From a school on Twitter .. student apparently used their own sanitiser on panel of C172 and has wrecked a load of stuff… well worth keeping an eye out or make sure people aren’t using their own hard core stuff!
I really wonder what they used. None of the common alcohol-based surface desinfectants should do this kind of damage on metal or plastic surfaces.
Acetone maybe?
Looks strange all thinner products and similar I have used did attack plastic more than paint but this looks like I did damage mostly the paint. And the paint damage looks like paint stripper not even normal thinner will be that bad. Also the labels look very good compared to the paint next to it. Sure it is not Photoshop?
We disinfect our Robins between each flight and no worries. They have never been as clean :)
Jujupilote wrote:
We disinfect our Robins between each flight and no worries. They have never been as clean :)
We do too, but I have wondered about if there might be some long term damage to some of the canopy/seals/paintwork or anything else that the stuff is sprayed and wiped over. Guess we’ll find out in a year or so etc..
This does not surprise me. Hand sanitiser prices have gone through the roof and people are using whatever they can get. One can expect all sorts of fake products to appear in this situation. I have noticed a wide range of stuff being used and some of it doesn’t feel great on one’s hands.
It was probably some solvent.
Nothing beats a rag soaked in 70% IPA and 30% water, and use it for wiping everything. It seems totally safe on everything including all the stuff in a plane. IPA prices have also gone through the roof but it is much cheaper than the retail sanitiser bottles.
But you should make sure that it’s really IPA and not ethanol. With ethanol you can wreck parts made from PMMA (this includes aircraft windows if not made from polycarbonate) quite fast.
When the virus first hit the fan many German distilleries switched from liquor production to producing pure ethanol for use in sanitizers. I don’t know about the situation today but I reckon you can still buy ethanol based sanitizer. So better first read the list of incredients.
Peter wrote:
Nothing beats a rag soaked in 70% IPA and 30% water, and use it for wiping everything.
Well… except that for Cessnas, Section 8 of the POH’s state:
“Never use gasoline, benzine, alcohol, acetone, fire extinguishier, or anti ice fluid, lacquer thinner or glass cleaner to clean the plastic. These materials will attack the plastic, and may cause it to craze.”
The Cessna POH does say to carefully wash with a mild detergent and plenty of water. Cessna also mentions the use of Stoddard solvent, though I don’t know what that is.
The POH/Flight Manual can be a treasure of useful information about how to not wreck the plane!
