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Old 18th Jan 2024, 00:42
  #386 (permalink)  
43Inches
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Aus
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I’m guessing that the extent of the damage indicates a collision at a high speed of convergence as otherwise you’d think it would simply brush off the other aircraft. It really has torn a hell of a hole in the wing.
Doesn't need to be high speed impact at all, brush against the wrong rivets, expose a bit of the panel forward, and the airflow at jet speeds will do the rest. Same as not latching the front of a Warrior cowl, once a bit of airflow gets under it will peel back over the windscreen. With thin wings deformed panels as depicted will make it very difficult to control and act like a speed brake with a nose down moment. There's also the airflow disruption around the ailerons to add to the yaw and roll towards the damaged part. In that scenario you'd almost want the entire section to break free, not peel back and create drag, which is probably the worst case. Cases where aircraft have returned with severe battle damage it's more whole sections have departed, rather than remained attached.

ASA 529 is a good example, where a propeller failed on an EMB-120. It partially broke off and lodged sideways deforming the engine cowl and leading edges, enough that the aircraft could not even achieve a reasonable shallow descent with MCP on the live engine and had to ditch in a forest clearing. Compared to the two SAAB 340 events where propellers completely separated and fell clear of the airframe with minor damage and crew reported fairly good performance on one engine and landed without incident.

Last edited by 43Inches; 18th Jan 2024 at 01:02.
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