TomHuff

Howard, sorry you are having to live this nightmare... I had two wing dent events last year - one FBO fueling ding that was cold worked and the other, a buzzard strike that required wing skin replacement (in work now). In both cases, I consulted with Mooney engineering and complied with their recommendations. My local mechanic is an exceptional metalsmith - some just really like that kind of work and are good at it! Prior to the holidays, Mooney was kind enough to bend a new skin and thank goodness they are back up and operational. My mech shored the airplane out of abundance of caution to make sure there was no adverse twist potential. I lucked out, there was very minimal damage to the stringer and bull-nose rib behind the leading edge dent but that should be carefully evaluated. My insurance experience has been positive as well, the ferry permit process was not unduly cumbersome. I'd be happy to provide further details and recommend the mechanic doing my wing..Feel free to contact at email: f18huffer@gmail.com. Tom

Jacking the aircraft quickly revealed that there was excessive freeplay in the nose gear. Swapped in a re-bushed and reconditioned steering horn from LASAR (with core credit) to tighten things right back up. Tom