Yesterday (saturday) I took off into a 30mph wind with my SD 30% Yak. I flew for 15 minutes and then came down to land. I flew in front of myself, chopped the throttle in flight, glided it in but when my wheeles touched the ground the plane lurched up into the air 5 feet because of a gust of wind and then nosed over, breaking my new Vess 22A.

This does not bother me much but the fact that I saw wrinkled covering around the landing gear block area got me worried. The broken prop could have just struck this area but when I think back on the crash the gear were forced back towards the tail pretty hard.

After ripping the covering off I noticed 2 small cracks. One is in the plywood that seems to be right under neath the aluminum angle bars holding the gear block on. (pointed to by the exacto knife). The other is right by the balsa sheeting next to this crack. I can stick my exacto blade in the crack in the plywood about a half inch.

This has me worried. The gear was very solid when I checked and no bolts were bent but these cracks don’t look good. The construction around the gear blocks is incredible I might add and the landing gear took quite a blow. On some of my previous planes it would have knocked the gear right out but not this one!

I was wondering what I should do to fix this. Maybe Garrett could chime in and talk about the construction of this area??? No matter how hard I push down on the crack in the plywood it does not want to close. It also seems like it is warped down a little bit at this crack and by the bolt hole nearest it. The placement of the crack and the warping affirm that they are due to this nose over because they formed in a way a crash like this would make them.

Both aluminum angles did not move at all and everything else is in perfect shape, it’s just the cracks that have me worried. Should I just try to shove some epoxy in them and cover it back up? Thanks.

Here are the pictures of the cracks.

Here is a better picture. Notice the crack right under each metal blind nute. The biggest part of this crack is just underneath the right blind nut.

The force of the landing could have caused the plywood board to split, that is my guess. What should I do? aaaaaahhhhhhh

Most of the force was applied to the right wheel so that could explain why the right side is cracked.

I had the same damage on my yak.....not a very fun fix. Take a close look at the aluminum angle brackets, on mine the landing gear bolts bent the aluminum brackets. which prevented me from sealing the cracks around the landing gear block (the same ones you have) I ended up cutting out the old gear plate, its tabbed in to the former in front and behind it, a real PITA. then replaced the Aluminum brackets, epoxied in a new gear plate, and sealed up the cracks with some more epoxy. I use Hysol for my epoxy but any 30 min should work fine. so far I have 50+ flights on the repair with no problems.

So what you are saying is that the force from my landing actually bent the aluminum L bracket down causing the crack?

I think I am going to have a heart attack.

Is there any internal damage other than the crack? Like some joints that slipped and cracked or some other underneath problem? The right front bolt side is the only side that has a crack. This is also the only area that has bent down a tiny tiny bit. I know for a fact that the other aluminum angle has not bent down at all.

If there is no other damage I would think that. the only problem is the bent aluminum angle. Would it be detremental then if I just bolted the gear back on and stuck epoxy in the crack or is it really necissary for me to replace everything?

I was afraid of this and now I feel like I am going to screw up a perfectly built awsome airplane, It flew soo well. Dang it!

Is there internal damage that caused the crack in the balsa sheeting?

What does the inside look like. I have absolutely no idea where to start when it comes to taking that landing gear block off. Do I have to do a pain in the ass repair like that?

How would you cut out your aluminum L brackets? Could you not just unbolt them?

Would it be possible for me to some how bend the right side L bracket back up? Fixing the problem or is there unseen damage?

I just looked again and the wooden gear plate that the gear bolts too is built like a puzzle with joints that are glued into other square openings. I dont think I have the skill to do a repair like that, or the time.

There is no visible damage when looking down at the metal angle from inside the fuse. Maybe I could just drop some epoxy down there any go fly?

What I would do if this happened on mine. I would unbolt the aluminum bracket and straighten it. Bolt it back in place and see if I could then get the crack to close.

I would then use some 30 min epoxy to seal the crack. Check everything for strength. recover and fly it like you stole it.

Do you think the front former developed a crack causing the balsa sheeting underneath it to crack. Could the front right tab of the wooden landing gear block have pushed down on the front former causing this?

I would love to do what Wizard said but there is no way to get to the aluminum bracket.

I just figured out what the problem was. After opening up the sheeting I saw that the right tab of the wooden gear plate had been pulled down by the force of the landing causing the former to crack and move down slightly which caused the balsa sheeting to crack.

So now I have to figure out a way to push the plate and angle back where they were supposed to be so I can fix the slight crack that developed on the former.

I was thinking of drilling a tap in the aluminum gear plate and then trying to stick a screw in there and pushing it to bend it back. I could just smear fiberglass everywhere but I want it to still be even and look nice.

Any one have an ideo on how to bend the plate back. Unless I drill holes in the inside of the cannister tunnel through the cannister tunnel wood, I have no idea how I would get to those bolts holding the aluminum angle in.

If you remove the plywood gear plate you can access the bolts holding the aluminum brackets on. That is what I did, to get every thing to fit back together nicely. You will have to use a thin saw and cut the tabs off the gear plate to get it out. I don't know if this is the best way of fixing the problem, but it's what worked for me.