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Permalink Reply by Gary Welch on October 18, 2021 at 9:55am

To state the obvious response - ask Roger.

I literally know nothing about aircraft structural design so my comments may have zero validity. However, the extent of that damage is tremendous. It took a heck of a force to completely crush, and break, that channel. Logic tells me that a force pushing in that direction would have to have some impact on the nearby ribs. In addition, the impact would have created forces on the skin rivets in a direction they were not designed for. It's possible there are micro cracks under the rivet heads, even if none are visible. I would check to make sure the entire wing did not deflect under the force. Even a degree or two could affect performance. 

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Permalink Reply by John Austin on October 18, 2021 at 10:39am

Just out of curiosity, how did it get damaged?

John

N750A

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Permalink Reply by Bob Simmons on October 18, 2021 at 5:40pm

The rear spar on the 801 is less structural than the forward spar, and less beefy. In some ways it's more of a stiffener than a structural spar in the traditional sense. Being weaker, it's easier to damage. Nevertheless, the cautions Gary voiced about wing angle and skin rivets are well taken, although it appears much of the skin has been removed and will be replaced anyway. However, this is a question you really need to contact Zenith with instead of getting opinions from other builders on this forum. They're really the people with the knowledge needed to answer your questions and address any other related issues. Don't take any unnecessary risks. Go right to the source on this.

I'm curious what happened too. Looks like hangar rash, like something ran into the back of the plane.

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