One thing to watch out for on seemingly minor damage near the outboard
edges of wings is a bent spar. Think of how much torque on the inboard
part of the wing that an impact to even make a small dent would make.
Needless to say, kinked spars are vastly weaker than unkinked spars.
For sure. At OSH '04, our tent -- with 1 inch aluminum poles -- blew over
onto the wing of Atlas, our '74 Piper Pathfinder.
Those very stout tent poles bent like pipe cleaners over the trailing edge
of our right aileron like butter -- with NO damage to the aileron.
If a one-inch-thick pole can break across the trailing edge of an aileron
WITHOUT inflicting damage, just imagine the impact it took to inflict that
kind of damage to your aileron. I'd check the wing spar and attach points
very carefully.
(Incidentally, our '75 Warrior had very similar hangar rash on the aileron
when we bought the plane in '98. Our A&P signed it off at the pre-buy
inspection, and we flew it that way for several months, until we could
afford to have it rebuilt. Never had a problem...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"