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Hard Landing Inspection?

jahoosafat

Active Member
Hi All - I had a hard (maybe?) landing in my RV-10, and I'm trying to determine what post-event actions I should take. This was a classic case of not thinking through a very short flight where I was full tanks and near max gross weight, and I came in fast on a moderately short runway. That was a recipe for one bounce off the pavement and then she settled down fine. That one bounce though was enough to cause 1) a 2"x3" chunk of fiberglass from the nose wheel fairing to break off; 2) a slow leak of that nose wheel (likely pinched innertube); and 3) the large screw at the center of the outside of the right main fairing to pop out. I think this is Vans part HW LP24693C296, but I'm not entirely sure. I acquired an identical screw, and it screws in but won't fully tighten similar to the one on the left main. I've flown her multiple times since the hard landing without incident. The slow leak in the nose wheel only became apparent this past weekend. I'm at a new field and don't have experience with the mechanic shops here. I spoke to one, and he wants to go to town disassembling the wheels and rebuilding the fairing. Seems like overkill to me, so I wanted to check in with the community to get reactions. Thanks for your thoughts!
 
inspection at the wheels and fairings doesn't make any sense to me. I would be looking at the main gear weldments and what they attach to, as well as the nose gear assembly, engine mount and the areas it attaches to. Main gear legs are spring steel and can take BIG loads and bend a lot before cracking, the weldments they attach to not so much. Nose gear is not sping steel, but has a LOT of rubber to dampen shock loads. I would expect most stress on the engine mount or the fuse structure it is attached to as well as possibly the two pivot points on the lower leg attachment.

Pinched tube can either mean a lot of stress on the nose gear if it had 40-50 PSI, but not necessarily a lot of stress if it had 25-30 PSI.

Larry
 
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Honestly, this is a question for the engineering team at Van’s - you can collect random inputs from a variety of internet players (myself included), but the only real answer can come from the folks that designed it. Send them a note.

Paul
 
Thanks for the tip. I contacted Vans and I post their helpful response below ...

Hi Jeff,



It’s impossible to diagnose from afar. But I’ll try to help.



I would take a close look at the landing gear with weight off the wheels. The gear legs are tapered. But check to ensure that they’re not bent.



Examine the gear leg mounts. Look for any cracking. Look for and distortion or cracking in the center section.



Examine the engine mount and look for any evidence of cracking.



Any distortion of wing or tank skins?



RVs are generally pretty resilient aircraft. One hard landing will probably not be the end of the world. That being said, avoid over-gross flights. And, especially, avoid over-gross hard landings!
 
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