RV versus power line...

[Thermos]

Just got back a couple of days ago from a holiday trip to Cape Town, South Africa. So now it's 1:15 am here in Boston, but it's 8:15 am in Cape Town and I'm wide awake surfing Rivetbangers...so I'll share with you an interesting side visit during my trip.

My wife and I went to Robin Coss Aviation at the Cape Town International Airport. Robin has a booming business completing Quick Build RVs for South African customers, which is completely legal under SA civil aviation rules. He has a beautiful shop complete with a professional paint booth and a facility for building up Lycoming engines.

Here's his shop...



As you might expect, we were talking about flying RVs and he pointed out this RV-8 vertical stab and rudder lying on the floor. Seems as though one of his customers was doing a little NOE (nap of the earth) flying down a gorge and didn't notice that a power line had been strung across it. He pitched over enough to save the prop and canopy, but the VS and rudder got clipped...



Sorry for the crappy pic. But it amazed me how little the rest of the stab and rudder were damaged. Makes me feel a lot better about the strength of these airplanes we're building!

Dave

[captain_john]

WOW!

Did you inquire as to the subsequent flight characteristics?

CJ

[Spike]

Dang. Wow thats amazing.

[Thermos]

Did you inquire as to the subsequent flight characteristics?

I didn't, but should have. Maybe some vibration, and because VS rear spar was a little bent, probably some binding in the rudder hinges too. The rudder counterweight was gone, that might cause a bit more tail wag.

The pilot got the airplane back in one piece, so it obviously was controllable.

Dave

[smithhb]

The perfect modification for parking in low ceiling hangars...

[painless]

Boy, another 6 inches lower and the top hinge point would have been lost. I wonder if that would have produced some interesting flutter back there....