So this afternoon I was in the middle of my annual inspection, and I was changing out the brake pads and tires. This year I needed to replace my worn tires with a new set of Monster Retreads, and I always wear a set of brake pads down to near nothing during a years flying anyway. I had the right main off, fixed, and reinstalled, and had just jacked up the left main and pulled the tire when I heard some aircraft on low flyovers overhead. We had visitors.
That's not unusual - we get a few of the low-and-slow crowd coming to land in our wheat field just to BS and say hi occasionally, it's part of the fun. I stopped what I was doing and went out to visit. The barbeque pit was already hot and ribs were on, this promised to be a good visit.
Long story short - three airplanes, one was being brought in from Kansas by a ferry pilot (former RV9 owner, most of you would recognize the name if I dropped it) for a sale to a guy in Midland. During the subsequent show-and-tell of all the airplanes that flew in, and were based at, our little private airport, the ferry pilot absent-mindedly grabbed the jack handle that was holding up my left main, and it slipped off the jack.
I have (had?) the FlyBoy accessories jack point on there, that has the little wishbone-style aluminum piece bolted to the brake assembly. The wishbone itself was fine, but it broke off the flange that it bolts into for lifting on the brake assembly, very briefly slowing the airplanes descent. When the rest of the airplane then continued onto the concrete it bent the Cleveland brake torque plate (thankfully I already had the caliper out of it) and the Vans axle mounting piece that bolts it all up.
Thankfully the gear leg itself stopped just short of the concrete and the threads were undamaged. I was able to find replacement parts for $600 for the damage done. No comma's or stitches were involved, so all in all it's a very good day for an aircraft incident.
Lessons learned:
1) for visitors - if you can't write a check for it, don't touch it!!!
2) for maintenance in progress - if there is a chance that visitors might come "look-see", even visitors that in theory should know better, remove items at risk like an airplane on jacks. I should have dropped it onto 2x4's before leaving the hangar. I will next time.
The ribs were still good.
Ya'll be careful out there...
That's not unusual - we get a few of the low-and-slow crowd coming to land in our wheat field just to BS and say hi occasionally, it's part of the fun. I stopped what I was doing and went out to visit. The barbeque pit was already hot and ribs were on, this promised to be a good visit.
Long story short - three airplanes, one was being brought in from Kansas by a ferry pilot (former RV9 owner, most of you would recognize the name if I dropped it) for a sale to a guy in Midland. During the subsequent show-and-tell of all the airplanes that flew in, and were based at, our little private airport, the ferry pilot absent-mindedly grabbed the jack handle that was holding up my left main, and it slipped off the jack.
I have (had?) the FlyBoy accessories jack point on there, that has the little wishbone-style aluminum piece bolted to the brake assembly. The wishbone itself was fine, but it broke off the flange that it bolts into for lifting on the brake assembly, very briefly slowing the airplanes descent. When the rest of the airplane then continued onto the concrete it bent the Cleveland brake torque plate (thankfully I already had the caliper out of it) and the Vans axle mounting piece that bolts it all up.
Thankfully the gear leg itself stopped just short of the concrete and the threads were undamaged. I was able to find replacement parts for $600 for the damage done. No comma's or stitches were involved, so all in all it's a very good day for an aircraft incident.
Lessons learned:
1) for visitors - if you can't write a check for it, don't touch it!!!
2) for maintenance in progress - if there is a chance that visitors might come "look-see", even visitors that in theory should know better, remove items at risk like an airplane on jacks. I should have dropped it onto 2x4's before leaving the hangar. I will next time.
The ribs were still good.
Ya'll be careful out there...
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