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Wing Scrape

RVBottomly

PATRON
Asotin County Washington (KLWS)
I was doing touch and goes in the Commonwealth. Fairly steady 10-15 knot 30 degree crosswind. I was feeling pretty good about things as I got used to the large weather-vane tail.

Then the winds stopped. On short final the sock was hanging straight down. Piece of cake....

Just as I touched down 3-point, the right crosswind kicked in. I didn't react soon enough and tipped my left wing on the runway.

No hard impact--it sounded like a piece of wood on a belt sander. All for maybe a second. No ground loop. Just embarrassment.

Here is what it looks like. 14.5 inches of scrape on the left backside of the wing arch:

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They say confession is good. I'm a newb on this airplane and I feel pretty low for letting my guard down. The windsock was limp on final, but I looked again after I got things stopped, and it was direct crosswind at around 10 knots.

Anyway, cursory look at the spars shows no compression damage. It really was a gentle sort of slide. But I'm wondering what I'm in for on repairs. My trusted A&P/IA is out for the week.
 

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If the structure is all good, just tape and dope. Paint and forget about it. Or you could be stylish and duct tape the tip. ;-)
 
I've got some good quality brown-green duct tape that would add nice contrast. But I worry about the FAA guy driving around in his pickup--he's supposed to be inspecting the runway construction, but I wonder.
 
You could just glue some pinked edge surface tape on, coat it with enough silver to sand smooth (a brush can do it) and hit it with a rattle can. I always pink the masking tape to match the tape - never been able to blend paint.

Good on you to inspect the spar carefully. That has been a problem with Scouts.

I cannot remember how many Stearman wing scrapes I have repaired. A 20 knot direct crosswind has a Cub wingtip within inches of the ground. That's why they used Ash.
 
Told a buddy that did the same thing with his droop tips we could incorporate training wheels into the tips. I think he finally figured out you have to keep flying the airplane until it's tied down so it doesn't get away from you.
 
Gorilla Tape. Much stronger than duct tape. No gooey mess.
 
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Pierce, I’m not sure if your cub weighs more because of all the silver or less because of the lack of paint:p
 
Pierce, I’m not sure if your cub weighs more because of all the silver or less because of the lack of paint:p
It's a tool, I'm not trying to pick up the groupies at the STOL contests with a pretty, shiny airplane. ;)
Cub.jpg
 

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More than cursory....have someone flex the wing tip while you or A&P examine spars and tip fasteners for compression fractures and cracks. Sometimes it takes some movement of the spar to see them.

Gary
 
I was doing touch and goes in the Commonwealth. Fairly steady 10-15 knot 30 degree crosswind. I was feeling pretty good about things as I got used to the large weather-vane tail.

Then the winds stopped. On short final the sock was hanging straight down. Piece of cake....

Just as I touched down 3-point, the right crosswind kicked in. I didn't react soon enough and tipped my left wing on the runway.

No hard impact--it sounded like a piece of wood on a belt sander. All for maybe a second. No ground loop. Just embarrassment.

Good judgment comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgment.
So they say!

Same thing happened to me yesterday. Dead calm, then crosswind gust as I touched down. Was able to save it and go around but never had so much rudder in as that before!
 
Was able to save it and go around but never had so much rudder in as that before!

With this configuration, I've used full rudder almost every time, including taxiing in winds over 15 knots. Plus blasts of power from time to time.
 
Steve...... had the paint peel extensive on my PA 22/20 this winter. Was going to try to patch it up and spot it in. After seeing your photo, I am just going to brush on some fresh Ekofill to seal the peeled edges and keep flying!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
The plastic wing tips on my RANS are just eye candy, they don't do anything....but I waited until they were scraped and cracked pretty good (hangar/taxiing in tight quarters rash, nothing done landing) before I wised up and took them off and threw them away. Saving 5 pounds or so in the process. Now the Poly-Tone fabric over the aluminum tip bow is just touched up with a small brush now and then, try that with your 2 part catalyzed paint!
 
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