Hit a bird - how bad does this look?

Chrisgoesflying

Chrisgoesflying

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Chrisgoesflying
We hit a bird today. Left wing leading edge damage. There is a dent. Rivets are all in place. Paint is peeling. Photos below. What do y’all say, how bad is this?

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A guy I know hit a bird (made a larger dent than yours) and bent the spar in a Cherokee. Inspect it carefully.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Mechanic should be able to work that out from the inside. The peeling paint is just because the paint was thick and brittle enough to crack when the metal bent.
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The nearest inspection panel is behind the main spar though. Not sure how he could get to the spot from there. Also, I’m away from home base. If the local mechanic can’t do it, does this look safe enough to fly home for an hour? Plane didn’t feel any different after hitting the bird so I’m guessing airflow isn’t too off.
 
AV8R_87 said:
A guy I know hit a bird (made a larger dent than yours) and bent the spar in a Cherokee. Inspect it carefully.
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It was a small bird. Flock of them. I think I hit 3. There were guts on three different spots on the wing. Only one caused a dent though. Hit it at about 120 mph. Damn birds!
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
It was a small bird. Flock of them. I think I hit 3. There were guts on three different spots on the wing. Only one caused a dent though. Hit it at about 120 mph. Damn birds!
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How high above the ground were you?
 
Oh man I’m so sorry! That’s gotta ruin your day.

Be glad though you weren’t flying a composite wing! A bird strike like that would seriously damage my wing, probably beyond repair.
 
I had a leading edge dent in a previous Sonex aircraft that I owned years ago. It appeared very similar to what you have (perhaps a bit smaller). Happened on the takeoff roll when an Egret wandered out of a ditch and into my path. I aborted but still got the bird.

The dent was in the leading edge when I sold it more than a hundred hours later. Everyone that examined it found no structural issue and the airplane didn't fly any differently that I could tell. Can't say whether yours is safe to fly ...
 
A PDR guy can get it out. I’d have him work with your A&P, so nothing gets messed up.
 
Hard to say without being there, but the Archer i used to fly had a dent on the leading edge that was maybe bit smaller than that. It picked it up when it was a flight school plane, and was never repaired.

Personally, I wouldn't be scared to fly it home, although I would try to get an a/p to look at it or at least call my guy at home and ask him. As PIC, you have to make the airworthiness determination.
 
Like said above, a paint less dent repair technician will be able to repair that. I think they have pins that can be glued to the dent to pull it out. Kinda like a stud gun but not welded on.
Sorry to see it and hope you get home safely.
 
My flying club had a 172 hit a bird which made a dent in the leading edge almost identical to that one. The mechanic checked it out and said it was fine to fly, and the intent was to have it fixed once the plane went in for paint six months later. I'm no longer part of the club, but it's been at least a year and I still don't think it's been fixed.
 
A neighbor hit a vulture with his Carbon Cub. The leading edge was crushed back almost to the spar, but what wasn’t visible until inspection was that the wing got knocked a little cattywampus at the attach points.
 
It looks like it’s between ribs?

Years ago I found a similar dent on a rental Warrior, it still had feathers and goo. I asked one of the mechanics to look at it and give me some opinions. One thing he noted was there were no cracks and it was between ribs, he OK’d it.
 
Funnily enough, this happened on the flight home from Webco, after writing them a big check for taking care of all the Comanche ADs. Did i say that birds are my least favorite animal?
 
A dent repair tech may be able to help, I don't know. But, the problem is that aluminum is not as malleable as car fender steel, especially after stressed.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
The nearest inspection panel is behind the main spar though. Not sure how he could get to the spot from there. Also, I’m away from home base. If the local mechanic can’t do it, does this look safe enough to fly home for an hour? Plane didn’t feel any different after hitting the bird so I’m guessing airflow isn’t too off.
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Definitely looks fine for a day VFR flight home and future flights. Keep an eye on if anything changes.
 
I’m having a mechanic take a look at it. I get the whole “happened on the way home” comments but with my wife and puppy on board, I’d rather play it extra safe as i always do. Worst case scenario mechanic says it’s not airworthy and we drive home. Best case scenario the plane just got a little uglier but flies all the same. Hope i’ll find out what it is today.
 
It’s a deformation in the leading edge/most critical section of the wing. It’s probably fine for 99% of the time, but airflow over that section will most certainly be affected. I’d be careful about getting slow in a left hand turn. You’d likely never notice any difference in flight characteristics, but it’s possible that that wing section may stall slightly earlier than before.

The responses are killing me. Use a Home Depot screw in a wing tip, or use a gates alt belt from auto zone and OMG you’re airplane is going to fall apart and the FAA police are going to arrest you for an illegal airplane part!!! But a deformation in a leading edge large enough to likely affect airflow? Nahhhhh you’re good. :D
 
Well, the local mechanic looked at it and said it’s fine to fly. He said the dent is very shallow. There is no structure behind it so definitely no internal damage. He said once i get home i can get the dent repaired if i find it too ugly or leave it as a battle scar but according to him it doesn’t pose any flight risk.
 
How bad does it look or do you mean how bad is it?

Don’t hate all birds…doubt a penguin or ostrich will get in your way, lol
 
aterry1067 said:
It’s a deformation in the leading edge/most critical section of the wing. It’s probably fine for 99% of the time, but airflow over that section will most certainly be affected. I’d be careful about getting slow in a left hand turn. You’d likely never notice any difference in flight characteristics, but it’s possible that that wing section may stall slightly earlier than before.
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This is very true, which is why I was in favor of a second opinion. It's really hard to tell in a picture. In the one with his hand, it looks pretty small. Might be worth taking her up high and stalling her just to make sure nothing weird happens at slow speeds. Most likely a non-issue though.

455 Bravo Uniform said:
Don’t hate all birds
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I kinda love birds...I'll just sit and watch them fly. Especially the big soaring birds. Ravens are my favorite though; great fun watching them interact with the tourists when we were out west. The crows around here are fun to watch too when I'm out in the field. They seem to have a precision other birds don't. Most birds almost look like they're crash landing, crows & ravens flare and settle really gracefully.
 
Fiveslide said:
And, you can ride an ostrich. I love giant flightless birds.
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And zombies can ride a chicken, apparently.
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Well, I wish the story was over. Today, I proceeded to pre-flight the plane for our final leg home. In broad daylight, the dent actually didn't really look that bad. The mechanic told me he almost didn't find it when we talked over the phone - I thought he was full of it because it was pretty easy to see last night but I guess the bird guts kinda gave it away which I cleaned off. So, when I looked at it during pre-flight I can see how it might be hard to even spot if you don't know exactly where to look.

Anyway, also during pre-flight, I looked at everything thoroughly for obvious reasons. Underbelly, gears, ailerons, tail, just to make sure the birds didn't hit anything else. All the mentioned items were perfectly fine. But then, I found a dead bird (or what's left of it) in my air filter. So, driving home tomorrow. Oh well.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Well, I wish the story was over. Today, I proceeded to pre-flight the plane for our final leg home. In broad daylight, the dent actually didn't really look that bad. The mechanic told me he almost didn't find it when we talked over the phone - I thought he was full of it because it was pretty easy to see last night but I guess the bird guts kinda gave it away which I cleaned off. So, when I looked at it during pre-flight I can see how it might be hard to even spot if you don't know exactly where to look.

Anyway, also during pre-flight, I looked at everything thoroughly for obvious reasons. Underbelly, gears, ailerons, tail, just to make sure the birds didn't hit anything else. All the mentioned items were perfectly fine. But then, I found a dead bird (or what's left of it) in my air filter. So, driving home tomorrow. Oh well.
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Better in the air filter than the engine, I suppose. Good catch.
 
Daleandee said:
You're gonna end up with a nickname like Little Sully ... :biggrin:
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Seeing these bird guts in the air filter, I'm sure glad the bird hit there and not a little further up into the engine. New filter is no big deal (and was on the to-do list anyways). New engine would be a big deal and certainly is not on the to-do list. Also, the bird that hit the wing, hit it where there is no structure behind it and also between the stall warning opening and pitot tube. Sucks to hit birds but seeing how and where they hit, I think overall we got pretty lucky.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Well, I wish the story was over. Today, I proceeded to pre-flight the plane for our final leg home. In broad daylight, the dent actually didn't really look that bad. The mechanic told me he almost didn't find it when we talked over the phone - I thought he was full of it because it was pretty easy to see last night but I guess the bird guts kinda gave it away which I cleaned off. So, when I looked at it during pre-flight I can see how it might be hard to even spot if you don't know exactly where to look.

Anyway, also during pre-flight, I looked at everything thoroughly for obvious reasons. Underbelly, gears, ailerons, tail, just to make sure the birds didn't hit anything else. All the mentioned items were perfectly fine. But then, I found a dead bird (or what's left of it) in my air filter. So, driving home tomorrow. Oh well.
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Good catch, Wow you ran into a bunch of birds!
 
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