Archer wings need reskinning

gaflyboy

gaflyboy

Filing Flight Plan
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Gaflyboy
My PA-28 is in for a new (for us) shop for an annual. There are a number of small cracks that the A&P says requires re-skinning. We're based at DNL in Augusta, but the plane is currently at KIYY in Washington GA. Any suggestions as to where to take it?
 
Remove wing and send to airframe components by Williams, they may even have a wing to swap with yours.

The other question that should be asked is does it NEED to be reskinned or are there other options for repair? What skins? Etc
 
Thanks Duncan. We'll look into that.

1 panel on one wing. 2 panels on the other and 1 aileron. There are several cracks, all stop drilled. No new cracks and 2 other shops did the last annuals with no comments.
 
Can it be ferried? Have you obtained a second opinion regarding the repair?

gaflyboy said:
Thanks Duncan. We'll look into that.

1 panel on one wing. 2 panels on the other and 1 aileron. There are several cracks, all stop drilled. No new cracks and 2 other shops did the last annuals with no comments.
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How bad are these cracks? Seems odd that a repair isn't possible.

Picks would be nice. I would also call http://www.airframecomponents.com/ and have a chat with them about the repair. They are who I call when ever I have a sheetmetal structure question.
 
gaflyboy said:
Thanks Duncan. We'll look into that.

1 panel on one wing. 2 panels on the other and 1 aileron. There are several cracks, all stop drilled. No new cracks and 2 other shops did the last annuals with no comments.
Click to expand...

Seems like doublers/patches would be a much less expensive option. Generally, you can make an approved repair that way.
 
I just pulled up the Warrior structural repair instructions. They say to reference AC43.13 and to use the same material as the OE skins for making patches. I would be strongly inclined to make a patch repair.
 
We're looking into ferrying for a second opinion & patches if necessary. I don't have photos available yet.

Thanks for all the input!
 
Some body has a boat payment due.
 
A cherokee with a diamond patch is like a Harley with an oil splotch underneath.
 
gaflyboy said:
Thanks Duncan. We'll look into that.

1 panel on one wing. 2 panels on the other and 1 aileron. There are several cracks, all stop drilled. No new cracks and 2 other shops did the last annuals with no comments.
Click to expand...

Sounds cheaper to send it back to the last shop to get annual. It would be ok for you to ask the IA to show you in the regulations exactly why he feels that wings passed last year should not have been passed.

Where it is subjective you have every right to move to another inspector. If you don't feel good about this guy stop all work and proceed else where.
 
Tony_Scarpelli said:
Sounds cheaper to send it back to the last shop to get annual. It would be ok for you to ask the IA to show you in the regulations exactly why he feels that wings passed last year should not have been passed.

Where it is subjective you have every right to move to another inspector. If you don't feel good about this guy stop all work and proceed else where.
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:yeahthat:

Ferry Permits are easy to get and can save you a LOT of money. A shop tried to scam me for $15K on my Mooney. I halted all work, called the shop that had been maintaining it for a number of years to get the ferry permit and flew it back to them for a more typical $2K annual. There's a huge difference between "nice to do" and "need to do" items. The first shop wanted to restore a 33 year old airframe to factory-new status. I later learned they managed to find $35K worth of squawks on a two-year old Mooney. :hairraise:

They ultimately went bankrupt.
 
LDJones said:
:yeahthat:

Ferry Permits are easy to get and can save you a LOT of money. A shop tried to scam me for $15K on my Mooney. I halted all work, called the shop that had been maintaining it for a number of years to get the ferry permit and flew it back to them for a more typical $2K annual. There's a huge difference between "nice to do" and "need to do" items. The first shop wanted to restore a 33 year old airframe to factory-new status. I later learned they managed to find $35K worth of squawks on a two-year old Mooney. :hairraise:

They ultimately went bankrupt.
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I know there are plenty of good mechanics but this has happened to me personally and more than just a few of my friends. So there are a few bad apples out there.

I had the exact same thing happen to me. I told them to button up the Fxxxing plane, bill me for any time and took the plane to another AI.
They were wanting to do an exploratory disassemble of repairs of belly skins and strip the wings skins or replace the wings of work which was done by someone else 12 years ago for the purpose to check to see that it was done correctly.

I later asked the FAA (engineer forgot what you call them.) to look at the issue and they said it was a non issue. Turned out the FAA was going after that IA shop for other matters anyway.
 
My Aztec had some cracks in the wing skins at its last (and final) annual. We were able to get a repair approved by a DER just fine. A complete re-skinning is probably not necessary unless you want to.
 
yes, putting diamond patched on top of the wings is very common.

but if something really is wrong enough to require major repair, just get junkyard wings rather than trying to fix what you have.
 
I still want to know what happened between last years annual and this one to cause the cracks..:dunno::dunno:
 
You can give Max Allen a call. He's at 19A and does the work on my Warrior.

You can either get a ferry permit to take it to him or get him to fly down and take a look.

Tell him Randy told you to give him a call.

Allen Aero Service, Inc.
(706)367-5794
Cell( 706)540-1895
 
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