Aileron damage doesn't show in preflight.

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caleb1
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Joined: 15 Dec 2016, 18:44

Aileron damage doesn't show in preflight.

Post by caleb1 »

I had the right aileron go out on me when I was on short final in the A2A commence, the yoke would only go left. I thought it was either A2A damage or a hardware issue, so I completed the landing using just the rudder and the left aileron, then opened up the maintenance hanger and sure enough it was broken on the A2A plane. The clipboard read "you really need to preflight the plane, the right aileron hinges are damaged" or something like that.
I have 3 questions that it would be great if someone knows the answer or could share thoughts on.
1. Was it just a coincidence that the that it suggested I do a preflights more often, or did it actually know that I didn't do any preflights the last 3 or 4 flights... :? (they were all within a day or so from each other, so I figured it would be ok, but I guess not.)
2. This is my main question: After the aileron was damaged (before I fixed it) I went to that spot on the right aileron on the preflight, clicked the button to bring up the picture of the hinges and it all looked normal. And there was no change in the image when I clicked the aileron in the hanger to fix it....
Are the images static or do they change with damage/wear? I'm afraid I wouldn't have caught this issue developing even if I had done preflight if this is the case....
3. It seemed as if a problem with the yoke, not the aileron, because I could move the yoke to the left and both ailerons moved correctly. When I tried to move it to the right nether of them moved. This would not make sense in real life. I would think if one aileron is messed up it would stay still and the other one would work in both directions, and the yoke still have full travel, OR if it got jammed up, the yoke would be stuck completely and not move either direction.
The only case where it would make sense how it happened would be if it was jammed in a certain way on one aileron that only allowed it to move in one direction, which in turn would stop both ailerons and the yoke if it attempted to go in the wrong direction... Which I believe is what was simulated, but that would be a rare situation, wouldn't it? Does accu sim account for any possible different ways it could break? or is an aileron failure just an aileron failure that acts the same every time... Just interested in starting a discussion on this one.

Thanks for any input,
Caleb
Caleb Byers

A2A Hanger: C182, C172, PA-28, PA-24, J3

PC: Intel Core i7 6700 @ 3.4 GHz to 4.0 GHz, 24GB RAM, GTX 745 with 4GB VRAM, 2TB SSHD, Win 10 Home x64.

Simulators: P3D v3.4, P3D v4.5, FSX:SE

Real Hanger at FD08: 1956 C172, 1964 PA-24 400

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Lewis - A2A
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Re: Aileron damage doesn't show in preflight.

Post by Lewis - A2A »

Hello Caleb,

the images can change yes, the changes can be as subtle as they are in real life though as simple as a pin missing can be the different between a functional and failure bit of kit. The notes in the maint hanger dont know if you did or did not pre-flight its just the normal sorta comments you might get from a mech looking over the aircraft. Also some things are random failures, so you might not be able to catch them anyway, but those should be rare, few and far between.

thanks,
Lewis
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