Would this plane have flown?

On 2006-03-22, Robert M. Gary wrote:
http://www.thegaryhouse.com/aircraftdamage/

I was down in a remote area of Mexico this last weekend and a truck
backed into my aileron.

One thing to watch out for on seemingly minor damage near the outboard
edges of wings is a bent spar. Think of how much torque on the inboard
part of the wing that an impact to even make a small dent would make.
Needless to say, kinked spars are vastly weaker than unkinked spars.

Our club had a Cessna 170 - someone put the wingtip into a hangar at
taxi speed making a small dent in it. It also made a small kink in the
aft spar even though it was at low speed and seemingly only cosmetic
damage - the spar had to be repaired before the aircraft was airworthy
again.

I believe Highflyer has a story about hitting a wingtip of a Taylorcraft
on a pole at taxi speed - the damage appeared merely cosmetic but
the aft spar fractured in flight, which could have quite easily been fatal.
The torque from hitting the wingtip on the pole caused a compression
fracture in the wooden spar.

--
Dylan Smith, Port St Mary, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Oolite-Linux: an Elite tribute: http://oolite-linux.berlios.de
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net

Would it have flown, probably. Did you do the right thing, definitely.


"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://www.thegaryhouse.com/aircraftdamage/

I was down in a remote area of Mexico this last weekend and a truck
backed into my aileron. I was lucky that the driver had a sat phone and
I was able to call an A&P to come down to Mexico and swap it for me.
However, all the local pilots, and the A&P who came down seemed to
think it would have flown ok as was. From a simply academic point of
view I"m curious what you guys think.

-Robert

"Dan Luke" wrote in message

Most likely it would have flown fine--perhaps a bit out of trim.

It is not impossible that the deformed control surface would have
fluttered, with possibly disastrous results.


That would have been my take -- a little right wing down, and some
fluttering. Dudley made the right call, though. What you can't see is any
potential damage to the attach point.

Bottom line...you were obviously uncomfortable with it, and made a no
go call....NO shame in that...good call

Jamie A. Landers
PP-ASEL

Well, at that point the insurance company owns the plane. Do you want
to do them a favor that badly?

That's easy to say now. However, that really means that you may never
see your bird again and rather than a 2 hour flight to the states you
are looking at spending the next 2 days barfing in the back of a
pickup.

-Robert

Well the local Mooney service center just sent their estimate to the
insurance company. They are recommending a factory new aileron.
Although they are certified and equipped to rebuild them, they say
they've never seen anyone rebuild a Mooney aileron and get it straight.
Apparently the factory is able to do something the service centers
can't do. When I look at the aileron it looks like a bunch of ribs with
some skin on them. The service center is saying there are no ribs in
the aileron and the construction is different. In any case, I sure hope
my insurance company is able to claim against the truck's Mexican
liability coverage. It shouldn't be a problem but the total cost is
looking to be around $4K. The service center is also saying that there
may be a bent rod under the seat, but they haven't actually seen the
plane yet, this is just their Mooney experience. They don't seem
concerned about structural issues at all. The Mooney structure is very
different than a Cessna or Piper and considered much stronger (ever see
the picture of the entire factory floor assembly team standing on top
of a Mooney wing, two people deep?)

-Robert

What you can't see is any potential damage to the attach point.

Is there actually an "attach point" in the normal sense? I've never
taken one of these apart but my undetstanding is that its a one piece
solid wing and the body of the plane rests on top of the wing. I've
seen the wings removed and they are one solid piece (not two wings like
a Cessna).

-Robert

Bob;
I think John is referring to the outer attach point for the aileron, not the
wing attach points, at least this was the attach point I was referencing.
Dudley

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
What you can't see is any potential damage to the attach point.

Is there actually an "attach point" in the normal sense? I've never
taken one of these apart but my undetstanding is that its a one piece
solid wing and the body of the plane rests on top of the wing. I've
seen the wings removed and they are one solid piece (not two wings like
a Cessna).

-Robert

Not with me in it.

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
http://www.thegaryhouse.com/aircraftdamage/

I was down in a remote area of Mexico this last weekend and a truck
backed into my aileron. I was lucky that the driver had a sat phone and
I was able to call an A&P to come down to Mexico and swap it for me.
However, all the local pilots, and the A&P who came down seemed to
think it would have flown ok as was. From a simply academic point of
view I"m curious what you guys think.

-Robert

Well, at that point the insurance company owns the plane. Do you want
to do them a favor that badly?

That's easy to say sitting here but not so easy when you're there. The
concequences of that are 1) You may never see your bird again and 2)
Rather than a 2 hour flight back to the states you are looking at 2
days of Mexican dirt roads blowing chunks the entire way.

-Robert