Glider repairs

[beaky]

The club's 2-33 got dinged recently... a bit of a problem rolling out on the grass while landing to the east; it can be tricky because there's a hump there that can spoil even the best arrival. Fortunately, the object struck was only the nose of the 1-26, which was easily pushed out with no ill effects.
But this damage will require a new aluminum skin in the affected area... so I went down to the airport to assist in removing the wing and gatting it to a hangar across the field.


     



Didn't take very long to get it off, nor is it very complicated. Once you disconnect the aileron and brake linkages, there's just three 5/16" bolts that hold it in place, at the root and the strut attach point. seems inadequate until you consider that aircraft-grade bolts are rated for something like 16,000 lbs. of shear!
I'm glad I could attend because observing or assisting in dismantling a glider (for transport) is a requirement for the knowledge portion of my PP-Glider cert.
tThe wing itself, although huge, is not very heavy- two men can easily lift it and move it around.

Peg (the wonder-Rotty!) was there to supervise...


     


I wish I could show a pic of us moving it -one end inside Herb's open SUV, while 3 of us walked the free end as he drove very slowly to the other side. But I had my hands full...
As luck would have it, the runway was closed for repaving, so we had no worries as we made our slow crossing of the runway.
Once the wing was safe in the hangar, we went back and wrapped up the glider to keep the weather out of the now-exposed root section.

This repair precipitated more talk about A: recovering the fuselage, and B: getting a new canopy cover for 94H... this one is just about done. Next spring she'll be looking a lot better, in the air and on the ground.



She should be flying again this Sunday- I'm still thinking of going to Oshkosh, but I may wait until after Sunday so I can get in another lesson!

[Hagar]

Interesting. How did that happen?

Edit: OK. I re-read your comments.

[beaky]

Of course there is more to the story: basically, the landing  was made a bit long, in order to roll out close to the tiedown spot... usually, a bit of a turn can be made while the rudder's still effective, and the glider comes to rest close enough that it can easily be manhandled into the tiedown spot. But between the hump (if it's already on the skid by the time you reach that hump, all bets are off) and some minor miscalculations, the turn got them a little too close.
I suppose a contributing factor was landing the "wrong way"... the prevailing winds usually favor 25, and it's pretty rare to be landing to the east.

It could happen to anyone- let's hope if and when I do it, I don't do any worse than this.

[Hagar]

Not sure how you cope with operating gliders alongside GA traffic & taking off from a hard runway. I suppose it depends on what you're used to. The glider fields I'm familiar with are all grass & used primarily for gliding.  This obviously involves different operating procedures. At our local gliding club field the tugs don't release the tow cables but land with them attached. Although they do get a few visiting light aircraft these have to comply with the gliders & not vice versa. I keep meaning to post some shots I took up there recently.

[pepper_airborne]

I was parachute jumping yesterday at Teuge, a local field on which the glider operations are also located directly next to the GA runway and the LZ for jumpers. Facinating to see them at work, there was a little quiet motorpowered plane towing them up, didnt see any of them land, enough thermals to stay up high for hours .

shame the 2-33 got damaged, it looks like a nice plane to fly!

[beaky]

I was parachute jumping yesterday at Teuge, a local field on which the glider operations are also located directly next to the GA runway and the LZ for jumpers. Facinating to see them at work, there was a little quiet motorpowered plane towing them up, didnt see any of them land, enough thermals to stay up high for hours .

The last time I was at the airport, one of the club members had the 1-26 up for at least 4 hours on a 3000-foot tow; I'm looking forward to getting to that level, although hunting for and working thermals in these older-design gliders is a lot of hard work.

Skydiving is on my list, too... maybe this fall.

shame the 2-33 got damaged, it looks like a nice plane to fly!

She'll be shipshape in no time; the dent just missed a rib, so it's simply a matter of replacing one piece of sheeting, which is not very big.

[MWISimmer]

Nice to see a pic of Peg again Sean  ;)

[Willit Run]

Ouch!!  Was Peg supervising?

[BigTruck]

Quite the dinger, but glad its repairable, so how many hours does peg have logged up in the glider now?  

[pepper_airborne]

The last time I was at the airport, one of the club members had the 1-26 up for at least 4 hours on a 3000-foot tow; I'm looking forward to getting to that level, although hunting for and working thermals in these older-design gliders is a lot of hard work.

Skydiving is on my list, too... maybe this fall.

She'll be shipshape in no time; the dent just missed a rib, so it's simply a matter of replacing one piece of sheeting, which is not very big.

I heard that before, also one of the jumpmasters made the remark in the briefing that they probably wouldnt return for hours, and hoped they carried enough water.

Skydiving is one of the best things you could possibly do if you'd ask me,nothing beats the adrenaline rush when you see the plane shrink to a little dot in seconds after leaving.

Glad to hear she will be OK, keep us updated, i really like these glider reports!

[beaky]

Quite the dinger, but glad its repairable, so how many hours does peg have logged up in the glider now?  

LOL- it was actually her first time at 47N... I've had Peg since about the time I got my PP, but I just haven't managed to orchestrate getting her in an airplane. I want to do it when someone else is flying, just in case she doesn't like it... although I'm pretty sure she'd enjoy it.
I don't think I'd ever take her up in the 2-33, only because she can't sit up very long, and the seat's not really big enough for her to lay down comfortably.

One of these days, though, I'll get her in the back of a 4-seater for a ride.

[EGNX]

Ouch!... At least that was the only damage.

The things I fly arn't very forgiving. GRP doesn't like to bend as much as aluminium!

[BigTruck]

[quote][quote]Quite the dinger, but glad its repairable, so how many hours does peg have logged up in the glider now?