greatly out-of-balance wheel condition.
Fix-A-Flat is particularly useless. It is a water and latex product that will not quickly dry or balance. A subsequent takeoff or landing can put such a violent out-of-balance condition in motion that you risk breaking a spring-gear and any wheel pants, not to mention your rudder if it's on a tail wheel. In automobiles it ruins tubless tires by getting between the plies, and in tube-type tires it doesn't seal because it works by exposure to outside air. In a tube-type tire it just infiltrates between the tube and tire and gets more and more out of balance.
Go to WalMart, automotive section, and buy a cheap tube patch kit and a foot pump for less than $10. Better yet, carry a spare main tube, and spare tailwheel tire and tube, and a few tools to remove the tire and make the repair in the field. (Each time I change a tire, I also install a new tube. The old main tube, if still in good condition becomes my "spare" in the baggage compartment. I carry a small kit with all the necessary tools, pump (<$5) and spare tailwheel tire/tube.)