Originally Posted by
1257
It was caught after the first flight of the day, yeah with pax, and ferried to PSP.
The Swearingen engineers came out from San Antonio and measured the deflection and estimated 6g.
They pulled the skin and the spar returned to the normal displacement and they simply re-skinned the wings and put it back out.
I flew that plane many times afterward and it was fine. They are tough and just require a some skill and attention/maint. to fly well.
The stories could go on and on for pages, good times.
It's a fast, no BS, pilot's airplane. 248 (kts) to the gate was the saying for the outer marker.
Oh yeah, keep your finger ready on the nose wheel steering button......heh
Was this a II? I reckon a III is just as strong, but the extended tips would have been damaged as well. I don't doubt the story at all, though.
I remember 246 knots, actually (III), but that doesn't rhyme with "gate".
The steering either worked or just quit working in my experience. All the "weedeater" type deviations I heard of were pilot-induced (I never had one myself, fortunately). Pilot-induced is actually misleading; it was one of the most user unfriendly - and unforgiving - systems I've ever seen.