Wing Spar AD

[NFL20]

Can anyone clue me in on the mandatory wing spar AD at 5000 hrs? Cost? How labor intensive? If the spar fails the inspection what happens next?
Thanks in advance,

Dave

[WebMaster]

Two costs. One for IA doing prep and part of the inspection ( I think it's a dye penetrant inspection). Second costs for a service company to do the eddy current inspection. It is very labor intensive.

The IA part should be about a day. The service company, I think, is about $400.

If it fails, you simply get a new wing. There is no repair except for a new wing. You call Don Neiser, and tell him to ship you one.

[NFL20]

Got it. Once again, thanks for the speedy reply Larry.

Dave

[Skymaster337B]

I'm not sure a "new wing" is required. There are ways to repair the spare that are "acceptable" to the administrator. However, to my knowledge no one has done it yet...nor ever had to.

[WebMaster]

You could be correct. I am not certain of the exact remediation steps that would be required.

[Skymaster337B]

There are no published corrective actions that I'm aware of. However, it would be up to the IA and his interpetation of the all powerful "acceptable methods to the administrator." Which just might require a new wing...if there is such a thing as a new wing.

[B2C2]

I just had this done and the cost for doing this was $550 for the Eddy Current inspection and about 18 hours of labor to disassemble the aux tanks from the wings, do the dye penetration test and reassemble the whole thing. My airplane has 5500 hours on it and passed the check with no issues. It is the second time the test has been done, with the first at 5000 as required although I was not the owner at the time so can't say how this compared with the previous pass. I have a few questions for others who have done this.

1. There was a recent response in the Cessna Pilots Association Magazine suggesting that removing the aux tanks wasn't really necessary to do the dye penetration test. Has anyone had this done without removing the aux tanks?

2. Does anyone know how many airplanes have actually failed this test?

3. If you had a failed airplane, the AD recommends replacing the spar cap doublers or other cracked components. Has anyone done this or did you just get a new wing as was suggested in the string?

[jchronic]

The inquiry in the CPA magazine was from my mech who just did my airplane a few months ago. We did not remove the aux tanks for the inspection. As I recall (sitting here in front of the TV), Tom Carr, a Skymaster guru, responded that it's a little lost to Cessna history how the necessity for removal of the aux tanks got started but the SB spells out a method to comply with the AD without removal of the tanks. I think the total bill was around $4K and change with all labor and bringing in the NDI guys with the machine. I should add that a small crack in one filler fitting was found when the main tanks were pulled - that repair is included in the $4K.

My bird was done at about 4700 hours (since I was about to start our heavy survey season). No spar issues and no corrosion inside the wing. Good news since most of our work is low altitude over salt water with a fair amount of yanking and banking.

Joe
N337NE