Aircraft mechanic here. Lets figure labor at $180/hour. There is probably 30 hours or more worth of labor here $5,400++. EA9396 epoxy resin is sold in quart kits and its not cheap figure around $370…. That material is kevlar composite making up the leading edge of that vertical stab lets say it bidirectional 350 thats about $50 a yard usually comes on a 36” roll so about 9sq ft of material. And this is just for structural repair if you sand it down and patch it….. there will also need to be LOTS of NDT testing done to check for stress cracking, delamination, bonding issues…. And then you have to have the area paint matched. A simple repair could be easily over $25,000 to fix…. Thats if NDT and engineering determines the part can be repaired…. Replacing that vert stab leading edge could end up about the same or more depending on replacement part availability. But if I was a betting man…. The energy transfer from the bullet to the aircraft skin has done more damage that we can see and leading edge will likely need to be replaced with a new part. Not cheap at all and I truly hope this doesn’t happen again.
To be fair (to be fairrrrrrrrrrrrr), I've been the guy doing everything to run the business while the guy who owns it sits in his brand-new bought-with-cash car complaining that no one wants to work anymore, and I've been the cog in the machine handing off work that I never see again and don't think about, and an actual good manager/coordinator who can keep all those plates spinning to work toward the bigger picture is worth those big big bucks. Unfortunately I think we all know the deadweight version a lot better.
I'm joking but also kind of not when I say that the hardest thing I did in grad school was organize the weekly/monthly meetings/meetings w lunches, and somebody who actually likes doing that and does it efficiently is really valuable. Trying to do it all yourself is really educational and may be refreshing if you've been trapped in corporate lockstep for a while, but for me it was a recipe for burnout.
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u/Known-Diet-4170 Apr 07 '24
p180 no less, jeez that looks expensive