Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Last week on Thursday I had my struts xrayed as well as the ultrasound test. They were done in St. Louis by Quality Testing Service. They are an FAA repair station as well. When they were done, the owner Scott Zimmer called Andy McAnual (sp?) to suggest that there is no need to remove the struts to do the ultrasound. He left a message and I don't know if he received a response.

P.S. I'm getting a new set of struts from Airframes, Inc. and have my old set for sale. Three are yellow tagged and one rear strut is red tagged. Contact me personally if interested.

Carl Carson
[email protected]
Cedar Rapids, Ia
319-560-4944

[robbie]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Carl
Could you tell us, how much they charged??

[flyguy]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Carl,
How bad was the rear one that failed?

So that is one failed. Do we have a thread for reporting number of struts passed and quantity failed? I think it would be good to have the numbers, maybe before the other side does. Does that sound adversarial? Oops.
DC

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Quality Testing Services rates are:
Ultrasound testing-$150
Xrays -$ 75

The rear strut that didn't pass had the following:

The ultrasound at mid-strut (presumably a clean/original portion of the strut) measured at .039 wall thickness. Given the + and - allowances that were allowed the affected areas, bottom 12" of the struts, had to measure a minimum of .029. The strut that failed measured .026. Xrays were taken of all four struts and the failed strut had a mass of corrision at the very bottom up against the end weld area.

Hope this helps and collection of data on failed struts would be good information of gather.

Carl Carson

[robbie]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Those cost were per struts or the 4 of them together.
If one xray them, would one still need to Ultrasound them also to get the thickness of the questionable areas?
Xray does not measure thickness correct?

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

The $150 ultrasound cost was for all four struts and $75 xray was for all four struts.

Carl Carson

[Carl E. Carson]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Xray does not measure thickness. Interpret the AD for compliance of xray only.

Carl

[mhorowit]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

The following address will give you the EAA's reply to the struts AD.

http://www.vintageaircraft.org/taylorcraft_comments.pdf

Note this was sent yesterday.

That's a very good response by EAA.
When/how will we learn that/if the recommended inspection period is acceptable? - MikeH

[MJB]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

If the old struts pass the AD, would it be feasible to treat the internal area with CorrosionX and seal the vent holes to eliminate the recurrence?

[Forrest Barber]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Welcome at last! see Mike you do not have to be a member to register on web site and post..... Your application came in as some kind of spread sheet way back in the Spring along with the Pay-Pal thing.... Laura will give you the next number on the week-end , I will e-mail it to you . along with the new member letter the blue card will come in the mail.
We are working on sealing the struts out there in the field, however some welding I have seen out in the field scares me. they were drain holes not really vents, i ahve pro & con on them and sealed struts too.
Welcome aboard new "tribe" member!

[MJB]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Thank you. I look forward to receiving the information. I plan to have the AD performed in Dallas about 2 Nov, then begin reassembling NC29815 for a return to service about the first week of December. The ship has been well stored since 2001/2002. If anyone would like to pass on their advice on inspecting/servicing the O-145 and/or airframe, please send it on!

[VictorBravo]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

The AMOC that I applied for using X-ray was indeed approved. I received the letter from the FAA today.

My sincere thanks to Andy McAnaul at the FAA for letting reason into these discussions without any resistance, to Forrest for working behind the scenes as he does so well, and to Joe Barton at LA X-Ray for writing up a well thought out spec sheet the FAA agreed with.

Anyone needing a copy of this AMOC can contact me through regular e-mail victorbravo AT/ sbcglobal DOT\ net, since I may not be checking messages on the forum as often as previously... priorities are changing

Bill

[crispy critter]

Re: Strut AD alternate methods of compliance

Thank you. I look forward to receiving the information. I plan to have the AD performed in Dallas about 2 Nov, then begin reassembling NC29815 for a return to service about the first week of December. The ship has been well stored since 2001/2002. If anyone would like to pass on their advice on inspecting/servicing the O-145 and/or airframe, please send it on!

Mike,
Welcome to the group. I just bought a J3L about 3 months back that had the O-145 on it. It had been setting about 4-6 years and we brought it back to life but there were some minor issues along the way. Feel free to call or email me and we can talk about it.
Kevin Mays
606-434-4065
[email protected]
P.S. I almost bought that airplane out from under you but when the seller said he was working a deal I backed off to see what happened. It sure is a nice bird...the bakers do excellent work!