Timeline for What control inputs to make if a wing falls off?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 1, 2023 at 9:14 | comment | added | Cloud | Thanks John, much appreciated, I'll add that to my DI routine :) | |
| May 31, 2023 at 13:38 | comment | added | John K | Not if the retention is installed, which is what you are checking mainly. Other thing to look for is elongation of the holes in the structural fitting the pin goes through, which can happen over many hours of wear & tear. On a preflight of a strutted airplane I always take the wing tip and shake it up and down a little, listening/feeling for obvious slop or free play going clunk clunk in the strut connections. You want it to be tight, or just barely discernable (there's always some tolerance in the holes). A preflight should include GENTLE tugging and pulling at things, looking for looseness. | |
| May 31, 2023 at 13:26 | comment | added | Cloud | Thanks for the info.... well that's re-assuring. Could heavy turbulence 'shimmy' it out? | |
| May 31, 2023 at 12:15 | comment | added | John K | @Cloud I marvel at that too. But if you do the calcs, you discover the pin, being 8mm steel having a shear strength 95000 psi, it takes over 7000 lbs to shear it off. Over three metric tons. The entire airplane is less than half a metric ton. Each wing is holding up about 500 lbs. It takes over 10 times that force to break the thing. The pin holding the wing root to the fuselage is under very little load at all, almost all the forces being borne by the struts due to the geometry. You could stick a wooden dowel in there and it would work. Not to say you don't check it carefully... | |
| May 31, 2023 at 8:58 | comment | added | Cloud | Thanks for the thoughtful answer as always John.... have you seen what holds a C42 wing together though? It's just a pin. Although a wing has never fallen off of one yet, I do quadruple check that pin before going anywhere and it makes me nervous | |
| May 30, 2023 at 18:26 | history | answered | John K | CC BY-SA 4.0 |