Folks,

I had a Cessna 303. Great plane and I loved it. It had a typical Cessna hot plate on the windshield. It went from the base of the windshield all the way to the top. About 6 inches wide. There are metal brackets that secure the plate to the aircraft with screws into the metal above and below the windshield.

There is a neoprene-like gasket that holds the hot plate off the windshield by about 3/16 of an inch. That gasket runs on the perimeter of the hot plate. Sides, top, and bottom. It creates a chamber between the windshield and the hot plate.

While flying in rain, a little water would accumulate in the chamber created by the gasket.

Is that normal or should it be totally sealed? I looked in the service manual and it's not clear.

Thanks,

Zeke

Most of them come off for the summer months, perhaps the seal is too good, lets the water remain between the the plate. Most plates on the Cessna twins had openings in the corners of the seal, to let water out.

Never heard that before. Since there is RTV around the edges and on all the screws, removing for the season is impractical.

I just happened to download the install instructions last night. See step 12, 13 and View K-K on page 12.

It sure would be nice to have openings in the corners, but it's not clear to me where those are supposed to be. I get moisture trapped in there all the time.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ritdckge9jc2k26huoulm/AK340-32F-Windshield-Heated-Panel-Installation.pdf?rlkey=phwtcrtwx9iu961w1mugvg7gh&dl=0

This is very helpful. Thank you for the comments.

But the directions don’t state whether the “chamber” is hermetically sealed or not. It just says to fill the groove with the RTV. Which we did at initial installation.

Thanks again,

Zeke