springcanyon
Member
After a pleasant flight we started up to depart, raised the flaps, started to taxi, and our friend began waving us to a stop. We got out to see what the problem was and saw some ugly damage to the right flap and top wing skin.
The airplane has 150 hours with no problems. In this instance the leading edge of the right flap slightly overlapped the trailing edge of the upper wing skin. When the flap was driven up by the flap motor it severely pushed the top wing skin up and bent the flap leading edge down. The motor stopped when the fuse blew.
The only reason that I can think of for this to happen on this occasion is, my passenger may have stepped on the trailing edge of the wing skin and bent it down past the leading edge of the flap. Can't prove that.
At first I thought I would have to take the wings off and trailer it home. Fortunately a very good mechanic (Hood River Airport) took an interest and managed to manipulate the flap leading edge back under the wing skin. With the flap retracted he deemed it safe to fly home. I flew the RV-7 on the one hour flight home and the flight was perfectly normal, in spite of the wing skin that was still bent up at the trailing edge.
I would like to make recommendations so that no one else has this experience, but I really don't know what caused it.
Don Owens
[email protected]
The airplane has 150 hours with no problems. In this instance the leading edge of the right flap slightly overlapped the trailing edge of the upper wing skin. When the flap was driven up by the flap motor it severely pushed the top wing skin up and bent the flap leading edge down. The motor stopped when the fuse blew.
The only reason that I can think of for this to happen on this occasion is, my passenger may have stepped on the trailing edge of the wing skin and bent it down past the leading edge of the flap. Can't prove that.
At first I thought I would have to take the wings off and trailer it home. Fortunately a very good mechanic (Hood River Airport) took an interest and managed to manipulate the flap leading edge back under the wing skin. With the flap retracted he deemed it safe to fly home. I flew the RV-7 on the one hour flight home and the flight was perfectly normal, in spite of the wing skin that was still bent up at the trailing edge.
I would like to make recommendations so that no one else has this experience, but I really don't know what caused it.
Don Owens
[email protected]