152 Attach bracket cracking...

[wrxpilot]

This was sort of an odd coincidence today... Just a couple of days ago I was asking Avbug about the cracking issues on the 152s, which turned out to be for the vertical fin attach brackets. Today I was going to take one of the school's 152s out for a "cheap" flight to a nearby airport, and during my preflight I decided to take an extra close look some aft "L" brackets after that conversation. The right one had a crack extending throughout the bracket along the radius where it is bent into an "L". The brackets were substantial in design and had several bolts for the connection.

Here's the AWB:
http://www.casa.gov.au/airworth/awb/51/003.htm

So this is just one component of the crack issue, which basically allows the loading to possibly initiate cracking in the horizontal stabiliser bar and attachment. Not being super familiar with this AWB, I was really uncomfortable w/ seeing that crack and decided not to fly that plane. One of the CFIs seemed to agree the crack was not such a good thing.

One thing that is still puzzling is that the brackets I saw (aft on the horiz stabilizer connecting to the vertical fin) do not match what's shown on the AWB. Anyway, just thought it was interesting. Maybe I was being overly cautious, but there were no mechanics around (sunday). I'll be interested to see what happens this week.

 

[GravityHater]

doesn't sound overcautious to me at all, I had a 150 and watched them all the time.
If they are cracked at a place vastly different than what the AD notes, might be good to do a SDR.

 

[avbug]

It's not just Cessna's, though an inordinately high number of Cessna's have expeienced cracked vertical stab attach brackets and had the retrofit kits put on.

I've seen attach bolts and brackets for a number of aircraft, including large airplanes, cracked.

Pilots have been taught for years, incorrectly, that slipping won't hurt airplanes. Not so.