Bird Stike

A friend had a bird strike on his RV6A about 10" outboard of the left fuel tank, it did not brake the skin but has a good dent. Looking for repair ideas like should we try to replace the whole forward skin from fuel tank to wing tip, do a skin patch, or try to pull out dint and Bondo before paint?? We will be pulling the left fuel tank today to see if we can get to the damage via lightning holes.
Thanks
Bob 817-403-0632

I would replace the leading edge skin,on a car which is not made off aluminium you can bang/heat/bondo/lead and other gimmicks which you cannot do with aluminium,it will be possible to make a temporary repair,but Iwould replace the skin when you have the tank off

jorn moller
RV8 206 hours

You didn't mention if this was a cosmetic flaw or something that might affect flight.

If it's deep enough... Easy, open it up, see what's damaged, order the parts from Vans! These parts are easy to get. Why settle for a repair when you could rebuild it?

It sounds like your friend is a buyer, not a builder. Building the leading edge isn't really complicated and if you're lucky all you would need is the prepunched skin. Maybe, just maybe this is a newer 6 and the prepunched skin will line up with the holes in the ribs, if so it will really be a simple fix. If not you'll need skin and ribs. That would make it a bit more complicated but nothing that couldn't be done over a long weekend.

Bottom line, if it were mine I would rebuild before I would repair what is there.

Having said all that, if it's only cosmetic then yes, the paintless dent guys might be able to help.

Rat

I would bang it out from the rear, fill and paint.

One method for doing this is to:
1. Order from Vans a tank access plate, ring and platenuts
2. remove tank
3. Fly cut into the rear baffle a hole to install an access plate
4. Stick your arm hammer in there and beat it out
5. Install access plate and ring assembly
6. Fill, Paint, Call it done

I had a friend with a 6 who had sloshed tanks and was getting slosh film in his fuel flter. The only way to get it from the tanks was to cut into the rear baffle of each bay, scrub/vacuum/clean the slosh out, and install access plates.

We completed this in an afternoon on both tanks. I think we installed 8 access panels total.

This would be further complicated if you had a Z-brackets type installation on your wings, which you dont.
Best,

Dent

Kahuna, I'm Bob's friend with the dent. It was during formation practice and the buzzard did not have clearance into this particular airspace. The dent (1 and 1/2 inches deep, about six inches in diameter) is on the leading edge outboard of the port fuel tank. It's not in the fuel tank at all. It's between the first pair of ribs outboard of the fuel tank. I think we can get to it through the lightening hole in the rib. The plan now is to do as you suggested, bang it out,fill it, paint it (the aircraft is unpainted at this time.) Thanks to all who passed on their suggestions. Steve Richmond

A6PILOT said:

Kahuna, I'm Bob's friend with the dent. It was during formation practice and the buzzard did not have clearance into this particular airspace. The dent (1 and 1/2 inches deep, about six inches in diameter) is on the leading edge outboard of the port fuel tank. It's not in the fuel tank at all. It's between the first pair of ribs outboard of the fuel tank. I think we can get to it through the lightening hole in the rib. The plan now is to do as you suggested, bang it out,fill it, paint it (the aircraft is unpainted at this time.) Thanks to all who passed on their suggestions. Steve Richmond

Click to expand...

Ahh Steve,
I see. I misread it completely. In that case then definately just bang her out, fill, paint, and get back up for more practice. Not the tank AND Not painted. Man life is good for you. You will be vary thankful you did not dent the tank.

We get quite a few strikes in formation for obvious reasons. Not the least of which are the birds failure to apply proper wingman consideration.

See ya

A flush repair

Hi there,

There's certainly a time and place for simple repairs with a bit of bondo and a lick of paint, however if I was faced with this situation I would rather carry out a proper repair that is more permanent and definately stronger.

First I would remove the tank and beat the area from the inside to pop out the worst of the dent and this would then determine how much of the L/E skin needed to be removed. Cut the damaged area out to the shape of a rectangle as though you were going to fit one of those "Duckworks" L/E Landing Lights and radius the corners to about 1/2", minimum 3/16". Manufacture a doubler plate to go in behind the cut out and countersink the holes. Roll an piece of aluminium to the profile of the L/E and drill off. Rivet using the pitch provided in AC43.13. A double row of rivets (or staggered row) on both the patch and the orginal skin would be required. With just a little bit of filler to take out the obvious lines of the patch you could make this look like new.

This is the sort of repair I enjoy doing... if you come to my place I'll do it for free!

Let me know if you'd like a sketch.


Regards,

Mike
Licensed Aircraft Engineer
NZ

dent repair

Welllllll... banging it out is great..... try using the side of a broom handle to get between the hammer or other persuasion tool and the metal. Or something that is not metal and has a nice curve..... ask the wife before you borrow the rolling pin(or the biscuits wont be the only thing with a dent in them.....). Ask some local mechanics for dye pen to check it if you feel the need... I personally think the bird was in restricted airspace...If you have to pull the tank... do it... just take your time and do it right... If you need to borrow tools... I'm located at WDR Winder GA.
Brian
N41RC
brianpwallis at hotmail