Cracked wing, no fly :(

SkyHog

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Everything Offends Me
Yesterday was the day for me to get my complex endorsement. Everything was set up, plane filled just below tabs (9000ft DA), great smooth day.

So CFI is showing me the stuff that is different about the complex aircraft (this was a new cfi, so I let him explain it to me as if I'd never seen it before, just to make sure I didn't miss anything from the previous CFI), and when we hit the wing tips on the right wing, we see a pretty impressive crack on the edge of the wing. After I point it out to the CFI, he squeezes the edge of the wing tip with almost no force, and we could look right into the middle of the wing, it was a gaping hole.

We call a bunch of other people out to look, mostly in disbelief, as the plane had been flying all day long, no one had caught it. All agreed, after looking at the stress cracks all along the wing, all leading to the crack in the tip that it was most definitely not airworthy.

How could people miss that? It was pretty obvious to me.

Next week I'll try again in the other Arrow, which will hopefully be done with the other maintenance by then.
 
Good catch. Much better to notice on the ground than in the air with the skin peeling off the wing.

All my complex time is in an Arrow. Was just up shooting touch and goes in it on Sunday. Nice bird.
 
when we hit the wing tips on the right wing said:
Couldn't see the crack in the pic, are you just talking about the fiberglass wing tip, or the sheetmetal of the wing itself? If it's just the tip, duct tape and fly.
 
Yeah - the pic didn't show the crack very well, but it was on the tip of the wing, with the stress cracks going all the way through the wing to the root. Someone suggested duct tape, until someone else pointed out how far down the wing the cracks went.
 
NickDBrennan said:
Yeah - the pic didn't show the crack very well, but it was on the tip of the wing, with the stress cracks going all the way through the wing to the root. Someone suggested duct tape, until someone else pointed out how far down the wing the cracks went.

Cracks in the metal, not the paint, but metal run all the way from the wingtip to the root? Dayum, hard to believe that wasn't caught earlier. Time for a new wing. Hopefully they can find a hard landing to blame it on so it's insured, then they have to paint the whole plane as well for continuity of appearance.;)
 
Steve said:
The crack pattern as described indicates an impact while on the ground vs an aero load induced over-stress, possibly while being moved into/out of the hangar.

Does the storage hangar have internal support columns or is it a clear span structure? Also, are there rub marks on the hangar door/door opening consistent with the height of the wingtip?

(sorry, my root cause analysis background is rearing its ugly head)

You think you can ding a wingtip into a hangar door hard enough to cause cracks to the wing root without causing some major hangar rash?
 
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