Would this plane have flown?

I think....

If YOU are going to fly it, I'll bet $10 you'd have no problems.

Buuuuuuuut, I'M not going to try! ;)

Robert

You didn't give much data but I probably would have flown the bird
home.

A bird will fly with one aileron fine if you are careful and fuel is
balanced for takeoff and landing.

I have flown some of my model airplanes with one aileron and they do
fine. One racer I built, only put one aileron on it to reduce drag
from aileron movement and pick up a few mph.

Also flew an 0-1 home in VN (100+ miles) with half the horizontal stab
and elevator cut off and duct taped due to damage caused by wind
blowing the parked bird (one of my FAC's parked not me) into a 55
gallon drum used as part of a revetment.

Also with half the lateral control surface on your bird (and me
aboard) I would have been careful and only made shallow banks and a
long flat approach. I also would have not pulled bird off but
accelerated to plenty of airspeed on take off.

Enough said. Mark me in the column as flying home.

Big John
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On 21 Mar 2006 16:02:44 -0800, "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.

-Robert

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.

-Robert

Robert,
It would have flown, poorly. You would have had to hold right aileron to
keep it strait. High speed characteristics would be un-known.

You did the right thing getting replaced.

Michelle (A&P)

Your alive so you must of made the right decision.
Who cares if it would of flown. You were able to fix it before you flew it.
Good job.
"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
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.

-Robert

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.

Nowadays I'd wait for repairs but a neighbour spent 5 years driving
various two and four engined bombers over Occupied Europe and had a
series of photos of just how little you -really- need in the way of
contol surfaces

"Morgans" wrote in message
news

"Dudley Henriques" wrote

Just looking at the photo, I would have been concerned about the outer
attach point for possible post impact misalignment that might under load
cause an issue,

I'm with you, and a little more; the attach point would need a good
inspection, and I would also want to trace all the rigging back to the
yoke,
to see if any other fittings or bearings or bellcranks or rods were
damaged.
That might take a bit of time, to expose all of that.
--
Jim in NC

You just never know about these "little bang jobs".
There's an old saying in the fighter business. Treat every pilot you meet in
the air as though he was better than you until he shows you by his actions
that he isn't.
Same goes for a damage decision. You should treat it as though it's serious
until it's proven that it's not .
This philosophy has managed to get me all the way through a career in one
piece. There just might be something to it :-))
Dudley

In article .com,
says...
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.

There's no way I'd fly it. I saw a similarly damaged plane fly back to
it's homefield (against the advice from many) - and when it got back -
it was a *lot* worse. Considerably fluttering/vibration was apparent -
according to the pilot - in flight.

But he made it. He got quite a shock when he saw the additional damage
the fluttering had caused (dunno why he didn't put it down in one of the
many alternatives on the way).

--
Duncan

"NW_PILOT" wrote

I think it would have done OK!

Yeah, I really trust your judgment.
--
Jim in NC

A ferry permit could be issued for such a
condition and an inspection for range of motion, security,
etc signed of by an A mechanic and of course it would be
finally up to the pilot whether to fly. I would not want to
fly it IFR, most ferry permits only allow Day/VFR.

One of the reasons I didn't want to try for the permit is because I
just don't know what the procedure would have been, but I expect it
would have taken months. The initial inspection would have had to have
been done by an A&E and then approved by Mexico City. However, then
comes the custom's duties, etc. Finally, I'd need an A&P to look at it
before I entered the U.S. (or right after entering, I don't recall).
So I kept very, very quiet about it. I didn't tell the Mexicans about
it and didn't mention anything to U.S. customs.I believe that
technically both the A&P and I could have both been arrested since I
believe it is totally illegal for an A&P to do any major repair without
an A&E present.

I guess I got lucky that the guy who hit me had a sat phone on him.
Otherwise I would have been faced with the decision. Either fly it out
of there as-is or abandon the plane there.

("Big John" wrote)
[snip]
Enough said. Mark me in the column as flying home.


Would you have removed the damaged aileron before flight?


Montblack