PA 30 twin comanchee lifespan

[darien]

what's the airframe lifespan on a Pa30?

 

[bocefus]

There is no "hard time" life limit for the PA-30- PA-39.
Limited only by how well it has been maintained. I know of a B model with over 15 thousand hours, still going strong.

 

[Flyin Tony]

(im getting alot of this info off the comanche web)
There are places that use PA30/39s for cloud seeding. Theres an outfit in Minnesota that used 6 PA-30s for cloud seeding. These airplanes were equipped with heavy duty aerobatic seat belts/harnesses to hold the pilots in place while seeding in and around thunderstorms. I was told the airplanes all had more than 6000 hours. The only structural problem they had experienced was one crack in a rudder. I talked to a guy that knew a seeding pilot and he worked for a cloud seeding company and said they used ground radar to vector him into the very worst buildups they could find. He believed if a pilot could maintain manuvering speed and keep it right side up a Comanche would take anything out there.
I think the AD 94-13-10 stabilator attach rivets are the one you might want to look at.
Other then that most of the older planes are overbuilt They will last longer then most of us.

Tony

 

[PeteCO]

Would these comments apply to the single engine Comaches as well?

 

[bocefus]

"There is no "hard time" life limit"
This one does