Newbie questions

[elliottruss]

Hi Folks,

I am considering buying a BC-12d with a C85. The owner tells me that it need to have the AD's complied with for the struts and attachment fittings. What does this mean to me. Do I need to have the struts replaced/repaired/inspected? How big a deal is this? The plane is in AK, not too far from Anchorage.

Thanks,

Russ

[Pearson]

Re: Newbie questions

Russ,

There is a HUGE amount of info on both of those ADs on this bulletin board.

The AD on the attach fitting involves locating and using a boroscope to look at both sides of each piece of metal that makes up the fitting. In order to do that, you have to take the seat out and usually cut the fabric away from the fitting. Some people are fabricating some sort of screw on cover to cover the area where the fabric was cut away. You only need to cut away a half inch or so. My fabric was such that I did not have to cut any away, but I think that is rare. It takes a lot of monkey motion and contorting to get the boreoscope into all the nooks and crannies.

The strut AD can be complied with by an inspection with some special equipment. From what I have read on this site, it sounds like you are looking at $250 to $400 for that inspection. I chose the other method of compliance, which is to replace the struts with new sealed struts. My costs for all new struts, including shipping was about $2250. I put them in myself, but still had to pay the IA for his time to inspect and sign off.

Spend some time reading the posts about these ADs. There are many many postings about this. It just takes time to read enough for you to get an idea of what you are in for. It isn't really too awfully bad, to comply with them. It just takes a little time and of course some dollars. If you spend the money for the strut inspection and they fail, then you will need to spend more money to buy new or used struts that will pass. Also the inspection needs to be done every few years.

Hope this helps, good luck.