Hi everyone. I got back from what was a perfectly normal flight today only to notice during refuel that there was damage to my right wings trailing edge. After searching through the forums I see that the RV7a has a known issue of flap to wing edge contact resulting in bending and damage and I believe that is likely what happened here. As a first time plane owner my question is not just what happened but what do I do about it? My local airport (Enterprise, AL) where the plane is hangered does not have any repair shops. Is it safe to one time flight this plane to a mechanic shop after bending the tab back down to as close to normal as I can get it? And any suggestions on what the repair process will look like for this?
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Wing skin trailing edge damage
- Thread starter Matt6415
- Start date
In addition to what yo mention above, I would double check the flap-down rigging on both sides and maybe reduce it a bit. That would increase the overlap of the wing skin-to-flap ratio to help prevent this on the other side and both sides in the future. That part of the skin is technically non-structural since its aft of the rear spar and not riveted to any braces. You may be able to bend it back and double check you're not introducing any cracks due to bending, and if its all good you could just need some paint touch ups.
