Posted on Aug 5, 2015
What is the strangest damage to an aircraft that you have ever seen?
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What is the weirdest damage you have seen or, most extensive repair you've had to perform?
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 23
I once did an emergency extract of a Recon team in VN, There was no place to land so I backed the aircraft into a hillside and let down until I felt solid enough for the team to jump on the ramp. During the loading process, I was mentally congratulating myself on the stability of the hover. When the team was all aboard, I lifted and returned them to their base. On the post flight inspection, we found an 18 inch hole in the underside of the aircraft where a tree trunk had punched through during the landing. Gave some extra stability in the hover and the metal shop had a good time with it.
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MSgt Robert Pellam
I have fixed a few holes in Helicopters caused by plant life. My first repair on an H-53A was a Cactus strike. Awesome story.
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SFC Mark Merino
I've had a few in OH-58D's as well. Those little birds with skids have to be extra careful.
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CSM Charles Hayden
LtCol Robert Quinter I was not there Colonel, nevertheless, thank you and a Hand Salute for that extraction!
The world will little note nor long remember - what helicopter pilots did for the troops in Vietnam!
The world will little note nor long remember - what helicopter pilots did for the troops in Vietnam!
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SSgt (Join to see), the B-17 "All American" sustained some of the most significant damage that I've seen to an aircraft, yet was able to continue flying and return to base. Occurred in 1943. I've attached a link to the story.
http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-articles/wwiis-b-17-all-american-separating-fact-fiction.html
http://www.warbirdsnews.com/warbird-articles/wwiis-b-17-all-american-separating-fact-fiction.html
WWII’s B-17 “All American” Separating Fact and Fiction
We got this email in our inbox the other day, purporting to tell the story of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, "All American." The story, accompanied with some incredible pictures, told of the plane, mortally wounded, getting her crew home safely. We were pretty sure we had seen this email, sent from a friend (who got it from a friend, who got it from a friend, ad infinitum) before at some time in the past, but reading it over, some things...
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SFC Mark Merino
Maybe that is one that my grandma helped assemble. She was as tough as that aircraft!
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MSgt Robert Pellam
I love this article. The engineering behind Aircraft frames and Skins is incredible.
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SSgt (Join to see)
Thank you! I love reading about amazing feats that our aircraft can do and the skill of those it involves!
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Being a "tin Bender" for 24 years I have seen all kinds of damage. When I was a reservist at Wright- Pat in the early 90s a F-4 hit two deer. When stationed at Davis-Monthan we had a A-10 strike and kill a coyote. When stationed at Travis I have had not bird strikes but Pterodactyl strikes on C-141s and C-5s. When you investigate the "possible bird strike" and you see the talon still wedged between the pylon and wing and the talon is bigger than your hand, all you can do is just stand back and say "damn!" As for extensive damage we discovered extensive corrosion on a C-141 were 40 square feet of skin had to be replaced as well as the stringers and ribs. One of the dumbest things we had to fix on our "off time" was when a F-86 pilot practicing for an airshow bloody forgot to put his landing gear down and decided it would be really cool to belly land a perfectly good aircraft. Lucky for the aircraft owner my sheetmetal guys were dying to get their hands on his aircraft and fix it for gratis. Many more stories are out there!!!!!!!
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MSgt Dwyane Watson
The bird remains were sent off but we never heard what they were, we surmised that it may have been a condor. It was so big, the bird destroyed the leading edge pylon skin and damaged the leading edge of the wing.
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MSgt (Join to see)
I agree, could go on most of the day. I was a rivet head also. The fights keeping crew chiefs from keeping eagle claws and beaks. Ridiculous, we had to turn that stuff in.
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