Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:05 am
Fairly typical looking damage for the accident you describe. Half way between the inboard wing attach fitting (boom) and the wing strut attach fitting is usually where the wing likes to bend and distort. The weight of the engine in that "unsupported" area is what helps produce a twisting-bending-crinkling moment. On the other hand if a plane hits one wing first damage will often be from the outboard strut attach fitting out to the tip. The R-8 can bend and the box section will crumple-accordian as the wing pushes rearward. Spar twisting and buckling can also be present.
What I fear is you could have other damage that you have not discovered yet. Often the wingtip structure (rib, tabs, and tube) gets damaged/bent and the box section(s) deform or crack.
It's hard to judge from just one picture the scope of the damage. It's all together possible you could open the wing and peen out the skin damage. Being that the D-cells are painted you could cover remaining ripples with body filler and prime/paint over the area. Replace a bay or two of covering and the plane is back in action.
Personally I'd look at this as a possible opportunity to refurbish the plane in a fairly comprehensive way. Again personally I would be thinking about upgrading a few items and opening up the wings to refurbish all the nose ribs http://lazair.com/forum/index.php?showt ... #entry6384 . Fixed and with new covering the plane will be good to go for years to come.
The pic is one of the D-cells I refurbished a few years back. With the enlarged image you can see the minor denting and rippling in the skin around the engine mount area.
What I fear is you could have other damage that you have not discovered yet. Often the wingtip structure (rib, tabs, and tube) gets damaged/bent and the box section(s) deform or crack.
It's hard to judge from just one picture the scope of the damage. It's all together possible you could open the wing and peen out the skin damage. Being that the D-cells are painted you could cover remaining ripples with body filler and prime/paint over the area. Replace a bay or two of covering and the plane is back in action.
Personally I'd look at this as a possible opportunity to refurbish the plane in a fairly comprehensive way. Again personally I would be thinking about upgrading a few items and opening up the wings to refurbish all the nose ribs http://lazair.com/forum/index.php?showt ... #entry6384 . Fixed and with new covering the plane will be good to go for years to come.
The pic is one of the D-cells I refurbished a few years back. With the enlarged image you can see the minor denting and rippling in the skin around the engine mount area.