Funny you should post that comment. My instructor took it up on Thurs. after work. He trimmed it out, and was flying ok with the 61FS, he lowered the throttle a bit, and checked out how it stalled, rolled it, did a few inverted circles to check the tank and engine, and did a few slow loops when I told him the top wing looks a bit crooked. He said he saw it at the same time I did and was about 2 mistakes high. He lowered the throttle to idle and started to the runway when the top wing moved more, and then slowly proceeded to turned 45-60 degrees to the lower wing. The plane started to do a quick spiraling dive to the ground and he was able to put it in the weeds but it still sustained some damage. I didn't have high rates setup and he didn't have enough throw to level it out. I told him I guess I should have tightened the upper wing bolts better. When we walked up to the plane the wings were perfect, no damage and all the top wing bolts were still in. The wire struts had pulled out of the fuse somehow (they only go in about an inch or so. He was really perplexed as he had a 61-2s on it and I had seen him do all kinds of 3d like crazy stuff with it a week earlier and we checked them before flying and they seemed taunt. Anyway, the firewall popped out and I have a crack in the fuse just behind the pilot on the left side of the fuse to repair, and a few other little things plus a little covering.
I'm thinking about a rod with maybe a come-along or spring to go from one side to the other to keep the struts from coming out, either that, or put a groove in the where they current insert and make it a permanent installation in the fuse with either epoxy or make it a solid rod all the way across. I think if this plane had outer wing cabanas/struts or whatever you call them, that would have prevented the struts form coming out as well. What do you think is the best fix?
Actually, I like the orange and tan combo, easy to see in the sky, the Canadian decals were just to dress it up a bit, kind of a WWI look just for kicks.
Ken, I'll get some pics of it flying next time[
] DG