I thought I would put this out there for those of you who mave have an electric Aero-Tow, model E-200. I have one that I use to move the RV-10 in and out of the hangar. Last week end I came home and the RV-10 was pushed into the hangar door and the left elevator was damaged, requiring a rebuild. My initial thoughts were that I had closed the hangar door on the airplane. But I have always been very careful to make sure the airplane is out of the way, and my son reminded me that both he and I checked the door before we closed it. When I went to move the airplane the E-200 would not work. This unit has its own onboard battery charger, whcih appears to be a top end battery minder. The E-200 has an ON/OFF switch, which I apparently left in the ON position which I didn't know might be harmful. Sometime during the week, the speed controller failed in such a way that it pushed the airplane into the hangar door and continued to push until the speed controller completely failed. The epoxy paint on the hangar floor is ground off from the tires spinning, which helped to confirm the failure. Luckily the tires did not get hot enough to burn. Aero-Tow has been kind enough to replace the speed controller.
Suffice it to say I am not happy about having to rebuild the elevator. But I will be very careful to make sure the switch is off and the airplane is chocked. All things being said, it failed in the direction that caused the least amount of damage.
Suffice it to say I am not happy about having to rebuild the elevator. But I will be very careful to make sure the switch is off and the airplane is chocked. All things being said, it failed in the direction that caused the least amount of damage.