What to do after a fall onto the winglets?
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Offline Lowlevldevl

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What to do after a fall onto the winglets?
« on: October 29, 2010, 05:14:23 PM »
A few months back I had a friend in the back of my Long-Ez while I did a fuel drain and walk around.
It was up on its nose gear.
He moved and the plane tipped back, landing hard on the winglets. The wings deflected maybe six inches (I was watching) and the bottoms of the winglets were crushed.
I decided to do the upgrade to the high performance rudders. I procrastinate a lot, so am still at the stage of shaping the styrofoam.
I came across this just now
http://www.eaa.org/experimenter/articles/2010-10_feature.asp
and thought it'd be a good idea to get some advice from you guys about how I should confirm the structural integrity of the winglet to wing attachment.
I look forward to your sage advice!
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Offline cloudman

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Re: What to do after a fall onto the winglets?
« Reply #1 on: October 30, 2010, 10:30:35 AM »
Rather than sage advice, I would recommend that you get your hands on a set of LongEZ plans.
I doubt that anyone can give you everything that you need to know in an email, phone conversations, etc.
I would not depend on anything other than a copy of the plans.
Wayne Johnson ......Varieze 725EZ........Lake Stevens, WA
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Offline Lowlevldevl

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Re: What to do after a fall onto the winglets?
« Reply #2 on: October 30, 2010, 02:47:25 PM »
Thanks Wayne,
I have the plans, personally I think the foam on the bottom of the winglets has absorbed most of the impact forces. I've had an engineer (A & P) look at it, he's happy.
If there's somebody in the Ez community who's had a similar experience though I'd appreciate their input.
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Offline GlennBob

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Re: What to do after a fall onto the winglets?
« Reply #3 on: October 30, 2010, 10:12:09 PM »
I'm not sure what you're looking for in repair info, . . . . if you built this  or  have any glass experience, . . .it shouldn't be too tough to fix,. . .

I just think this  " Balance "   issue . . .should get more attention.   I was working on my bird in my garage and I was climbing on the strake towards the rear and suddenly the plane tipped over backwards on me too ! !  I was more fortunate.  My winglet tips hit a storage cabinet and chipped out the tip.  I was able to fix that pretty easily.  That's when I started to pay a lot more attention to the " tip - over " possibility of these birds.  I'll keep it in mind from now on ! !   Again, . .fortunately, . .I got away . . ." EASY "  ! !

Glennbob
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N600EZ  O-320-E2A,  Hertzler prop, Trio AP, Narco HSI, Custom headers, Oil heat.

Offline flyingwaldo

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Re: What to do after a fall onto the winglets?
« Reply #4 on: October 31, 2010, 04:04:55 AM »
Just a suggestion, I took a piece of 1x4 pine and cut it to a length that would wedge up under the prop extension from the ground with a little kick of a toe.  Cut out a 1/2 circle at the top end to fit around the bottom of the extension so it's stable side-to-side.  ALWAYS put it in place when the nose gear is extended in the hangar.  Can sit that was safely, indefinitely. 
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Offline GlennBob

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Re: What to do after a fall onto the winglets?
« Reply #5 on: October 31, 2010, 10:01:50 PM »
Hey, . .that's a great  " safety "   device  idea ! !

GM
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N600EZ  O-320-E2A,  Hertzler prop, Trio AP, Narco HSI, Custom headers, Oil heat.
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