SID cost....?
 

Wondering if anyone has had the SID inspections done or estimate from Yingling/Mr.Niser or anyone? No repairs just the inspection procedure as specified in Revised Chapter #2?

Forget the costs for a minute. Has there been any findings of significance during an SID inspection? Are the wings and tail booms ready to start falling off? Does anyone have feedback on what, if any, problems the SID inspections have discovered?

SID mandatory?
 

I am new here, picking up my skymaster on Friday? Are these SIDs mandatory and where can I find the SID text?

SID Inspection done
 

Yep, I have just had the SID inspections done. The actual NDT eddy current inspection takes about half an hour. That is the last of the good news.
The SID instructions say the wing can be supported while the attache bolts are withdrawn and the holes tested. My aircraft was diss-asembled for shipping so didn't have to try that. If you have to remove the wings then the aircraft has to be de-rigged and things are a bit more complicated. The most time consuming part of disassembly was removing the fuel tanks. The covers are structural and held in place by many screws which, in our case, 10-15% had to be drilled out. The wing must have no load on it when you take the covers off otherwise you will never get them back on.
The stringers on the bottom of the tank bays have to be tested for cracks. In addition, there are two small bolts through the main spar web, the holes of which have to be tested. One holds the jacking pad in place. You cannot remove the nuts from these bolts unless you first remove the tanks! Thanks Mr Cessna.
Thanks again Mr Cessna for using a corrosive glue on the patches attached to fuselage skin panels to stop "drumming". Most of these will peel off easily but the corrosion underneath must be treated and the skin thickness tested. If you aircraft has any other corrosion these are going to be in poor shape.
The cost is going to vary depending on what else is found. In our case we found a repair that was not done in accordance with the Cessna repair guidelines. We had to replace the rear cabin spar.
I can see Cessna's perspective on this issue. All these aircraft are ageing and if they started falling apart and Cessna had said nothing need be done then they would be liable.
In our case the SID's turned up nothing, (the spar repair was outside the SID's) but in other Cessna models they have detected prospective fatal flaws.
So set aside $30k to get the job done. Good luck.

Dan
The SID's are not mandatory and you can find all the information in the revisions for the Service Manual that is available from Cessna or an agent like Yingling Aviation.

What vintage of 337 did you buy? I am in Grand Rapids, let's get together. I have the early model SID procedures if you want to see them.

"they have detected prospective fatal flaws"

What fatal flaws? What are the SID inspections finding? Don't we have a right to know if there are fatal flaws being found on Skymasters?

Not on Skymasters
 

None on the 337 that I know of but very few have been done, 400 series, a different matter. This is really a butt protecting exercise. If Cessna failed to tell you that there could be a problem then a legal feeding frenzy would ensue if something did fail. You are lucky in the US in that if the aircraft is for private use you don't have to do the SID's. In Australia our CAA says "aircraft shall be maintained according to the manufacturers specifications". If Cessna says the SIDs have to be done then even a humble private 152 has to be done. A big expense for everyone so Cessna doesn't get sued and in our case the CAA is off the hook also.

The 400 series Cessna's (some of them) had mandatory inspections and repairs. The rest of the fleet is just being treated as all manufactured aircraft will eventually be treated. Cessna is just ahead of the rest of the manufacturers. Remember that Congress passed the bill that takes the burden off the manufacturer once the age of the aircraft is 17 years. Cessna quit building airplanes before this happened and now is back to building a limited number of models because the bill was passed. Doesn't mean that some lawyer can't sue Cessna but it provides the umbrella that they were looking for after so many years of lawsuits.

Eventually all aging aircraft will be required to some criteria to stay in the air. The SID's for us and our 337's provide some good information about the potential of weakness in the aircraft. These SID's were written based on some SDR reports and historical information from the military use. Use the SID's as guides to inspect your aircraft for the areas described. It's a very good exercise.

Herb,
I live north of grand rapids. I am based out of Fremont FFX. I am buying a 1969 337D out of Houston. It is finishing up a prebuy/annual. Its funny, I just saw you and your skymaster on YouTube yesterday. I would like to meet up sometime. Keep me posted on your flights and maybe we can meet up sometime.
Dan Booker
danbooker@hotmail.com