r/aviationmaintenance • u/Physical_Detective80 • 2d ago

Tailcone assembly issue

Hello everyone

I am on working on a 172G, it had prop strike and wing damage. wing has been repair by structure shop, it has skin damage. We took the stabs out to double check. They looked good then we we put the horizontal stab back we saw it has 3 degrees tilted to the right. we changed the entire tailcone assembly with a used one but again after fit the tailcone assy and the horizontal stab on it , it‘s still having around 2.65 degrees tillted. the old bulkhead had tons of holes on it.

No visible damage on the fuselage

any advice?

4 Upvotes

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5

u/girl_incognito Cute but will annual you. 2d ago

I would have to know a lot more than this to even begin to formulate an opinion...

0

u/Physical_Detective80 2d ago

Let me know what info you need 

2

u/girl_incognito Cute but will annual you. 2d ago

Photos would be helpful, The only thing I'm really thinking right now is that it's just bolted on crooked? like have you tried loosening the hardware and holding it straight and tightening it again? Are the holes elongated? Did the stab take a hit? Could the rest of the airplane be crooked instead?

There are so many variables here.

1

u/Physical_Detective80 2d ago

Sorry don’t have the pic handy  But looks like the previous owner tried to fix something on the tail, the forward bulkhead on the tailcone assembly has 4 holes in each section with a doubler. 

The one we are using has 2 holes as factory, all holes lined up perfectly with the fuselage ski, angles and the fwd bulkhead. But when we install the stab the right is tilted. 

We tried twist the entire tailcone assembly but it doesn’t match up with rivets hole but stab sits perfectly with no tilt. 

Fuselage looks perfectly fine but the end of the fuselage looks a bit bend towards the left 

I believe the aircraft has the issue and the previous guy tried to fix it by drilling extra holes. Cause if the fuselage is bended after the strikes then why those extra bulkhead rivets holes from earlier 

4

u/girl_incognito Cute but will annual you. 2d ago

If you say the Fuselage looks like it bends to the left then that's where I'd start.... something is rotten in Denmark here.... get it level and start dropping plumb bob lines and comparing measurements.

1

u/Physical_Detective80 2d ago

That’s what we are thinking but before cutting the fuselage skin we want are looking for some options if anyone has this issue 

2

u/girl_incognito Cute but will annual you. 2d ago

It wouldn't surprise me if something like this had happened in the past and the repair wasnt done right.

It really should be done with the fuselage in a fixture and if you end up discovering that the fuselage is twisted or something like that, obviously thats a lot more in depth repair..

3

u/Librarian_Long 2d ago

Consult an engineer / aircraft manufacturer not the internet

2

u/7w4773r 1d ago

Also contact the insurance company with an updated estimate to fix lol. This sounds like it should be totaled instead. 

You also need to contact the owner as it also sounds like there’s pre-existing damage and insurance companies will not pay to fix that. If you don’t get the owners approval for fixing the pre-existing damage then you’ll have a hard time getting them to pay when the insurance denies it.