"Robert M. Gary" wrote:

http://www.thegaryhouse.com/aircraftdamage/

I was down in a remote area of Mexico this last weekend and a truck
backed into my aileron. I was lucky that the driver had a sat phone and
I was able to call an A&P to come down to Mexico and swap it for me.
However, all the local pilots, and the A&P who came down seemed to
think it would have flown ok as was. From a simply academic point of
view I"m curious what you guys think.

Most likely it would have flown fine--perhaps a bit out of trim.

The question one has to ask oneself in such situations is "do I really want
to be a test pilot?"

It is not impossible that the deformed control surface would have fluttered,
with possibly disastrous results.

--
Dan
C172RG at BFM