[stackj]

We had a similar incident with our Skymaster several years back. One person in our FSDO (where my wife works) insisted that the entire boom had to either be replaced or reskinned. He made this determination while refusing to even go look at the airplane.

In our case, the prop had hit a slug (about the size of a quarter) and slung it into the boom. The slug penetrated the skin on the inner side of the boom and broke the skin on the outer side, but did not exit the boom.

We took pictures of the damage, copied the appropriate figure from the illustrated parts catalog, marked the location of the damage and sent the package to Cessna for evaluation.

Their position was that since no structural members were damaged (Ours also was only skin damage) that repairs could be made in accordance with 43-13.

Our local shop made the repair, documented it with a form 337 which was submitted to FAA and that was the end of it.

I can fax the 337 and diagram to you if you'd like. I briefly looked for Cessna's position letter tonight and haven't spotted it yet, but if you'd like a copy of it I can keep looking. Their position letter would not apply to your aircraft as it applies to an individual situation.

Call me at 804-320-5588 if you'd like the form 337 or if you'd just like to discuss the situation.

I am usually up until about 11:00PM Eastern time.

Jim Stack