Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

[jay_merrill]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

From what I can see, its really the horizontal stabilizer on the right side that is torn up, not the elevator. Although it looks like it may have been bent down somewhat, its hard to be sure from a photograph. What I would have done with it, is to wrap the tape, such that the end faced aft. That would keep it from peeling back.

A piper cub is a slow, very docile aircraft. While the damage looks almost catastrophic, it really isn't, because most of it was to the fuselage. As long as the airfoils and control surfaces are properly functional, you could fly the airplane with no covering on most of it.

Also, look up some history on battle damaged B17s, from the WW2 era. They are much bigger airplanes, but have been compared to Piper Cubs over and over. They reason why, is that they are slow and docile, as far as bombers go. They are also very easy to fly, other than the complexity of having 4 engines, etc. Those airplanes used to return after bombing runs with huge amounts of damage, on a regular basis.

Here's one that is missing the entire port tailplane - it returned from a bombing run and landed successfully.

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[TilliamWe]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

Jay it was twisted downward A Lot! Not a little, A LOT. I find it very odd that there is no picture or the right side of the plane. That's probably because that part could not be straightened enough to make the plane flyable.
I realize Piper Cubs (and Piper Colts) are slow flying airplanes, but that one would be real hard to handle!

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

I found the truth in an Alaskan newspaper,

"replaced the tires and the horizontal stabilizer (the bear either leaned on it or sat on it),"

So as I thought, he didn't repair that part of the plane with the duct tape.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

The original post says it was flown home. I can't say of I would have flown it or not, without having seen it myself. What I would have been most concerned about is the integrety of the tubing under the fabric and how much twist was in the stabilizer.

Merely being bent down isn't necessarily a problem. Some tailplanes are actually designed that way (anhedral) - look at a pic of an F4 Phantom or a Falcon 50 business jet. Having a bunch of twist between the leading and trailing edges of the stabilizer could be a bit different, though. The tailplane on a "conventional" aircraft actually develops lift in a downward direction (because the center of lift of the main wing is behind the center of gravity, which makes it want to push the nose over), so downward twist in the tailplane, could affect stability. How much it would affect it is what is hard to know, without having a better view of the damage. Perhaps the pilot did some high speed taxi tests and determined that he could overcome whatever twist was present with a bit of forward stick.

Regardless, the idea of a duct tape airplane is both funny and not all that crazy. Since max speed of a Cub (depending on the model) is about 80 mph or less and it can be easily cruised at about 50 mph, you might be surprised at what you can do in one.



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[jay_merrill]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

I found the truth in an Alaskan newspaper,

"replaced the tires and the horizontal stabilizer (the bear either leaned on it or sat on it),"

So as I thought, he didn't repair that part of the plane with the duct tape.

There you go - there's the answer.



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[TilliamWe]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

Sorry Jay, that plane wouldn't have flown, if he hadn't replaced that stabilizer. And that's what he did. That was my only BS warning going off. I know the duct tape would work. I have flown in a Piper Colt about a dozen times, with my best friend, so I know what the fabric is like. Although, slipstreaming it upon landing would have been interesting. But as my friend explained, (after we landed the first time!) he only did that to not make ruts on the grass field by coming in too fast and sliding the tires when he braked.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

Apparently you were correct. That said, I've seen and heard of stuff done with aircraft like a Piper Cub that I sure wouldn't do in any other airplane.

In fact, you might get a kick out of surfing youtube for videos on cubs with tundra tires on them. "Those guys" do some pretty wacky stuff with them - including water skiing on the tires to "extend" an off-field landing site.



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[kenmyfam]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

Wow we got technical on this !!!!
I was just impressed that duct tape was used and the plane flown again.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

Wow we got technical on this !!!!
I was just impressed that duct tape was used and the plane flown again.

I was a little scared and nervous, when my friend told me I was going to be riding in a plane, for the first time in my life (aged 17), that was covered with ultra thin FABRIC! I thought ALL planes were made out of aluminum?! It's also very strange to wash a fabric covered plane, but I've done that once too, thanks to my very good friend. Don't scratch too hard in one spot is all he told me!

 

[j_martin]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

How 'bout this F15?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7PBHawwpeM

 

[DaNinja]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

Speaking of crazy bush pilots, check out these landings...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8IB4FcvE_U

I flew for three years in Alaska. You wouldn't believe some of the crazy stuff these guys can do.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Planes - Bears- and Duct Tape

The guys that I always thought were crazy, were the check runners. These are pilots who flew contracts for the Federal Reserve, when there wasn't as much electronic banking as occurs today.

While there may still be some of this going on, there was a time when every check written had to be transported from city to city, eventually ending up back with the person who wrote it. The Fed contracted courior companies, most of whom used small aircraft, to provide the transportation. The longer runs were often done in Learjets, but the shorter runs made use of aircraft like Beech Barons, Aerostars, Piper Aztecs and Cessna 310s. These are all airplanes that would often be unable to avoid weather by climbing above it, for most of the enroute phase of flight.

I had a bunch of friends who did this and even did a little of it myself. Dodging t-storms and rime ice, just isn't a whole lotta fun! I even had one friend hit a fence post with his left tip tank one night (the stupid airport had not issued a NOTAM on a temp fence put up for an upcoming airshow) and then pull sacks of checks out of the aircraft from the right side ..... while the left side was "majorly" on fire! Crazy dude, that one!



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