Hangar Rash - Left Aileron

I struggle to say the least to push my 6A backwards while steering, in grass that always seems a bit soft due to the rain we seem to have daily this year in Georgia.

After getting it up on the concrete slab in the T hangar, I reached for chock, and the plane rolled back and hit a post. Lucky for me, the plane was not square on the slab or both ailerons would have hit posts! I DO NOT like the way it looks and it needs addressing, but I'm even more concerned about safety. I have attached a few photos of the left outboard aileron and ask for input as to what should be done from a safety perspective. Based on my limited knowledge of sheet metal and how the 6 aileron is constructed ( thumb drive from Vans with documents/drawing) a new skin is likely needed at a minimum, an entire aileron a possibility. You will notice in one of the pics there are a series of holes drilled near trailing edge underside...WHAT !!!! I called the previous owner of 9 years and he was not aware of the holes. I was not aware myself until on my back looking up. Nothing in a complete set of logs for the plane nor a comment by AP during conditional over the years about these holes. Moving aileron full travels shows no issues or sounds of things rolling around in aileron. N72TX has 760TTAFE.

I'm hoping the brain trust here can share some ideas on how they think this should be addressed. I'm open to just about anything. I just want to STOP waking at night, thinking about it and not able to get back to sleep

Thanks

Just looking for opinions...thanks

Just a guess, but maybe the drilled holes are in case water gets trapped in there?

Only you know how hard the plane hit the post. The damage looks minimal and could probably be pounded out. Sometimes a repair makes the entire piece less solid. I would be more inclined to replace the entire piece than just the skin thinking I could never get all the rivets out without further damage.

I will be interested in what you do.

It was a light tap, but thinking now that maybe the strange holes made it weaker in that area. Drilling to let water out would be waste of time, better to find way to keep water out. From all indications has always been in a hangar. Thanks rockwoodrv9. Appreciate your insight.

I dont have my plans with me to check to see if there are drain hopes there but I remember several places where I drilled them. Do you have any builders that are close to you or could come over and look? I will have my wife email me my plans and I will look. Good luck trying to figure it out.

I got my plans. I can send you the aileron page if you want. It doesn't look like there is anything there that would need a rivet. I still think they were drilled to let water out - at least from the pictures.

Email me if you want the pages showing the wing and aileron. It is for a 9, but I imagine it is similar in construction to the 6.

Aileron Repair or replace

Soon after completing my RV-4, a hangar mate moving airplanes around in the hangar we shared did similar damage to one of the ailerons on my RV. I built a new aileron, any additional bending will stretch the aluminum more that it is already. A pain to have to build another one but that is your best option. IMHO If I remember correctly, the only part I reused was the hinge.

rockwoodrv9 said:

Email me if you want the pages showing the wing and aileron. It is for a 9, but I imagine it is similar in construction to the 6.

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Thank you, I appreciate your offer. I have the plans from Vans on a thumb drive and like you saw nothing about drain holes. Good to know that indeed there ARE areas that would have them. As I learn more about my 6A, that is good info to have in advance.

Baker_RV-4_N513J said:

.......any additional bending will stretch the aluminum more that it is already. A pain to have to build another one but that is your best option. IMHO If I remember correctly, the only part I reused was the hinge.

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Thank you Baker_RV .... I am off in a few minutes to visit a builder, AP IA. Since I did not build mine, I am a little behind in tools, talent and technique. I am close to the recently established SE office of Synergy Air, a builders assist org, so maybe they can help. I dread the down time now that we are finally getting to a good time of the year to fly here in the deep south...plus missing Triple Tree this week...< 100 miles away

I don?t see any cracks, and the damage doesn?t look that bad to where you couldn?t fly it - as long as there is no binding or clearance issues between the damaged aileron and adjacent structure. If it was mine and the controls move freely, I would test fly it to see if there are any rolling or other stability issues. Get a local mechanic to look at it. My Cessna had more than one bent area on trailing edges, and all were airworthy (no cracks or missing rivets). If it flys like it did before, take it to Triple Tree and you?ll get a lot of opinions/help. You will probably need to make a log entry (you can do that as pilot/owner), especially if you put it back in to phase 1 for a couple hours - and that may require a call to your local FSDO, not sure. It doesn?t look that bad to me, but I would probably eventually build a new aileron. If those holes were put there to drain water, why would there be more than one? And you don?t need them anyway. Water can drain out at the ends of the trailing edge.

Thanks Scott. I had a multiple RV builder, AP/IA look at the photos and he immediately said fly it ! He said I would likely never be happy until I built another aileron and offered his assistance in this area as well. There is no binding, rubbing, strange sounds coming from it. Plans now is to get up Saturday morning and fly up to Triple Tree for the day . As far as the holes and reason for them, the AP thought likely they had some stiffeners vibrating, drilled some holes to get some torque seal on the ends...a guess. I agree with you, why so many if only for water drainage. Cheers and thanks again Scott for the input. I plan on calling Vans and see what is available for a 6 aileron. Don't like the expense ( rather buy 100LL) but sorta looking forward to the education I will get from the journey.

Could the holes have once been used to attach a fixed trim tab?

GOOD NEWS....flew to Triple Tree yesterday and found no change in performance/handling of my 26 year old RV6A. I appreciate everyone's help.