[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

I made the conical bend on the fuse side skins today. The right one came out great. The left one came out great too, except I thought I detected a possible crack from the drilled hole where the near 90-degree bend is to take place (before I continue, can I just say that that sharp of a bend is asking for trouble?). By the time I got the skin initially fitted, sure enough, a crack had developed. So, I uttered a few words and then stop drilled.

At first I thought, "well, I'll order a new skin," but then got to thinking, "do that and there's no guarantee it won't crack again." And I also figured this won't be the first skin crack in the life of the plane.

So I decided to just drill it and get past my Grand Champion dreams.

what would YOU do?

 

[David-aviator]

At first I thought, "well, I'll order a new skin," but then got to thinking, "do that and there's no guarantee it won't crack again." And I also figured this won't be the first skin crack in the life of the plane.

So I decided to just drill it and get past my Grand Champion dreams.

what would YOU do?

Drill it out and press on....if it is where I think it is, you need a water drain hole there anyhow.

dd

 

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

That's what I did. Then I picked up the golf clubs, threw 'em in the trunk and my son and I went and played. After 3 hours with my golf game, a little skin crack doesn't seem so bad.

 

[Paul Johnson]

I had the same problem and arrived at the same conclusion. Besides stop-drilling the crack, I spent a couple of hours fashioning and installing a little doubler on the inside. Not sure it's doing that much good - maybe I was subconsciously doing penance for not being careful enough when making that conical bend.

 

[LettersFromFlyoverCountry]

I had the same problem and arrived at the same conclusion. Besides stop-drilling the crack, I spent a couple of hours fashioning and installing a little doubler on the inside. Not sure it's doing that much good - maybe I was subconsciously doing penance for not being careful enough when making that conical bend.

I don't know if it's a matter of not being careful or just plain sh* luck. Asking a piece of aluminum to bend 90 degree over a 1/2", it seems to me, is asking a hell of a lot from a piece of aluminum.