RV7Factory
Chief Obfuscation Officer
Last night we packed up the Oliver family truckster and headed out for something I haven?t had in a looooong time? chicken wings. We sat down at a table and when I looked up I found there was a wing (aircraft not chicken) hanging from the ceiling directly above us. It was an aluminum wing but the skins and control surfaces had been removed, with only the spars and ribs left in place. With my RV builders point of view and to the frustration of everyone at the table, I silently gazed at it for 15+ minutes, noticing how very thin the spars looked, surprised at how far apart each rib was located, amazed at the distance between each rivet, and taken aback by just how flimsy this unknown structure seemed to be. Every few minutes I would gaze up in amazement thinking to myself just how much stronger the RV wings appear to be.
After I had eaten a few too many wings than I should have, I labored up from the table and walked around to the root end of the wing. What did I see? ?C-150? written on the inboard rib. I?m not sure what I was expecting, but I guess I was a little surprised. I would have thought that an aircraft that typically takes as much abuse as your average flight school 150/152 would have been built differently. To put it another way, having built RV wings now, I guess I would have expected for this wing to be more similar to the RV in material thickness and rib and rivet count. Guess not.
Just an interesting observation in my book, that?s all.
Oh... one more thing... not much (if any) of the structure had primer on it.
After I had eaten a few too many wings than I should have, I labored up from the table and walked around to the root end of the wing. What did I see? ?C-150? written on the inboard rib. I?m not sure what I was expecting, but I guess I was a little surprised. I would have thought that an aircraft that typically takes as much abuse as your average flight school 150/152 would have been built differently. To put it another way, having built RV wings now, I guess I would have expected for this wing to be more similar to the RV in material thickness and rib and rivet count. Guess not.
Just an interesting observation in my book, that?s all.
Oh... one more thing... not much (if any) of the structure had primer on it.