jlfernan

jlfernan

Well Known Member
Yesterday was posted a photo of an RV-10 that had a bird strike. OUCH! Now I'm still building my 9A but was wondering, where in the, ahem, heck would you start to fix that wing!? Is it repairable?
 
It will probably be easier to order a new parts and build a new left wing section. The spar appears to be bent along with the skins. If it were me a would build a new section. Generally the damage is in other areas not quite apparent. I would save the fuel tank, flap, aileron and wing tip and everything else would be new.
 
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Me too

Hi Todd,
I'd be surprised if the rear spar attach area isn't wrinkled or bent some. An outboard hit at RV 10 speeds puts a big rearward load on the wings. I'd bet that the forward attach area (if it's similar to a -7) may have moved outward too.

BTW, wifey and I are always looking for someplace to visit on Thursdays. Would you be available? We're only 30 minutes or so away? A lunch maybe.

Regards,
 
Almost everything is fixable. But may indeed be easier to build the new wing after hitting something like a buzzard. Only ones I worry more about are brown pelicans down here by the coast. Hitting something like that would be very, very bad.
 
Good advice

A friend hit a big bird just after liftoff in his -4 and broke off the tip of his wooden prop. He managed to fly around the pattern and land uneventfully. Later, another guy told us that he'd read that when birds are lower than 8-10 feet off the ground, they'll RISE if alarmed and if they're up high where we are, they'll usually DIVE .

I recall hitting a buzzard about ten years ago with my Air Tractor as I was turning around getting ready to re-enter the cotton field I was spraying. That bird did in fact dive, causing $2500 in damages :eek:

Might be some useful advice.
 
I hit a buzzard on the base to final turn in a Citabra a few years back. Got really lucky - it went through the prop in one piece, hit the cowl behind the prop and slid up the windshield and over the airplane. Most of it's innards ended up inside the cowl. Other than taking several months for the stink to completely bake off, it caused no damage whatsoever. I'd be scared to death to have the same thing happen in my RV. :eek:
 
Back in the 80's and early 90's I flew about 600 hr in ultralights. Buzzard chasing was a popular sport of the day. You quickly learn to NEVER fly below one as they will almost always dive. Same for hawks and sometimes even geese. We now have bald eagles around here, but I haven't seen them in flight. I will avoid anything bigger than a bumblebee if I can.

BTW, hawks won't always dive, and approached properly, I have flown formation on the outside of their thermal circle with several redtails. Looking eye-to-eye about 30 feet away with something that understands flight far better than I is a real treat. If I still had an ultralight, I might try that with an eagle.

Bob Kelly
 
I've hit a vulture once in a Cherokee, it just bounced off. Scared the heck out of me, I thought there would be a lot of damage for sure but we were going at angles and I guess he glanced off my wing.
 
But if you have to replace the hole wing, how do you match drill the new spar to the center section?
 
Jorge,
You would probably have to build a new wing. The spar of the RV-10 is designed to carry at least 3000 more lbs. per side than the 9. Seeing the damage done to the 10 wing the 9 wing probably would have been damaged severly. I am building a 10 so I don't know how the spars are drilled on the nine but if this bird hit your plane you would probably be drilling a new spar out. Can you repair the wing? Probably. Would I choose that route?No. The damage that is going to be done taking off the skins and fixing everything would make the repaired wing weaker than a brand new wing. I would try to avoid large birds! Well I would try to avoid anything but air molecules! Ron hit a large bird in a military trainer on the way home from LOE. It didn't do nearly the damage that the bird did to the 10 because his plane is built like a tank! I am sure he was probably traveling 60-70 knots faster than the 10 was.
 
I hit a Turkey Vulture with a T-38 Talon at 300 knots. The bird passed just inches from the right side of my canopy. (I was in the front seat) The vulture had folded it's wings to dive I guess, and went into the right engine intake without touching the edges. It was a slam dunk no net!

The T-38 shuddered like it had been hit by a bowling ball, and all the right engine indications went to zero. An incredibly terrible odor entered the cockpit from the air-conditioning system. I selected 100% oxygen, declared an emergency, and flew a single engine approach.

After landing I surveyed the damage. All the moving parts of the right engine had exited the burner can. (tailpipe) Only the case of the engine remained, and you could look in the intake see out the back. The smell around the burner can was indescribable.

Football is not the only game of inches. If that vulture had been a few inches to my left, the ending would have been much different.
 
birdstrike

Danny King said:
I hit a Turkey Vulture with a T-38 Talon at 300 knots. ...
Click to expand...
Wow - that could have been ugly. Just curious - how high were you? How does the T-38 perform single engine?
 
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