Fuselage damage at left main strut

Do any RV-12 owners have any experience with fuselage damage after hitting an object with either main wheel/strut? I have some external sheet metal damage, with significant internal damage around the Center Section Assembly, part number F-1204. I am trying to decide whether to take the Center Section Assembly out thru the top of the fuselage, or to drop it out the bottom of the fuselage, to start the repair work. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

Doesn't sound too good. If it was me, I'd be contacting Vans for advice.

First ... What happened?

Second .... That center section is the spine of the airframe. It holds the landing gear, fuel tank, roll bar and the two fuselage halves together. If damage is serious enough to warrant removing it, I would think the airframe is compromised and not repairable without a MAJOR rebuild.

It might worth to review this, http://http://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/sb12-11-09.pdf

Not exactly the same but the damage studied in this sb12-11-09 might give you an idea. It is almost for sure that you have to contact Van's.

Pictures??

Hi Happy Tom,

I damaged my left landing gear about six months ago when I hit a rock on a beach landing.i was lucky and able to get a replacement tube and get the aircraft back home to do the repair.

I guess you will find each situation is different. I worked out a repair plan with the mechanic who checked the plane while it was being built. I hand no damage to the external panels but had popped all the rivets along the rear of the u channel. We were able to repair this without removing any of the centre parts.

We were surprised to find a reasonable amount of corrosion on the gear legs. This was found on the other RV 12 in NZ and a report was sent to Vans. I had to strip the paint and glass bead the corrosion out. I had fairings to enclose them as well.

All seems well now. I have about 520 hours in 2.5 years since I got it going.

Cheers
Julian120316