“Stalled on approach and dropped in. Damage to left wing and other components. Engine dials straight.
Item specifics
| Used |
| “Stalled on approach and dropped in. Damage to left wing and other components. Engine dials straight and has been run.” |
| Model Year: | 2014 | Make: | Bakeng |
With a 130 horsepower Lycoming O-290 engine on a lightweight tube, wood, and fabric airframe, the Bakeng Duce is a real performer. More than 100 knots in cruise and operation at high density altitudes are possible with a nicely handling aircraft. This Duce was well crafted from plans with some modifications that make it even better for rough airstrips and more forgiving of poor landings. This nicely built Bakeng Duce only has twelve hours since new and is still on a Special Airworthiness Certificate. It was reported by the builder to be a nicely flying airplane with good ground handling characteristics. The builder acquired the project from a friend of his who passed away, completed it, and put ten hours on the aircraft, but had several other tailwheel aircraft in his stable that meant he wasn"t putting many hours on the Duce. So, he sold it on to a new owner in April of this year (2017). Unfortunately, the new owner was going to fly it from New Mexico to its new home in Arizona, but got caught in a surprise wind gust on landing for a refuel and ended up stalling it onto the runway. If it had been built with the one piece spring gear that most Bakeng Duce"s have, it would have been damaged much more than it was. Having more than fifty years of flying tailwheel aircraft to guide him, the builder chose to substitute the tried and proven landing gear design used on Cubs, Champs, Bearhawks, and other classic tailwheel aircraft. This allowed the hard landing energy of the incident to be absorbed by the gear without damaging the fuselage, meaning the repair will be much easier. I"ve inspected the aircraft and have it configured for transport to your shop. While it"s quite likely that I"ve missed something, here is my breakdown of the damage incurred and repair required, as far as I know. Please dont" ask me about repair costs or ask me to repair it for you. If I had the time to do the repairs, I would be keeping this Duce for myself. It"s painful to sell on such a nice project but, well, I have four other projects I should be working on and my day job as an aerospace engineer isn"t giving me much hangar time these days. I really want to see this Duce in good hands that will put this pretty airplane back in the air. Please use the pictures on this auction, the YouTube video I"ve linked to below, and the logbooks I"ve scanned into my Dropbox to make your own determination on bidding. Feel free to ask me any questions and I"ll do the best I can to answer them. Engine: Lycoming O-290. The wooden prop that had been installed was destroyed in the accident; turned into splinters. The sacrifice of the wood prop appears to have saved the engine. I dialed the crankshaft as straight and borrowed a propeller from someone else on the field to start up the engine. You can see a video of the engine check by clicking THIS LINK. Wings: The left wing took the brunt of the crash energy. The left spar was broken, which also splintered one of the ribs. Repair appears to be a matter of disassembling the wing components (ribs, brackets, cross wires, etc.) and building a replacement wing around new spars. The right wing appears to not have been damaged in the crash, but the aircraft recovery company stacked car tires on top of it to "cushion" it to stack the broken wing on top of it in their storage yard. Tossing car tires on top of it broke the top of a couple of ribs. Repair appears to consist of repairing the broken ribs with a splice (or simple reglue) and recovering the wing. The center section appears to have been undamaged, but should be further inspected. Ailerons appear undamaged, as does the left flap. Since the entire wing structure was shoved to the right, it appears that the control cables for the right flap were pulled tight and there is some resulting sheet metal bending on the leading edge of the right flap. It might be a matter of just bending the aluminum back to place, as it appears the damage is minor. The left wing strut is bent and needs replacement. The right wing strut appears undamaged. Landing gear: The left landing gear strut was turned into a "Z" shape as the left landing gear was bent underneath the aircraft in the crash. The leading edge of the left landing gear was then dented by the overstressed strut. Repair appears to consist of welding together a new strut assembly using the existing spring and repairing the dent on the left landing gear. The right landing gear appears undamaged, with the right landing gear strut slightly bent. It appears the strut can be straightened. I"ve used some rigid conduit to fabricate temporary struts so the aircraft could be inspected, rolled around, and loaded on an equipment trailer (would likely also fit in an enclosed trailer). Fuselage: Here"s some really good news. Damage to the fuselage appears to be easily repairable, since the Cub style landing gear took the crash energy without translating it into the fuselage itself. The struts connecting the fuselage to the wing center section were bent as the wing was shoved to the side and will need to be replaced. They can be cut out of the tubing clusters to which they"re attached and replacements welded in. The front struts are easily reached by removing the metal cowling. Replacement of the rear struts will require patching the fabric covering around the joint, but does not appear to require a recovering of the fuselage. One fabric seam on the bottom of the fuselage needs to be reglued (appears to have been pulled loose in moving the aircraft off the runway). The engine cowl fiberglass nose bowl got a dent, but looks to be easily repairable. Empennage: The left horizontal stabilizer and left elevator are bent upwards towards their tips. They need to be inspected to see whether they can be "cold set" back into position or if other repairs are needed. Cockpit: This airplane had a minimal panel. While it has an electrical system with battery, alternator, and starter, it was built light without a panel mounted radio or transponder. None of the instruments or interior appear damaged. Builder"s logs and aircraft logs, along with pdfs of all paperwork filed with the FAA, can be seen at my Dropbox. I"ve also included full resolution version of the pictures here on eBay, as well as additional pictures, in the Dropbox folder. The link to the folder is RIGHT HERE I"ve done the best I can to describe this aircraft, but could be wrong about things. If you"d like to come inspect it yourself (or send someone to inspect it for you), please do so before the auction ends. This aircraft is currently stored in a hangar at KRYN. The buyer is responsible for transport, although I"m sure I can help you with loading labor. Fees are paid until the end of October. Storage after that will be at $150 a month.
Current date: 2017-09-17