Spring Storm Damage at Folks Field · · PAGE 300. 

April 11, 2009:  The view inside the hangar is worse than the reality of the damages to the airplanes.

The damage to the left elevator reveals that something round hit the trailing edge outboard from the trim tab.

Here is the view of the damage looking "edge-on" to the elevator.

It only took a few minutes with my seaming tool to get things somewhat back in the proper shape.  I got out my rivet squeezer and went along the trailing edge getting the skins secured again suitable for the short flight to a safe hangar nearby.   I failed to take a second photo after the rivets were secured.  I will be removing the elevator from the airplane for a "better looking" repair with new and longer rivets.  These rivets are "double flush" rivets that pass through the AEX wedge stock and two skins.  I will have to sand the paint away now that some of it cracked and has broken away from the elevator skins.  When I have the skins apart, I will see what I can do about that wrinkle in the upper skin.

Other minor damage was a result of this barrel partially filled with diesel fuel being pushed up against the fuselage.  This one amounts to a scuff in the painted surface.

Here is a closer view of the barrel strike area.  There is no dent in the aluminum skin.  I have not tried to buff the paint at this point.

Something took a pass at the left wingtip.  The tough fiberglass bounced it off with just a minor ding and some paint scratches.  No cracks were found in the wing tip fiberglass construction.

Here are the missing "cinder blocks" on the hangar floor.

The view below the airplane reveals a steel shelf that came off the south hangar wall.  That could be what made the dent in the left elevator trailing edge, but I am betting on something round which I have not seen on the floor.  There is also a wooden table on its side back there with a single cinder block leaning against one of the table legs.  My eyebolt tie-down is also bent slightly to one side, but the bottom skin is untouched.  Nothing else of the tail surfaces shows any damage.

With the elevator trailing edge secured, we moved the debris on the floor out of the way and pulled out both RV's for a trip to a friendly hangar down the valley near Centre, Alabama.

The Hobbs meter rolled up only 0.5 hours during the trip from Folks Field to the new airport southeast of Centre.  Fellow RV-8 builder John Myers was there to open the hangar just a few minutes after Wendell landed.  They had the front door open as I taxied up and parked behind Wendell.

Until the hangar at Folks Field is repaired and made stronger, this is the new home of the "Enterprise" and Wendell's RV-8. 

April 13, 2009:  Wendell called me to report additional wind storm damage to the hangar.  Three more roof panels have been blown off the building and more insulation has blown away.  He had moved the Aeronca Champ over to the paint shop hangar at Wilson Airport (GA03).  The Champ was there when the wooden hangar doors were blown off the building.  There was no damage to the Champ.   I will keep you posted in the weeks ahead as the building is repaired and the airplanes get to come home.