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got a dent in my nose gear truss. Opinions?


rbridges

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Well, it finally happened.  Despite asking every line person about the turn limits, it looks like it got me.  I check every flight, but I have nothing to prove to them that they did it.  It's the only place in recent months that's had a tug attached, so I know it happened here.  It's not bad IMO, but I know it doesn't take much for airworthiness issues.  Anyway, I let the guy at KPDK know about it.  He said they'd look at their cameras to review footage.  It's barely detectable on the passenger side, but the pilot side broke the paint and made a more noticeable ding.  Anyone know what my options are?  Or what should be done?  I'll fly it to Joey Cole for a look if it's warranted.  I don't know how much fuss I should make about this, but I know repairs are expensive.

 

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3 hours ago, rbridges said:

Yeah, I saw that max. 1/32" is nothing. Honestly, it's not much beyond  breaking the paint.  I'll call Epps on Monday, but I'm not optimistic. I feel like the burden of proof is on me. 

Put a straight edge over the dent, then see if you can slip a piece of 0.032” safety wire under the straight edge.  If so you’re at the limit.

Clarence

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1 hour ago, Bravoman said:

I think Epps will step up. Let Joe have a look at it and see what he thinks. That’s what I would do.

I talked with someone named Trent. He said he'd pass it along to someone named Sean.  We'll see.  I'm kinda at their mercy right now.  I know it happened with them, I just don't have any proof. 

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12 hours ago, rbridges said:

I talked with someone named Trent. He said he'd pass it along to someone named Sean.  We'll see.  I'm kinda at their mercy right now.  I know it happened with them, I just don't have any proof. 

I’m sure you were thinking along these lines, but if you have Joe look at it and he thinks that the truss is beyond serviceable limits, have him write it up with the replacement cost, both labor and parts,  so that you can present it to Epps. 

Just out of curiosity, did you notice the dent while still at PDK or sometime after you got back home? How much time went by between when you were at PDK and when you notified Epps?

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58 minutes ago, Bravoman said:

I’m sure you were thinking along these lines, but if you have Joe look at it and he thinks that the truss is beyond serviceable limits, have him write it up with the replacement cost, both labor and parts,  so that you can present it to Epps. 

Just out of curiosity, did you notice the dent while still at PDK or sometime after you got back home? How much time went by between when you were at PDK and when you notified Epps?

I showed it to them there.  The big question is when did it happen.  I check the truss often, but that's just my word.  I have no proof that it was fine when it arrived.  BTW, who is Joe?  I was told Sean(sp?) was the person that would look at the situation.

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5 minutes ago, rbridges said:

I showed it to them there.  The big question is when did it happen.  I check the truss often, but that's just my word.  I have no proof that it was fine when it arrived.  BTW, who is Joe?  I was told Sean(sp?) was the person that would look at the situation.

 I was speaking of Joe Cole. My gut tells me that you will not be held to an exquisite level of proof, and that Epps will do the right thing.  The fact that you pointed it out to them while you were still there is significant. I believe the situation would be different if there was a passage of time between when you were there and when you pointed it out to Epps.

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5 minutes ago, Bravoman said:

 I was speaking of Joe Cole. My gut tells me that you will not be held to an exquisite level of proof, and that Epps will do the right thing.  The fact that you pointed it out to them while you were still there is significant. I believe the situation would be different if there was a passage of time between when you were there and when you pointed it out to Epps.

Gotcha.  I sent Joe an email this weekend.  I'll probably wait until tomorrow to start calling.  I want to give everyone a chance to catch up.  Thanks for the advice.

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On 9/22/2019 at 12:13 AM, RLCarter said:

I would think the paint needs to be stripped so a true measurement can be taken

You’re correct, but if it fits through with paint it will only get worse with no paint.

Clarence 

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14 minutes ago, M20Doc said:

You’re correct, but if it fits through with paint it will only get worse with no paint.

Clarence 

Not sure about that.  The paint is intact outside the dent and absent in the dent.  Taking the adjacent paint off should thus make the dent measure shallower than with it in place.

I suspect a microcaliper would be the most desirable way to measure.  Taking off just a little paint beyond the edges of the dent should suffice I imagine?  

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On 9/21/2019 at 11:57 PM, M20Doc said:

Put a straight edge over the dent, then see if you can slip a piece of 0.032” safety wire under the straight edge.  If so you’re at the limit.

Clarence

Thanks for the tip. I used a razor as a straight edge, and the safety wire wouldn't slide underneath it. It's as close as it gets though. Basically, next ding bumps me over. 

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1 hour ago, RobertGary1 said:

That’s pretty reasonable 

 

-Robert 

The 4-5 week down time plus shipping times kinda shocked me, but everything else seemed reasonable.  A new one is $2500ish plus labor.  The used ones I saw on ebay had dents in them, too.  

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The fbo at Colorado springs put an identical dent in mine 20 years ago. That was before I turned into an arrogant jerk with amygdala hijack issues. They wouldn't own up to it, and this was one week after a laser annual.  It's been 20 years and 2000 hours and it's been fine as is.

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3 hours ago, Herlihy Brother said:

The fbo at Colorado springs put an identical dent in mine 20 years ago. That was before I turned into an arrogant jerk with amygdala hijack issues. They wouldn't own up to it, and this was one week after a laser annual.  It's been 20 years and 2000 hours and it's been fine as is.

Thanks. I figured as much. I was most concerned about any legality issues if it exceeded the 1/32".  Since it doesn't, I'll just have to be more wary in the future. 

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22 hours ago, rbridges said:

The 4-5 week down time plus shipping times kinda shocked me, but everything else seemed reasonable.  A new one is $2500ish plus labor.  The used ones I saw on ebay had dents in them, too.  

Rob, What you complaining about. You make more than that in 20 minutes with one patient! :D

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