Slosh Doors

The slosh doors allow fuel to flow into the fuel bay closest to the wing root, but not back out. This helps keep fuel close to fuel lines that lead to the engine.

The slosh doors are pictured below, with one door open and one door closed. The hole in between the slosh doors is for the fuel probe that runs almost the entire length of the fuel tank.

Builder Note:

Slosh Doors & Wing Closing

Great care must be taken regarding the slosh doors when closing the wings. Excess adhesive / flox mix can easily drip down onto the slosh doors causing them not to open or close as they should. This could lead to an engine outage in flight due to fuel starvation because fuel is not held in the inner-most bay. The manual describes a precaution in Chapter 10 you can take to insure you don’t drip adhesive on the slosh doors during the wing closing process. Use that procedure. Additionally, you should visually inspect the slosh doors after wing closing through the fuel probe hole in BL 25.5 to insure that nothing will prevent them from opening and closing properly. If the doors are restricted in any way, it is critical that the problem be fixed before first flight. Additionally, if you shake the plane with a little fuel in the bottom of the wing tanks, you will easily hear the slosh doors clicking shut. It is easy to hear. You won’t have to listen closely or carefully to hear it clearly if there isn’t a lot of ambient noise. However, this simple test will not prove that all slosh doors are opening and closing freely.

Return to Previous Page