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Wing Installation blooper

Allan Stern

Well Known Member
When installing my right wing, the helper thought the wing was secured and let go of it. Anyway, the wing slipped but did not hit ground. When looking at the underside of my fuselage I noticed that the aluminum skin around the landing gear had ripped/torn. Now I can stop the tear with a pilot hole drilled into the end of the tear.

I also noticed that the last rivet on the underside skin and spar had pulled the rivet head through the aluminum skin so it only is affecting one rivet. I am trying to figure out how to fix this and have not tried anything yet. I am looking at how could I drill out the rivet head from between two pieces of aluminum or simply try getting the aluminum back into its original position and possibly drilling another hole close to the pulled rivet head and using either a pop rivet or another rivet. It is only cosmetic affecting the floor skins on underside of fuselage.

Welcome any ideas or thoughts. Hope I explained this clearly enough.

Thanks
 
I would stop drill the rip torn area, and patch it up with a hefty doubler. And if you can get that one rivet out via drill, replace it with one a size larger. Or perhaps a glance through AC 43.13 might prove better results than my $.02 :D
 
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