Archive for March, 2006

Hard landing

Saturday, March 4th, 2006

Oops, had a little accident in the shop today. Mary came home from the store and pressed the wrong button on the garage door remote, causing the door on the side of the garage where the fuselage is to try and open. Since the tailwheel was sort of resting against it, the door picked up the tail of the airplane a few inches and then dropped it back onto the wheel. Not her fault, I should have unplugged that garage door opener (which I subsequently did). Anyway, the only damage was the shearing of the two little keeper rivets – no big deal, they were easy to drill out and replace – and some scratched paint on the weldment.

After repairing the "damage" and then thinking about it some more, I decided to remove the tailwheel and let the aft end of the fuselage rest on some 2" styrofoam insulation instead. Although I got the go-ahead from Van's before I put weight on the tailwheel in the first place, it's obvious now that it was never meant to hold up the airplane with only two of the five the bolts in place. The fuselage can go back on all three wheels once I get the vertical stabilizer fitted, but for now it will sit on the foam.