Elegant engineering

In the latest Air & Space magazine is a surprisingly technical article on
the spar problems on the T-34 Mentors. It shows how Mentor wings (and I
presume Bonanza and many other Beech wings) are assembled. Instead of being
riveted completely together they are in three main pieces. (1) A main spar
with many of the ribs attached, (2) a leading edge that apparently slips
over the fronts of these ribs, and (3) the trailing edge that includes the
secondary spar, flaps, ailerons, etc. These are all held together with four
"piano hinges" two at the top and two at the bottom. To separate the pieces
you simply pull the "hinge pins" (stainless steel wires running the length
of the wings) out and the leading and trailing edge pieces pull away from
the spar, exposing most of the inside of the wings. This makes it easy to
get inside the wing for complete inspection of the spar and everything else.
I'd never appreciated this design feature, but it makes a lot of sense.
Just some elegant engineering that most of us engineers and would-be
engineers can appreciate.

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America