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Bird Strike Leading Edge

findane

Active Member
Had a bird strike from a big buzzard on the leading edge of my 9A. Damage is just outside the starboard fuel tank. Any suggestion on the best fix would be appreciated. I plan to have a mobile auto repair guy take a look at it. He's a genius when it comes to automobile damage.
 

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Pictures ?

Start with some pictures..then the responses will roll in fast and furious. Keep the car guy at bay for a bit, as he could cover up damage that needs repaired..unless he is airplane guy that fixes cars too.
 
There was a thread on VAF a while back that led to a Youtube showing a guy pushing a dent out from inside the wing using a form block shaped like the leading edge radius and a jack pushing on the spar.

Your mileage may vary...
 
Where was the hit?

It’s good that the bird hit outside the tank. Now, did the impact happen on a rib rivet line, or between the ribs? If it’s between the ribs, that’s most likely repairable. If it’s on the rivet line, that’s much more structurally concerning. In either case, please don’t let an auto mechanic work on your aircraft structure.
 
I plan to have a mobile auto repair guy take a look at it. He's a genius when it comes to automobile damage.

Glad you're safe!

Terrible idea ... his auto repair experience has no bearing on his ability to safely repair your airplane ... kind of like letting your plumber, because he's good at plumbing, do your heart surgery :eek:
 
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Had a bird strike from a big buzzard on the leading edge of my 9A. Damage is just outside the starboard fuel tank. Any suggestion on the best fix would be appreciated. I plan to have a mobile auto repair guy take a look at it. He's a genius when it comes to automobile damage.

Picture please! Could be a small dint, could be a skin dint with rib damage, could be crushed skin with rib structure tank edge flange damage.... we need that worth a 1000 word picture before any useful suggestions could be offered by the group.
 
pictures would help if seeking options. Without photos, if the skin is dented, with no damage to ribs, you can:
1. Remove skin, replace with new, cherrymax into place. Then new paint.
2. Pull the dent as much as possible. You can use automotive type pullers. ONce done, bondo it smooth, then paint.

If ribs are involved, will have to add more repairs.
 
Go with a good assessment first

Of course a competent aviation damage assessment is first. Our structures transmit impacts in their own way and a trained eye needs to look for the witness marks of transmitted strain.

But, once the structure is sorted those 'dent remover' guys have some real skill! Long before the dent puller comes out those guys do magic with their 'spoons.' Appreciating skin stretch is an art that takes lots of time to really appreciate.
 
Goose Strike

I had a bird strike in the same location. It completely crushed the leading edge and tore the fuel tank edge skin but luckily the tank wasn’t breached. It was pretty shocking to look out at your wing and wonder if the airplane was still going to fly. The damage area was about the size of a large water melon and did crush one on the leading edge ribs. Luckily the 15 min flight home was uneventful and was able to land at an increased speed to avoid an asymmetric stall, safely.
In my case we removed the wing and replaced the leading edge skin and rib. Had to repair the fuel tank as well. All in all got off pretty lucky and the airplane wasn’t the worse for wear. It took a couple of months to repair with the biggest hassle being repainting the entire wing (Opted not to just paint the new leading edge).
 
Had a bird strike from a big buzzard on the leading edge of my 9A. Damage is just outside the starboard fuel tank. Any suggestion on the best fix would be appreciated. I plan to have a mobile auto repair guy take a look at it. He's a genius when it comes to automobile damage.

As mentioned, "it depends".

I had a birdstrike hit the fuel tank. Busted through rivets!! Tore a hole in the tank!! Had to replace the tank. No "if's, and's, or but's about it".

Had the curl of flap get caught and bent. I removed the flap, made a hardwood mold identical to the flap and was able to smooth out the skin.

One effort to weeks (months?? .... fitting a new tank to old school RV6) and the other a little time one afternoon.

So, as everyone also says ... PICTURES (if you can).
 
I hit a bird in exactly the same place, just outside of the right fuel tank. I also did what you are proposing, use a dentless repair guy. It worked for me but I know it doesn’t always work. The repair is not 100% perfect but it’s good enough that if I don’t show you where it is you probably wouldn’t see it. It cost me about $150 and about an hour of time. In my case if it didn’t work I wouldn’t have lost much. It’s worth a try.
 
Bird Strike leading edge

This is a photo of the damage. It was between to ribs outboard of the fuel tank. Thanks for the advise on the auto body guy. This might be a good location for a landing light.
 

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Bird strike leading edge

The strike was between ribs, thankfully.
 

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New skin

I'm going to say a new skin is in order. Reworking 2024-T3 that has been stretched is near impossible, and the rest of your plane looks to be very nice..Rib flanges are likely bent too, and the access to the back side of that area is limited to the rib flange hole once you remove the tank. That's a pretty deep whack to work out.
 
This is a photo of the damage. It was between to ribs outboard of the fuel tank. Thanks for the advise on the auto body guy. This might be a good location for a landing light.

I don't know if the landing light comment was serious or not.....but don't do it. There are structural reasons why landing lights are located near the tip of the wing.

As a bird strike victim myself, I hate to see that damage and the work that will be required to fix it. The structural repair is pretty straight-forward, but getting paint to blend and match can be complicated.

Hang in there!
 
That's ugly! So sorry that happened. Looks like your tank drain is leaking a bit too.

-Marc
 
we had a very similar bird strike on a 9A. after thoroughly looking at all options ended up ordering new skin and ribs, added one inspection port on the underside to allow bucking access. turned out at least as good as new thanks to the precision of vans parts, and no pulled rivets required.
 
Wing damage

I have repaired similar wing damage. I spent a lot of time and research before I did it, consulting a number of manuals, sources and people. My advice to you is this:

From what I can I see the damage involves not one but two wing ribs and the skin is really stretched. The ribs are probably bent if not creased. Get a borescope and look inside at them closely. You will not get really stretched skin to reform and shrink and you will have "oilcanning" when you are done.

Small dents have been successfully repaired using paint less dent repair guys and they may have gotten an acceptable repair BUT...

If you ask the designer of the plane, VANS, they will tell you the only thing they will buy off on is to "replace damaged parts." Or the only other acceptable option is to make the repair according to FAA AC 43.13-1B.

43.13-1B is a very old Advisory Circular although it has been revised several times. It is only general in nature and provides general guidance, leaving the A&P some latitude but not bending out (hammering, tapping on, pushing on, etc.) a dent. It requires using overlays or patches and lots of rivets.

Furthermore, Vans heat treats the ribs to T4 level after they are stamped. 2024-T4 cannot be rebent. After the first damage the structure of the aluminum weakens and over time it can crystallize if not already. If you rebend it, it will crystallize.

Most automobile aluminum is not 2000 series aluminum but either 5 or 6000 aluminum from what I could find. The thickness is usually .040 or more which provides a lot more "meat" to work with. A lot of the dent repair guys don't do aluminum because it requires them to buy some extra pretty expensive tools, which may involve applying heat. They also have to have some structure to pry against while they "massage" the metal. Also nobody I could find would touch an aluminum "AIRPLANE" (liability concerns).

The 7 series planes are a piece of cake to take the wings off of compared to earlier models. Take it to a place (hangar) where you can really work on it. Take the wing off. Put the wing in a jig so you know its straight. The outer leading edge skin is the largest skin (I think) on the wing. Remove the wing skin and replace it. Check the ribs for integrity. Replace them if necessary. They aren't that expensive in the overall scheme of things. Once you take all the rivets out of a wing rib, and if the spar is not fixed, things will start to shift. Two ribs out, and its more flexible. If you use all new parts on a CNC 7A, the parts should line up easily and you have new rivet holes to work with.

Document the repair with photos. Once its done, you won' think about it and wonder.
 
Replace the skin

Ran into a fuel dump tank with my Rv7 down in KSGJ and replaced with a new skin in a 4 hour work session. Did cut a new access panel aft of main spar to facilitate riveting. Needed a joggle tool to form rear skin to flush mount new access panel.

new wing skin.jpg
 
Jerry,
Looks like a nice repair. Sometimes we spend more time worrying about how to do something that it takes to just do it. At least I do it that way!

Ran into a fuel dump tank with my Rv7 down in KSGJ and replaced with a new skin in a 4 hour work session. Did cut a new access panel aft of main spar to facilitate riveting. Needed a joggle tool to form rear skin to flush mount new access panel.

View attachment 23165
 
we had a very similar bird strike on a 9A. after thoroughly looking at all options ended up ordering new skin and ribs, added one inspection port on the underside to allow bucking access. turned out at least as good as new thanks to the precision of vans parts, and no pulled rivets required.

This is my vote as well. I would replace the entire skin and the two ribs adjacent to the impact, and add whatever inspection port(s) you need underneath to buck the rivets. The worst part of that job will be the paint work.

On the plus side, living in buzzard country, I'm impressed with how well the wing stood up to the impact.
 
we found that the skin rivet holes in the existing nose ribs were enlarged just enough to make driving the new ones very difficult. replacing all the nose ribs made it not necessarily a piece of cake, but possible to achieve as-new results
 
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