Hey all, it been awhile since I've been here, things were going so well with my Pulse XT earlier this year that I only needed to lurk here. Anyways, the last quarter of the year hasn't been very kind to me. The day after I repaired my landing gear block after it tore out (nylon bolts didn't break first), I did a touch-n-(no)go. Apparently, I had too much speed that my tail-wheel wasn't completely on the ground but not enough speed for rudder authority. My plane veered right into a post for our fields catch fence (between the pilot stations and runway).

The wing hit the post and crunched back to the wing spar, and I did some fuselage damage including tearing out the wing mounting block. I think I have this damage under control. However, I just noticed that 1 out of 4 of my CA hinges is also torn. The torn hinge is closest to the fuselage. The aileron itself seems to move OK with normal throw. Do I need to cut all my old hinges and rehinge the entire aileron? It's a pain to do, and I would like to avoid if at all possible.

Thanks.

That’s what I had to do with mine except mine was at the end of the wing. It isn't hard you just need an exact-o knife

Do you HAVE TO DO IT? - No [8D]

BUT!... if you loose an aileron in flight you will probably loose the Airplane. [:@][:'(]

A Few minutes in the workshop will remove any doubt from your mind and quite possibly save your AC,

But you do not have to do it.

Here's the deal. Yes, you need to replace the broken hinge. Not doing that is just asking for a crashed plane. Save yourself the trouble and just put the plane in the driveway and back out over it if you want to skip replacing the hinge.

Now, must you cut all the other hinges to replace that. Not necessarily. Since it's a hinge on the end of the aileron you might be able to replace it without cutting the rest, but it's not easy. What you need to do be able to flex the aileron enough so that you can cut a new slot in the wing as well as the aileron itself. If you can do this you can cut new slots and slip a new hinge in. But it's usually a LOT of work.

If I was in your shoes what would I do??? Cut all the hinges and reslot them all. The reason I say this is because when you are flexing the aileron you could damage the other hinges. In the long run how you do this repair will boil down to how much you like this plane. If you love it then take the time to cut and reslot all of the hinges.

Ken