Hi all,
My name is Thom, an Aussie based aviator with a Pitts S-2a in Melbourne, Australia. Our Pitts, VH-UFX, serial 2140, made its way from USA to New Zealand in 2010, then on to Australia in 2018. Myself and two colleagues purchased her in March 2022 and have been enjoying every minute of it since!
Fast forward, we are now in the midst of our first annual and have decided to refit the closed canopy as we go into winter. We were fortunate in the purchase to receive the original canopy that was fitted to the aircraft having been removed during a rebuild in 2003. Lucky for us and fortunately we have all the bits in neat labelled bags save a few...
The part/s we are missing at the moment are the "Side window seals" Part number: 2-8000-015 (according to the S-2B parts catalog). Aviat has quoted us $300.00 USD for the seals. Ouch!
So, does anyone have suggestions for alternatives? Some pictures of the seal would be very much appreciated if someone has an S-2a handy! I'm wondering if the seal is a common type of extrusion from say Piper/ Beechcraft/Cessna that we can just chop to length?
Many thanks in advance,
Thom
P.S. I don't have the original N reg but perhaps someone knows the aircraft from it's time in the US through the serial number? Otherwise I can delve into the books when I next have access to them to find out.
My name is Thom, an Aussie based aviator with a Pitts S-2a in Melbourne, Australia. Our Pitts, VH-UFX, serial 2140, made its way from USA to New Zealand in 2010, then on to Australia in 2018. Myself and two colleagues purchased her in March 2022 and have been enjoying every minute of it since!
Fast forward, we are now in the midst of our first annual and have decided to refit the closed canopy as we go into winter. We were fortunate in the purchase to receive the original canopy that was fitted to the aircraft having been removed during a rebuild in 2003. Lucky for us and fortunately we have all the bits in neat labelled bags save a few...
The part/s we are missing at the moment are the "Side window seals" Part number: 2-8000-015 (according to the S-2B parts catalog). Aviat has quoted us $300.00 USD for the seals. Ouch!
So, does anyone have suggestions for alternatives? Some pictures of the seal would be very much appreciated if someone has an S-2a handy! I'm wondering if the seal is a common type of extrusion from say Piper/ Beechcraft/Cessna that we can just chop to length?
Many thanks in advance,
Thom
P.S. I don't have the original N reg but perhaps someone knows the aircraft from it's time in the US through the serial number? Otherwise I can delve into the books when I next have access to them to find out.
