[aviategw]

While preflighting an Archer for an instrument training flight, I noticed some obvious rust and bubbling paint at the juncture of the trailing edge of the wings and the fuselage. I had to lower the flaps to see the area I was concerned about, but once I did, I got an unobstructed view of a mess. The plane had obviously been recently painted, and looked great. However, when I looked at this rust, I was concerned. From my days in auto shop class, I think that seeing bubbling paint and rust on the outside of a surface would indicate the possibility of rust and corrosion on the inside of the surface, out of view. My concern is with structural integrity. Most of my time is with high wing Cessnas, where I've never seen this kind of corrosion. (Not any causal relationship between a Piper A/C and rust, just an observation.)

Any one have any thoughts on this kind of thing? Am I just being too conservative?


G