PerfTech
Well Known Member
.... Well I hate to admit this, but today we pretty much put the supreme test on our Anti-Splat-Aero Nose Job, and for that matter all the landing gear on my airplane. I have been working with a very good friend who is building an RV that is 95% or more completed. He anticipates it's completion in about 60 days or so. I have been using my airplane to help him build some hours and get him familiar with the RVs. He is a great guy, learns quickly and until today all has gone very well. Today we went out for a couple of hours airport hopping and doing some touch and goes at each destination. after three of them at the same airport he decided to do one more before returning to my home airport. each was consecutively better so, I was very relaxed and confident that his next one would be perfect. We came across the numbers a little slow and the decent was far to rapid. He tried to check it and over did it pitching the nose up too high resulting in a stall that dropped us on from about ten feet or so. This was a very violent hit that resulted in a considerable amount of damage to my airplane. The blame lies squarely with me, as it was my responsibility to fix the problem before it escalated to the point of no return. I guess I am not instructor material. The hit was very hard at 5 1/2 gs. as revealed by my meter in the photo below.
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.... This 5 1/2 gs translates (With the loading we had) to approximately 9,900 lb on the three gear legs. The loads were relatively evenly spaced, as we hit almost flat.This being said it is understandable having the damage we experienced and one would expect even more. It destroyed all three wheel pants and all intersection fairings top and bottom. Many screws were literally pulled through the glass and all were cracked and ground off. The mains are bent a little as the plane sits about an inch or two lower on them now.
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.... I carry 50 psi is my nose wheel and 35 psi in the mains. The vertical impact and load was so great that it compressed the tires to the ground and bent the nose wheel out at the point of contact. This destroyed the tire, tube, wheel and bent the fork.
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.... The mains suffered damage to the tires and the impact compressed them to the ground as well, allowing the brake rotors to take a violent hit, bending and destroying them as well.
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.... The up side to this, if there is one, would be we walked away with bruised egos, feeling a little stupid and humbled with an airplane that is repairable. The Nose Job performed flawlessly, without a scratch and kept the nose gear in perfect tact. had it collapsed, I would have lost at best a $10,000 propeller, a cowl assembly and been looking at an engine tear down and repair. At worst a possible flip over and total loss. I am very impressed with this, and can hardly believe all the damages to everything else, with none to the nose gear leg. You would expect the nose gear to be the first to fail given the history of them when stressed.
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... I wanted to share this with the forum to perhaps help someone else from this type of incident. I would have bet money that I was exempt from this type of accident and this only happens to the other guy. Well I stand corrected. Cheers, Allan...
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.... This 5 1/2 gs translates (With the loading we had) to approximately 9,900 lb on the three gear legs. The loads were relatively evenly spaced, as we hit almost flat.This being said it is understandable having the damage we experienced and one would expect even more. It destroyed all three wheel pants and all intersection fairings top and bottom. Many screws were literally pulled through the glass and all were cracked and ground off. The mains are bent a little as the plane sits about an inch or two lower on them now.
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.... I carry 50 psi is my nose wheel and 35 psi in the mains. The vertical impact and load was so great that it compressed the tires to the ground and bent the nose wheel out at the point of contact. This destroyed the tire, tube, wheel and bent the fork.
.
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.... The mains suffered damage to the tires and the impact compressed them to the ground as well, allowing the brake rotors to take a violent hit, bending and destroying them as well.
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.... The up side to this, if there is one, would be we walked away with bruised egos, feeling a little stupid and humbled with an airplane that is repairable. The Nose Job performed flawlessly, without a scratch and kept the nose gear in perfect tact. had it collapsed, I would have lost at best a $10,000 propeller, a cowl assembly and been looking at an engine tear down and repair. At worst a possible flip over and total loss. I am very impressed with this, and can hardly believe all the damages to everything else, with none to the nose gear leg. You would expect the nose gear to be the first to fail given the history of them when stressed.
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... I wanted to share this with the forum to perhaps help someone else from this type of incident. I would have bet money that I was exempt from this type of accident and this only happens to the other guy. Well I stand corrected. Cheers, Allan...