Wing tip damage...

[PMcClure]

Vendor ground crew damaged my wing tip yesterday when putting the plane back in the hangar. They ran it into the adjacent hangar door when swinging around to line up with my door. I know and trust the owner to make it right and he has committed to do so. Any suggestions on how to fix this right. Fiberglass repair and paint, or replace the wing tip, etc...

[KSMooniac]

I would replace both tips with the aftermarket Aveo tips. It will likely be cheaper, ultimately. They don't have the aft white light, though, so you might need to add one to the rudder. That mod might make it more expensive, if there isn't a provision for one already.

EDIT I just noticed the recognition light, so never mind! You likely don't want to give those up and the Aveo doesn't have them.

You could call a Mooney service center like Maxwell and see if there is any inventory for the lens and try a composite repair... I'm sure it is fixable.

Sent from my LM-V600 using Tapatalk

[A64Pilot]

That would be a difficult repair, surely you can find a factory tip, I thought they were available?

If not try used, it’s going to have to be painted no matter what.

[PMcClure]

11 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

That would be a difficult repair, surely you can find a factory tip, I thought they were available?

If not try used, it’s going to have to be painted no matter what.

Some local folks are saying replacing wing tip may be more difficult than repairing due to the flush rivets. Not sure about that or not.

[Pinecone]

Knots 2 U stocks the lens.  GLAP was 4 - 6 month lead time.

The big question is if the tip is repairable.  Check with a couple of A&Ps.  Cirrus certified in composite repair may be a good thing.

[LANCECASPER]

14 hours ago, PMcClure said:

Vendor ground crew damaged my wing tip yesterday when putting the plane back in the hangar. They ran it into the adjacent hangar door when swinging around to line up with my door. I know and trust the owner to make it right and he has committed to do so. Any suggestions on how to fix this right. Fiberglass repair and paint, or replace the wing tip, etc...

I would look at this - it might be a lot cheaper than the extensive repair on yours : 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/234481643853?hash=item369831f14d:g:-4kAAOSwyqBkZk0d&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwBxqJ1JVbJpY35ALEYX%2BCvD0QQc8q81ejif%2B7%2BLLkXqz%2BGl%2FF0zspjDhyv1mrfgBNgE4xHdeFJKNPLnjA3PBzA5wEwHVvkuPWNQeOlNxqg4ceXnhS2VjmMYKwP%2BvSNbk9%2F4%2B0AyXPqWyARC09pPwWr5k5FwI1qw4CtfZP96fKqMiYwVCiz2zJ32eb02nDZdoJ26dHEencF9vkG91MlgjKn%2BbzqIEN4b4w%2FY2%2BEHXv2YvEcLB03JFQlD7nn2Gr4JTWg%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR9rBwJLLYg

and then get a lens: 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124664638275?hash=item1d06976b43:g:YM4AAOSw5HJXKilw&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4ErIg%2FM0u3CsgLz9Ku2xLl%2FUne8AWliY%2FNFWdSWwc0LXaAXevamXGi25ghZp9au2ENt30GunU79gTs7Vt0VcKuEHk7wtDlxwFe%2FFbbr4UVdqH4qnbCjTYdE0tu5Br9dy1%2FgHnIKdMQ6XbsbwJ6tTcNbSYp1WbmoiBWf0IZhQ08uD9mIY0TmJVAcjN8HLCYV3cITiWyyYmZv5np3COfwOLtYPeNB32MejFvYmU0QbJU6Seph9PEw579YmiY2UXq5tgYdsSV3PFYSVPv0M%2F0FeH6XmlqiWwBXQkyc8ZKh2lEkj|tkp%3ABk9SR9rBwJLLYg

[N201MKTurbo]

The used tips are your best bet. The one you have is repairable, but it’s a lot of work. Either way, it has to come off. The only hard part of taking them off is if there are some bling rivets. They are a pain to remove. There is a guy around here that does sheet metal who has a special tip for his rivet gun that is a little pin punch he uses to drive the mandrels out. It seems brutal, but it works.

[cbarry]

With wingtip damage like that, I would suggest double checking for nose gear damage as well—just a precautionary word to the wise. 

[PMcClure]

On 9/3/2023 at 6:53 AM, cbarry said:

With wingtip damage like that, I would suggest double checking for nose gear damage as well—just a precautionary word to the wise. 

Good idea. Is there a service bulletin on what is acceptable that I can share with the shop?

[PT20J]

16 minutes ago, PMcClure said:

Good idea. Is there a service bulletin on what is acceptable that I can share with the shop?

I presume that @PMcClure is referring to damage caused by exceeding the turn limit that could damage the stops and dent a tube on the nosewheel gear leg.

https://www.mooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/SIM20-137.pdf

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[Aerodon]

Same happened to me, I smiled and used it as an excuse to get a discount on the installed cost of Aveo wingtips.  You can help me with a further discount by buying one of my old wingtips.  I elected to give up on the recognition lights and used those wires to sync the strobes on the Aveo wingtips.  We also used it as an opportunity to clean up and paint the inside of the wingtip.

The Aveo wingtips are nice, required a bit of trimming and sanding.  Make sure you have a bunch of 'rightsize' and 'oversize' Avex rivets on hand.

Oh, and we had to add a LED Strobe / Nav light to replace the aft facing Nav lights.  A bit tedious, but I used the old 'standby vacuum pump' wire from the panel to the aft fuselage for the new Nav light.

Aerodon

 

[PMcClure]

49 minutes ago, Aerodon said:

Same happened to me, I smiled and used it as an excuse to get a discount on the installed cost of Aveo wingtips.  You can help me with a further discount by buying one of my old wingtips.  I elected to give up on the recognition lights and used those wires to sync the strobes on the Aveo wingtips.  We also used it as an opportunity to clean up and paint the inside of the wingtip.

The Aveo wingtips are nice, required a bit of trimming and sanding.  Make sure you have a bunch of 'rightsize' and 'oversize' Avex rivets on hand.

Oh, and we had to add a LED Strobe / Nav light to replace the aft facing Nav lights.  A bit tedious, but I used the old 'standby vacuum pump' wire from the panel to the aft fuselage for the new Nav light.

Aerodon

 

Nice looking work! 

 

[cbarry]

On 9/5/2023 at 10:58 AM, PMcClure said:

Good idea. Is there a service bulletin on what is acceptable that I can share with the shop?

When the statement is made that the wingtip damage was done when the aircraft was “swung” around.., my immediate thought is carelessness begets carelessness and the degree of nose gear turning limitation  could have very likely been exceeded—hopefully not but worth checking.  

[PMcClure]

32 minutes ago, cbarry said:

When the statement is made that the wingtip damage was done when the aircraft was “swung” around.., my immediate thought is carelessness begets carelessness and the degree of nose gear turning limitation  could have very likely been exceeded—hopefully not but worth checking.  

Thank you for the input. I had our A&P inspect the gear and thankfully there was no damage. 

[N201MKTurbo]

44 minutes ago, cbarry said:

When the statement is made that the wingtip damage was done when the aircraft was “swung” around.., my immediate thought is carelessness begets carelessness and the degree of nose gear turning limitation  could have very likely been exceeded—hopefully not but worth checking.  

I did a weekend getaway over Labor Day. The line guy was driving us to the terminal to get our car. He was waiting for the gate to close and said If he doesn’t wait for the gate to close all the way the TSA will fine him $2000. He said that’s a months pay and he can’t afford it. 
 

So the guy moving your airplane around is getting paid $24K a year. You can’t expect to much for that….

[Hank]

55 minutes ago, N201MKTurbo said:

I did a weekend getaway over Labor Day. The line guy was driving us to the terminal to get our car. He was waiting for the gate to close and said If he doesn’t wait for the gate to close all the way the TSA will fine him $2000. He said that’s a months pay and he can’t afford it. 
 

So the guy moving your airplane around is getting paid $24K a year. You can’t expect to much for that….

Don't confuse gross pay with take-home pay. In this case, it's still not a lot, but it may not be a full time job, either.

[cbarry]

18 hours ago, PMcClure said:

Thank you for the input. I had our A&P inspect the gear and thankfully there was no damage. 

That’s great news!

[MisfitSELF]

+1 for Knot2U wing tip lenses.  Good time to upgrade to LED lights too...

[MisfitSELF]

I just checked out the Aveo wingtips website...those look amazing.  I'll have to remember that should I ever have this happen to me.

[PMcClure]

Update - local guy repaired the wing tip and painted. I took the opportunity to have him touch up several other minor hanger rash and paint imperfections adn then clean, degrease, polish and ceramic coat the whole plane. I can say that I am happy again!

[EricJ]

Looks good!   Glad that came out well.

 

[Ragsf15e]

1 hour ago, PMcClure said:

Update - local guy repaired the wing tip and painted. I took the opportunity to have him touch up several other minor hanger rash and paint imperfections adn then clean, degrease, polish and ceramic coat the whole plane. I can say that I am happy again!

Super good outcome, congrats!

[Fly Boomer]

11 hours ago, PMcClure said:

Update - local guy repaired the wing tip and painted. I took the opportunity to have him touch up several other minor hanger rash and paint imperfections adn then clean, degrease, polish and ceramic coat the whole plane. I can say that I am happy again!

That is gorgeous!  Was your local guy a car guy or aircraft paint guy?  Do you mind telling what all that work cost?  I have some sad paint.

[PMcClure]

4 minutes ago, Fly Boomer said:

That is gorgeous!  Was your local guy a car guy or aircraft paint guy?  Do you mind telling what all that work cost?  I have some sad paint.

Part of a local family that does all sorts of aviation work. There was a king air on the ramp and a citation was after me. $2350 for the work not including the paint or wing tip repair which was covered by the vendor. Paint was color matched with a local paint shop then adjusted by the hand and is perfect match. They also cleaned the interior, windows and spinners. The seats look like new. The white color touch up spots could have been better, but from my own experience, less can be more. I got priority service because the the vendor that damaged the plane has a connection with them. Took about a week for the fiber glass repair and 3 days for the rest. Based at talladega airport. Pm me if you want contact.

[hammdo]

Nice!