emergency AD grounding 400 series Cessna's

[Hung Start]

Well, don't forget, they are not grounded,,, yet. But a pretty intense inspection period for the lower spar caps and stuff. I think every 15 hours or so? But,, better plan on getting the spar strap installed. $40 grand was the last I heard.

 

[cargoflyr69]

yeah, bad link... It all started feb 11 on a flight out of Hyannis. If you go to the ntsb.gov site, click on "avaition", then "accident database", then "monthly lists" for feb 2005 you will see the narrative. Hope it works for ya. it's fairly long, so i didnt want to cut and paste

 

[Flyin Tony]

FAA REVISES EMERGENCY AD FOR CESSNA 400-SERIES AIRPLANES
The FAA on Wednesday, March 2, revised the emergency airworthiness directive
for Cessna 402C and 414A airplanes. The new AD (2005-05-52) effectively
increases the time between required wing spar inspections from as little
as 15 hours to 110 hours. The AD replaces the visual inspection of the
forward wing spars with an eddy current inspection and continued visual
inspection of the aft and auxiliary wing spars. That first AD was considered
an interim measure to discover any existing large cracks in the Cessna twins'
wing spars. The new AD exempts aircraft that have a spar strap modification
following Cessna Service Bulletin MEB02-5, dated June 24, 2002, and Cessna
Service Kit SK402-47, dated June 24, 2002. AOPA is continuing to work closely
with the FAA and Cessna owner groups to address fatigue cracking in wing spars
on Cessna 400-series aircraft.

taken from aopa

 

[FN FAL]

Well, don't forget, they are not grounded,,, yet. But a pretty intense inspection period for the lower spar caps and stuff. I think every 15 hours or so? But,, better plan on getting the spar strap installed. $40 grand was the last I heard.

Yea, that's pretty expensive...I'd replace my 402's with new 1.8 million dollar Caravans before I'd spend that kind of money.

 

[DitchDriver]

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20050224X00232&key=1

 

[Hung Start]

Last time I checked, when I owned a bunch, the spar strap kit was close to 14 grand. And it was anywhere from 400-600 man hours to install. Then, if you open her up, who knows what evil you may find.

Cost is bad, but the downtime is going to hurt a lot.