Repairing an Apprentice fuse- broken nose and tail

[Frank v B]

Wind gusts and gravity got the better of the Club Apprentice last Wednesday.

The nose was broken off completely (2nd time) and the tail sheared off (3rd time).

The repair approach is as follows:
Step 1- glue the pieces back together.
Step 2- strengthen the joints if needed.

Note: the prop is still in one piece.  Saves money.

I will be using 5 minute epoxy.

Frank

[Frank v B]

Found the cause of the problem.  The elevator horn broke.  That's why it did a near loop and could not be corrected. 
Usually a post crash analysis shows it to be Pilot error.

F.

[GuyOReilly]

I lost a trainer that way on its maiden flight.
That is when I decided to only use metal clevisses.

[Frank v B]

Guy, thanks for trying to make me feel better.

Photos show
- fuselage nose finished
- fuse tail glued
- oops, found a tear in the wing.  Glued it and cut two layers of fibreglass cloth and folded it over the trailing edge.

Other repairs
- glued two tears in the bottom of the cowl. Added fibreglass cloth over the breaks.
- replaced two clevises- one on the nose wheel and one on the elevator (still OK but it was drilled out and a metal cross piece added by previous owner)
- replaced the elevator servo. The HS-81 servo had stripped gears.

All done.  If ugly planes last longer, this one will last forever! 


Frank

[Andy Hoffer]

Found the cause of the problem.  The elevator horn broke.  That's why it did a near loop and could not be corrected. 
Usually a post crash analysis shows it to be Pilot error.

F.

So, @Frank v B is asking us to believe that he was not responsible for the broken elevator horn.   

Andy