Why do I think of stuff that needs to be done, forget about it, put a part on, then think about it again!!??
I put the fuel tank with the flop tube on before wiring the sender!!! AAHHHH!!! I JUST thought of this about a half hour ago. The worst part is that I just applied torque seal on all the bolts last night thinking these things are NEVER coming off!!
I'm with you, Chad. I do that kind of stupid thing all the time. It sucks. I just hope I don't end up like the guy in the fatal RV accident in which investigators found no trace of the bolts that were supposed to hold the tail to the fuse.
A WHITEBOARD!! That is a fantastic idea!! I'm getting one today! I've been thinking about adding a pegboard to my workbench as well to organize my tools a little better. I think I saw this on Lorin's site yesterday, and it reminded me. Whiteboard and pegboard...now all I have to do is remember that!
Chad, I put up a whiteboard and made 4 sections on it. One for the tail, one for the wings, one for the fuse and another for stuff I needed to buy (no need for finish yet). When I run accross something that I know I skip and can do later I write it up on the board. Yes I still have crap on there form the tail, like finish fiberglass tips.
OK, maybe my memory was exaggerating, but at least one bolt was apparently never installed, and possibly some other moderately critical parts:
"The carry-through structure for the forward horizontal stabilizer which also includes the front attachment for the vertical stabilizer was missing and has not been located. This structure attached the front of the empennage to the tail cone of the airplane structure.
Also missing at the impact site was the lower hinge bolt which attached the rudder to the tailcone. A visual examination of the paint around the lower rudder hinge bolt hole revealed an absence of witness marks. The two upper attach bolts remained attached to the vertical stabilizer."