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Rudder damage on my RV-10 (minor)

MSFT-1

Well Known Member
Over the weekend, I flew my RV-10 to Brunswick, Maine. The weather was supposed to be very windy on Saturday, but my flight up was benign on Friday and the flight back (to Virginia) on Sunday was also uneventful but bumpy.

I was using the rudder gust lock that Alex D. sells and had the other flight controls locked down using the pilot's seatbelt.

The problem happened on Saturday night. The wind was apparently really screaming because it overwelmed the gust lock and slammed the rudder hard over at least once. Luckily, the damage was minor. Four popped rivets along the upper trailing edge, two rudder travel stops broken and a tiny ding where the rudder hit the edge of the trim tab (yup, the rudder did deflect that far).

Luckily the damage was not structural and an A&P mechanic and I made the repairs easily.

I learned a few things from this incident:

1) I was very lucky because the damage could have been a lot worse.
2) I need to take an extra moment and consider tying the airplane down facing into the wind rather than facing crossways to the wind. When I talked to the airport manager about it later he said, "oh, yeah, I will talk to the staff about that, the hangers cause a wind tunnel affect over there". I guess I should have asked about that on Friday.
3) It may be time to investigate a stronger gust-lock solution.

I am confident that the airplane is fine. I will have to remove the rudder this weekend to fix the rudder stops (they sheared at the 3 rivets holding them in place).

Just a heads up for other RV-10 operators.

BTW, Brunswick Naval Air Station (KNHZ) is now open for GA operations (as of about 3 weeks ago). The FBO there is very nice, inexpensive and helpful. They have a 10,000 foot runway and a ramp so big that you could probably park every RV ever built on it. The only downside is that they don't have any published approaches (yet) and the airfield is not in many GPSs or on government charts yet.

Highly recommended.
 
We used pvc pipe to lock the pedals forward and the stick in place and never had a problem and the plane was in a highly windy area.
 
I place two external air gizmos on the elevator, one on the top of the rudder which takes a ladder or chair to reach and one small home made one on each aileron. I have had the air gizmo blow off the elevator with just one on and the same thing happen with the internal rudder lock. I just use it for short stops now. If you are just using the stick with belts, the control system will really be taking a beating. There is no way to know which way to place the plane for the wind so i would not think of that as a cure. If a front comes through, the wind usually reverses. The PVC is a much better option for the rudder as it will better support the peddles. I am planning to make one that uses an offset so I can lock the pedals and still add the air gizmo at the top. I do what ever it takes so I can sleep with the plane outside while traveling. I think this is the ultimate cure.
 
me too

I had the rivets sheared on the rudder stops also when parked in Utah during the first week of Sept. A front went through and the wind shifted and it got gusty. I had a pvc rudder stop on the pilots pedals that came loose. I replaced the sheared rivets with #8 bolts. Fortunately no damage to the rudder occurred. I now also put a rudder stop (the red one Avery sells) on the co pilots pedals.
 
We used pvc pipe to lock the pedals forward and the stick in place and never had a problem and the plane was in a highly windy area.

Todd would you mind to share your setup? I noticed we have so called wind tunnel created by rows of hangars.
 
Yeah c'mon guys, let's see some gust lock pix. If it ever melts here I'll soon be parking on windy ramps all over the neighborhood.
P.S. Also like to see some towbar pix, as the Bogert bar doesn't fit with the nose fairing installed!
 
I don't understand your comment about the Bogert bar not fitting the 10. I have used one on both of my 10's with no problems. They make one specifically for the 10.

Vic
 
Vic, I must've got the wrong one with this project. The cups for the tow pins are almost 2 inches too short. I could extend them, but I actually need a bar I can pull with a vehickle. That's a WY pronunciation, we put the "hick" in "vehickle".
 
Here is what I did. Have not tested it in big winds.
2e2e3gk.jpg

ielc9w.jpg

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Jeff, thanks for the pic.
Troy, yes I have the spacers. The head of the socket bolts sits about 1/4? inside the fairing. I solved the hand towbar thing today like this.
2e0ir5t.jpg

28a6g0g.jpg
 
Jeff, thanks for the pic.
Troy, yes I have the spacers. The head of the socket bolts sits about 1/4? inside the fairing. I solved the hand towbar thing today like this.

I am trying to figure out why you need this attachment to the tow bar. Something is not right. Do you have a pic of your nose gear with the pant off?
 
PHP:
I am trying to figure out why you need this attachment to the tow bar. Something is not right. Do you have a pic of your nose gear with the pant off?
__________________
No pic handy, but like I said before the tip of the socket bolt is just below the surface of the hole. What it is, is that the cups on the towbar are short and they don't bottom against the fork. That lets the arms of the towbar scrape the sides of the fairing. Bogert makes different models of bars and this one must just be wrong.
 
Finaly pics of Aileron and Rudder lock

Here is a shot of my aileron gust lock that works very well. I put one on each aileron. Aluminum, dowl, a little bungy and you are set. There is no way it will come off in the wind. It is important to have one on each aileron as the control system will still take a beating otherwise. Two also puts less load on the lock.

Looking from the top.
s10mqv.jpg

Trailing end view.
28r2sgg.jpg

Looking through the hinge.
ravyfn.jpg




New rudder lock. I just made this so I can now have the rudder aligned with the vertical stab so I can still put the airgizmo gust lock on the outside. The purchased internal lock made the rudder have an offset. I now had dual reduntancy for ever control surface. Might seem over bored, but when you get half of your gust locks blown off in strong winds, you may think the same.:)
2gtvnzc.jpg
 
Nice ideas - I'll definitely steal them!

Just a thought. Looking at the last photo, would it be possible to fit a cross piece so it's braced both ways and fix it to the control column as well? That would give just one lock which would secure all three axes.
 
There's a better rudder stop

Seems that quite a few -10's shear the wimpy little rudder stops from Van's, including mine, so we came up with this:

Rudderstop.jpg


Actually, we copied it and I cut it out of 1/2" thick UHMW and belt sanded it thinner, to fit between the upper and lower hinge brackets, then held it in place with two AN-3 bolts that go through both hinge brackets...much tougher. It is a one-piece, U-shaped bracket and clears the hinge on the rudder.

Best,
 
Nice ideas - I'll definitely steal them!

Just a thought. Looking at the last photo, would it be possible to fit a cross piece so it's braced both ways and fix it to the control column as well? That would give just one lock which would secure all three axes.

With the stick in the forward position that should work. It does add to the possibility of knocking the lock out of place. For quick stops it would be better than nothing but I would not leave it that way over night. The other issue is the control system is still taking the load.

As for beefing up the rudder stop. Just imagine how much how much load it must take to brake the original. The rudder is really getting bounced around in the wind. I hope with my plan, the rudder will never touch the stop.;)
 
Hmmm. So why not fit a similar lock as on the ailerons to the elevators and rudder? OK, you can't reach the top of the rudder without some effort, but would not one bracket on the bottom secure it effectively?
 
Rudder stops

I made my rudder stop out of one piece instead of two. It would have to shear five to six rivets to break instead of two to three. Easy to fab too.
 
Hmmm. So why not fit a similar lock as on the ailerons to the elevators and rudder? OK, you can't reach the top of the rudder without some effort, but would not one bracket on the bottom secure it effectively?

I agree that this should work well there too. Just not sure how you could keep them from falling out though. Don't think there is a way to fasten any gust lock to the bottom of the rudder. A real long device that wraps the rudder and vert. stab would work, but it will be quite large to take along on trips.

The airgizmos gust lock have worked well for me at the top of the rudder and the elevators. Just be sure you cut the strap shorter or tuck it under the pad so you don't mark your paint. I can always find a chair or ladder to install the rudder lock. I have also pulled the tail down and did it that way if I was stuck. Another plus for a taildragger;)
 
I joined the club, too.

We were visiting my brother just outside Kansas City this weekend and I was tied down outside at the Paola airport (K81). A bunch of thunderstorms rolled through during the night, and sure enough the rudder gust lock failed, allowing the rudder to swing to the right hard enough to shear 2 rivets in the stops, thereby contacting the right elevator and poking a hole in the rudder as you can see here:

IMG_2902_2.jpg


IMG_2904_3.jpg


What appears to have happened is that the winds were strong enough to overcome the clamping force of the adjustable rudder lock, allowing it to fall away and leave the rudder un-locked.

IMG_2906_4.jpg


I have now drilled a bolt through the gust lock to prevent that from happening again as you can see here:


IMG_2907_5.jpg


I thought I had a pretty good arsenal of gust locks that I always use when parked outside, but sometimes Mother Nature wins. I am also reviewing all of them for single points of failure and may make some other modifications.

IMG_2909_6.jpg


I got it all fixed tonight with some help from my son. Did I tell you that he, his wife, and our 4-year old granddaughter (Isabelle) just moved in across the runway from us? It's really wonderful. Isabelle flies with us all the time, and last week end we took her up and let her actually fly the RV-10 because she is always sitting in it playing with the stick on the ground. You should have seen the look in her eyes!

Back on topic.... I was going to order the internal rudder stop from Vince, but need to do an Angel Flight this week so we just made a heavy duty aluminum look-alike and bolted it in with 2 AN3 bolts. If they break, we have other problems to worry about. :)

Vic
 
Vic,

I'm curious about how you went about repairing your rudder. I had the exact same thing (and similar size hole) on my RV-7A.

THanks,
Scott
 
You might want to consider Loal Wood's Gustbuster.

Aero Gustbuster

While gust locks are designed to resist any wind blast, the Gustbuster is designed to absorb gusts over about 30 mph.

Resisting the wind can lead to things bending, locks popping out, etc. Absorbing the gust passes the wind energy away from fragile control surfaces and into the structure.

Read all about it on the website.

We carry the available models, RV-6, RV-7/7A, RV-9/9A. Other RV models to follow as soon as development is finished.
 
My Gustlock

I am using a pair of rudder gustlocks made from 1/4" steel rod.
These are light weight and rock solid and probably work better with my solid
one piece aluminum block rudder stops. The stops have not been drilled to receive the lock in the pic below.
A while back someone posted a solution with a lock bar extending from the rudder horn to an angle bracket installed to the outside of the fuselage.
The downside I saw was the same as for this system and is that of forgetting to remove it. Hopefully the red streamer will prevent that from happening.

IMG_0006.JPG


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Best way to Lock Controls

As a part of this thread. I have often wondered what the ideal control positions to best help my gust locks save my plane. Should all be neutral? Should the flaps be up? I usually park in the hanger with them down. Thanks, Bill of Georgia RV-8A
 
rudder repair

Vic,

I'm curious about how you went about repairing your rudder. I had the exact same thing (and similar size hole) on my RV-7A.

THanks,
Scott

Sorry, I've been busy and missed this. For now (actually over 100 hours ago, so I guess it's OK) I just filled the hole with some structural adhesive, sanded it smooth and put a piece of 3M metallic trim over it, as I don't want to have to repaint the whole rudder. It's painted with Imron which doesn't blend well for spot repairs.
I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw you were form Olathe Kansas. The damage happened at the Paola airport while I was visiting my brother there. He used to live in Olathe. He is an Economics professor at JCC.

Vic
 
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