Fri, Jul 03, 2009
Issues Concerning Horizontal Stabilizers
The FAA has issues a Special
Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) for owners and operators
of True Flight Aerospace LLC (Grumman American) Model AA-5
airplanes (Traveler, Cheetah, Tiger), of an issue concerning the
horizontal stabilizer forward spar attachment and surrounding
structure in the aft fuselage area.
At this time, this airworthiness concern is not an unsafe
condition that would warrant AD action.
During a routine inspection, maintenance personnel found cracked
and deformed structure in the aft fuselage area including
horizontal stabilizer forward spar attachment structure, spar
support angles, and stiffeners. While there are no previous reports
of similar damage in the AA-5 airplanes, there have been reports
for the AA-5A and AA-5B models. In 2003, the FAA issued SAIB
CE-04-34 to inform owners of this potential issue on the AA-5A and
AA-5B models and the SAIB included an inspection of this area of
the airplane. In 2003, the type certificate owner issued an update
to the maintenance manual to add instructions for this inspection
for the AA-5A and AA-5B airplanes.
There are currently no clear instructions in the
maintenance manual for inspecting this area of the AA-5 model.
The FAA encourages owners and
maintenance personnel to perform detailed visual inspections of the
horizontal stabilizer forward spar attachment structure, and
surrounding area, of the AA-5 airplanes at the following times:
- At every annual/100 hour inspection.
- After hard landings, tail strikes, or any other notable impact
or force in tail area.
The FAA recommends that the maintenance manuals for the airplane
be consulted for more information. True Flight Aerospace informed
the FAA that the basic inspection points should be applicable to
all of the AA-5 series models.
More News
An Amazing Experience Awaits The Chosen Few... Oshkosh, to us, seems the perfect place to get started on watching aviation recover the past couple of years... and so ANN is putting>[...]
“NBAA has a tremendous responsibility to the business aviation industry, and we are constantly collaborating with them. Our flight departments, professionals and aircraft own>[...]
Dead Reckoning Dead reckoning, as applied to flying, is the navigation of an airplane solely by means of computations based on airspeed, course, heading, wind direction, and speed,>[...]
Aero Linx: Vertical Aviation Safety Team (VAST) We are a public–private initiative to enhance worldwide flight operations safety in all segments of the vertical flight indust>[...]
We're Everywhere... Thanks To You! Even with the vast resources and incredibly far-reaching scope of the Aero-News Network, every now and then a story that should be reported on sl>[...]