Hail damage

Occasionally I look at salvage airplanes out of curiosity and partly possibly of finding a deal.

http://www.aigaviation.com/salvage/N156MM/SalvageN156MM.aspx

This one a hail damaged RV-6 caught my imagination but not for purchase. Clearly a nightmare to any plane owner. Also a good argument for insurance, which fortunately this owner apparently had.

Wounder how big the frozen boulders from the sky where to do this damage?

Besides a hanger is there anything you can due. Would covers alone give enough protection. Also it brings up insurance. If you don't have in-flight insurance, ground insurance (ground not in motion) can be a worthwhile purchase and really a bargain, especially if tied down outside a lot.

This being thunderstorm session, this has always worried me when flying X-C, leaving the plane out side unprotected. Any ideas, comments? I guess if hail storm is forcast and the plane is outside, there's not a lot you can do? I guess you can hop in and fly in the opposite direction of find a hanger.

I would love to hear of any strategies for protecting your plane while parking outside, for weather, theft or other damage.

Maybe faster!

George,
A friend of mine bought a hail-damaged Skyhawk and owned another one as well. The damage seems to be close to this RV. Amazingly, the hail damaged airplane was a few MPH faster! Stalls weren't affected, nor slow flight or any other maneuver,

Think about a golf ball. The dimples make it fly faster and straighter. The trick is getting the hail to create an even pattern over the entire surface

FASTER!!!

That's why they dimple golf balls!

I just wouldn't want my airplane dimpled.

CJ

How much?

I wonder what it would take to buy that airplane? If it took 5lbs of Bondo and some spare time, would it not be worth, say $14,995.00? You could disclose the hidden damage and still sell for a profit!

As it appears, the airplane LOOKS flyable. I may just have to throw in a bid........HHHMMMMMMMMM.

Hmmm....

I honestly believe I would fly it. Heck, you should see some of the planes on the flight line where I did my first solo

On another note, there could also be another 'perk' to this plane: a deer hunt. You've gotta love the fact that there is a deer feeder located about 10-feet from the plane. Ever felt corn slinging out of a deer feeder with a strong battery? I'm not too sure that does the plane any good either, not to mention the hail

Hi

Hi Gary,
How far are you from Johnson City, Tx? I'm looking for someone to go and look at the airplane because the workmanship doesn't seem too kosher from what I can see. How 'bout that funky intake scoop?

I took a mini tour of the Shepard AFB flightline a few years back. It was the height of the hail season in North Texas, and all of the T-37s / T-38s had thick padded blanket wing envelopes to protect against hail. They must work, because we sure get some nasty stuff up this way on occasion.

Hail Damage RV6

What would you bid for that ship?

I went this weekend and looked at this 6. It seems to have lived its entire life or at least the last few years with out a hangar. I think it would fly just fine. The only major problem was the hail. Other than that it just needed a LOT of TLC all over, inside and out.

Flying golf balls

CraigH@KRPH said:

I took a mini tour of the Shepard AFB flightline a few years back. It was the height of the hail season in North Texas, and all of the T-37s / T-38s had thick padded blanket wing envelopes to protect against hail. They must work, because we sure get some nasty stuff up this way on occasion.

Click to expand...

Interesting, that was what I was thinking but did not know if it was practical. For home base sure but cross country the pads would be too much to carry around.

Hummmm faster with the dents, I have the ball peen in hand now. Any volunteers?

Hmmm. I thought these planes derived a lot of their strength from the stressed-skin construction? Seems like dents everywhere would be begging something to fold or collapse. I'm not sure I'd want to fly around in a plane that was so banged up.

structural but not in that way

mdredmond said:

Hmmm. I thought these planes derived a lot of their strength from the stressed-skin construction? Seems like dents everywhere would be begging something to fold or collapse. I'm not sure I'd want to fly around in a plane that was so banged up.

Click to expand...

NOT A BAD QUESTION. Some aircraft use the skin to take compression and tension but not in our case.

Flat sheet metal does not take any compression, at least the allowable is very very low. Some manufactures add stringers and tie that to the side of the body. In our case all the shear, bending comes out in the front and rear spar. The torsion is taken as a "couple" between the front and rear spar. Basically the same with the Horz stab.

The design assumes all the bending loads are in the spars (wing horz-stab).

The torsion is in the skin, but the dents don't really affect this. It ain't goodness either.

The fuselage top is almost a faring in that we use the heavy stringer or angle along the "gunnel" (boat term). This angle is called a longeron on aircraft (major structure running from front to rear). The skin on the top of the fuelage is important but not critical.

As long as it is not sharp edge creases or a sharp stress concentration or stress riser where a crack can start, it is not bad.

Disclaimer - It could cause problems? A structural aerospace engineer would need to evaluate by close inspection. I get $150.00 and hour.

gmcjetpilot said:

The torsion is in the skin, but the dents don't really affect this. It ain't goodness either.

As long as it is not sharp edge creases or a sharp stress concentration or stress riser where a crack can start, it is not bad.

Click to expand...

Why do you think the dents wouldn't affect the torsion buckle limit of the skin? I would expect them to, and the only way to test is with destructive testing.

There are 2 RV's up here at Fox in Lancaster that are pretty beat up from hail and apparently they are just fine. Take it for what it is...anecdotal data

Buy it

The hail damage does not look any worst than my Skylane. Flown 1,000 since the damage.

You are exactly right, it is 5 knots faster than it should be.

Mike Stephenson

Mike...

Your post reinforces the 'hammered' 172's (and a Tomahawk mixed in) at my original flight school. I remember preflighting and thinking "what the **** am I about to fly?" In the end, they all still flew just fine....but what did I know back then?