Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

[SkyvanDelta]

I happen to see a newer model car today that looked like the outside of a golf ball, lots of dimples on every surface. It looked like the kind of damage that would occur during a hail storm. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we get pea sized hail, if we ever get hail, maybe once a year.

So my question is, what happens to airplanes that are outside during a hail storm, either flying through it or on the ground? Do they get the same kind of damage to the sheet metal as a car gets?

Has is ever hailed at the Reno Air Races with big damaging type hail stones where the planes were damaged?

[xmh53wrench]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

Busted out windscreens, giant holes in ALL the leading edges....had a C-130 come back that way during my stint at Hurlburt Fld. Was not pretty.

[Dialtapper]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

I happen to see a newer model car today that looked like the outside of a golf ball, lots of dimples on every surface. It looked like the kind of damage that would occur during a hail storm. In the San Francisco Bay Area, we get pea sized hail, if we ever get hail, maybe once a year.

So my question is, what happens to airplanes that are outside during a hail storm, either flying through it or on the ground? Do they get the same kind of damage to the sheet metal as a car gets?

Has is ever hailed at the Reno Air Races with big damaging type hail stones where the planes were damaged?

Never heard of hail at Reno, but there was one year, I think it was a Sunday Gold, with rain on the back side of the course. A few planes landed with paint damage on leading edges.

[tow-3]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

I had a 150 sitting out on the ramp in texas when a hail storm came through. golf ball size. it took out the back window, and dented every surface on the aircraft. the insurance company totaled the aircraft.

hail is about the only weather I have not seen at reno. in the 12 years that I lived there I can only remember hail one time and it was only about pea size. the weather patterns in the sierra are not right for hail storms to form. even true thunder storms are rare in the sierras.

[Leo]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

We get hail now and then, thunderstorms are pretty normal here in the afternoons in spring and fall. Its actually our biggest fire danger.
Largest hail I've seen here (one valley north of Stead) is about nickel size in diameter. It did hail at Reno a few years ago during a fast moving storm but it was not very big. Picture is of Voodoo during that storm.

I remember hearing of Sentimental Journey having some pretty severe skin and window damage a while back after getting caught on the ground in a big hail storm.

[SkyvanDelta]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

Curious how much do you think the 150 was worth before the hail storm damage and if you could have looked it over to make sure things were working ok, would you have flown it in the condition after the damage?

They put dimples in golf balls to make them fly farther don't they? I remember when surfboard shapers were putting dimples in the bottom of surfboards as a trend a few decades ago.

I had a 150 sitting out on the ramp in texas when a hail storm came through. golf ball size. it took out the back window, and dented every surface on the aircraft. the insurance company totaled the aircraft.

hail is about the only weather I have not seen at reno. in the 12 years that I lived there I can only remember hail one time and it was only about pea size. the weather patterns in the sierra are not right for hail storms to form. even true thunder storms are rare in the sierras.

[Lockheed Bob]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

I had a date with a women once that got caught in a hail storm while walking,she didn't look so good but she was easy to hold on to while dancing. The beer tastes good tonight.

[Arctic Cat]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

Mydad had a Mooney 231 that got some hail damage, mostly control surfaces. Insurance gave him a check, and he flew it like that till he traded it in on his TLS. No effect on performance.

[tow-3]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

Good questions. My 152 was sitting right next to it and had just as much damage. That one I took the money to fix it from the insurance company. It got new flap skins and flew for years after that . I sold it for exactly what I paid for later. The 150 I let go because it was for sale and insured for exactly what I wanted for it. They offered to let me buy it back for 5 grand less than the pay out. A friend of mine bought it from the insurance company for about half of what the payout was and put a new rear window in it and flew it for years. A few dents from hail really does not effect performance on a slower aircraft. I don't think that I would want to do 400 knots in a dented aircraft but 100 knot no problem.

[Ron Lewark]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

We get a lot of hail damage along the front range of Colorado, had a number of planes damaged this past summer. A friend was flying his 182 back from Montana many years ago and got in a brief hailstorm, windshield held up but leading edges on wings had to be replaced. Believe the cost at that time (1977) was $12,000. I see a few planes at different airports with dimples.
Ron

[Red]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

Golf balls are have dimples because they are round and always present a new face to the wind while spinning. An airfoil is has its shape optimized for the design spec and will not benefit from any dimpling. That's not to say that improvements can't be made, but it's not dimples. Common misconception I hear all of the time.

[Dialtapper]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

Golf balls are have dimples because they are round and always present a new face to the wind while spinning. An airfoil is has its shape optimized for the design spec and will not benefit from any dimpling. That's not to say that improvements can't be made, but it's not dimples. Common misconception I hear all of the time.

Hmmmm.....I don't know about that. Mythbusters covered a car in clay with golf ball type dimples and it got better gas mileage.

Some truth it reduces drag?

[L.E.D.]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

All depends on the Reynolds number. Golf balls have dimples because they get a benefit from turbulating the airflow at their Reynolds number, reducing separation and drag. At higher Reynolds numbers (higher speed, other things being equal), the turbulation happens naturally and dimples don't help; they hurt because they present more parasite drag.

Turbulation can be a benefit on airfoils too, but again it depends on the Reynolds number and the problem you're trying to solve.

[Tibia]

Re: Airplanes and Hail Storm Damage Questions.

Hmmmm.....I don't know about that. Mythbusters covered a car in clay with golf ball type dimples and it got better gas mileage.

Some truth it reduces drag?

During my tenure with 3M, we heard were one of the racing yachts was using a micro-balls coating to reduce drag.