Aluminum Overcast Hail Damage

murphey said:
And we're flying Young Eagles all 5 days - Wed thru Sunday, weather permitting. Just walk up - please register before 9 am!.
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Wow! FIVE days of Young Eagles?

Never heard of that happening before, anywhere but OSH. Great job!
 
Everskyward said:
These are the two pictures which show the hail damage the best.

2012-06-08-at-16-37-01-L.jpg


2012-06-08-at-16-39-31-L.jpg


Here are some more pictures that I took.

http://smu.gs/KigizN
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Wow- I never realized hail could just perforate fabric covered surfaces like that. :eek:
Cheaper to fix than sheet aluminum, but painstaking... even on the ailerons, I think the fabric is stitched to the ribs.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if you flipped it over you would see where it came out the bottom. I've seen that happen.
 
In my experience sometimes customers turn down offers for hangar space and regret it later. Even if space was available, in this instance, there may have been little, if any, warning. Once the hail started falling, by the time the airplane was put in, the damage might already be done.

I remember one time offering a citation pilot available hangar space because freezing rain was forecast and he was scheduled for an early departure. He refused. The next morning his boss was in the terminal and his plane was a giant ice-cube. As my guys were getting the deicing truck ready, he started (believe it or not) pounding on the ice with his shoe.

Two days later we got a letter demanding we repair the dents in the fuselage. We refused and let the owner know where those dents came from. Never heard another word about it, but the next time the airplane came in, there was another pilot in the left seat.
 
murphey said:
Considering the B17 is the EAA ship, and is hosted here by the Wings Over the Rockies Museum, which has an auxillary facility at KAPA, I'm still astonished that either no one paid any attention to the weather and/or that no one could figure out how to find hangar space. Get on the phone to the facility people and find something.
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That's kinda got me as well, this was a fumble fest of people dropping the ball. Who was in command of the ship?
 
Geico266 said:
That is just heart breaking. Thanks for posting the pictures.

They should fly it home, and never let it fly anywhere again with out a hangar.

The people in Denver should feel the same shame as the people in Dallas in 1962. :mad:
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Excuse me? You're equating weather with the actions of someone with questionable mental capacities? More important, you're attributing these actions to residents of a city, none of which had any involvement nor ability to control or prevent?

Grow up. Go take a course in basic logic.
 
Dave Theisen said:
I wouldn't be surprised if you flipped it over you would see where it came out the bottom. I've seen that happen.
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Latest news, as of 2 pm when we closed out Young Eagles. Replacement parts were trucked from OSH and are being installed. The plan is to fly those with paid reservations next weekend. Those who are unable to return (one family came down from North Dakota) are offered different arrangements. I don't know if that's going to be refunds or not.

The 5 days of YE is a tradition that ties into the B17 and other aviation events this week. The CEO of Wings Over the Rockies is a former VP of EAA and has YE Pilot ID #1 - Greg Anderson, who also flies his PA12 as a member of our chapter.
 
Dents make it fly better like a golf ball right? j/k..

Yea they used a huge hanger that used to house the blimp in Lincoln! If that can't fit it and all the learjets you can find, you have problems.

I would have for sure thought it was a requirement to have a hanger large enough to house it in case of storms. Those control surfaces are fabric as I'm sure you can see in the picture.
 
Back in my Air Force days, we had two FB-111Bs fly through some hail. After a determination that it would be safe to ferry them home, they launched with call signs "Dimples 01 and 02.
 
Damn, sad to see that kind of damage, lets see if some one knows how to 'rub it out' with dry ice. I didn't see buckles in the pics, just waves. Lot's of work even for the talented.
 
murphey said:
Excuse me? You're equating weather with the actions of someone with questionable mental capacities? More important, you're attributing these actions to residents of a city, none of which had any involvement nor ability to control or prevent?

Grow up. Go take a course in basic logic.
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I agree, its not the residents fault, its the fault of the person that was in charge of the plane and the FBO if they had hangar space available for it. They had the ability to prevent the damage. It was their negligence that caused the damage.
 
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Apparently she's all patched up again - just flew over my building on a south departure from KAPA moments ago.
 
Geico266 said:
That is just heart breaking. Thanks for posting the pictures.

They should fly it home, and never let it fly anywhere again with out a hangar.

The people in Denver should feel the same shame as the people in Dallas in 1962. :mad:
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I agree with your first statement, disagree with the second one, and I'm curious what happened in Dallas?
 
hopmedic said:
I agree with your first statement, disagree with the second one, and I'm curious what happened in Dallas?
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Maybe you don't recognize the event because it's such a large stretch of the imagination to compare it to hail damage on an airplane. Besides, he got the year wrong. It was 1963 not 1962.
 
hopmedic said:
Ummm.... Wow.... That is a stretch.
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The only thing I can think of that is related is what Slim Pickens said in a bomber, but that was a B-52, not a B-17. :confused:
 
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