PA-28 Structural Failure

[Colonel]

Piper owners might want to expect AD's.

What is significant below is that the NTSB
is claiming there was [u]no pre-existing corrosion
(Florida, remember) or unrepaired/incorrectly
repaired damage[/u] from a previous accident.

It's all metal fatigue, and the mystery is as
to why, with only 11 years and 8,000 hours.

One has to wonder about operation in the bumps
at high speeds, disregarding Va and even the
yellow arc.  People forget so quickly about the
T-34 fiasco ... I flew one of the T-34's that broke
up, and I was amazed at the disregard for the
yellow arc by the operator.

[quote]The NTSB is officially calling the fatal crash at Embry-Riddle earlier this month an in-flight breakup, although its report thus far is only preliminary. The accident occurred on April 4 and killed ERAU student Zach Capra and FAA DPE John S. Azma. Several eyewitnesses reported seeing the left wing of the Piper PA-28 Arrow separate from the aircraft while it was climbing out after a touch-and-go at Daytona Beach International Airport (DAB). The wing was found about 200 feet from the main wreckage.

Although the investigation is ongoing, the NTSB’s report notes that “preliminary examination of the left wing main spar revealed that more than [b]80%[/b] of the lower spar cap and portions of the forward and aft spar web doublers exhibited fracture features consistent with [b]metal fatigue[/b].” Fatigue cracking was also discovered in the same location on the right wing. [b]No signs of corrosion or other pre-accident damage to the wings have been found[/b], the NTSB said.

The accident airplane was manufactured in [b]2007 and had 7,690 hours[/b] on the airframe. The plane’s most recent annual was completed on March 21, just 14 days before the accident. According to the report, Capra was taking his commercial practical examination at the time of the crash. The rest of Embry-Riddle’s Arrows are grounded with no word yet on plans to return them to service.[/quote]

[David MacRay]

Tin foil hat me wonders if this will become a way to remove lots of nice old airplanes from active flight status.

I hope not, but I suspect if the AD is to replace the spar or something, even though everyone with a light single engine plane is rich. Some won't be able to fix their plane and so it will sit grounded and unsaleable.

I guess we can't wait until they start failing to fix them if this really is a problem.

I think it seems like 8000 hours is not much when some of them are into 20000+. Poor flight training planes have to survive student pilots though, sometimes that's no easy feat.

[Slick Goodlin]

[quote author=David MacRay link=topic=8306.msg22962#msg22962 date=1524243600]
Tin foil hat me wonders if this will become a way to remove lots of nice old airplanes from active flight status.
[/quote]
This wasn't really that old of an airplane.  At this point I kind of wonder if someone will come forward and admit that sometime in the last week they drilled it onto the ground on landing or botched an attempted roll or something and didn't report it.

[David MacRay]

Maybe but if they "forgot" to report it before they might be even more reluctant now.

[Colonel]

An inspection of all the other aircraft in their fleet
should turn up some interesting data.  Do they
all have no fatigue?  Do they all have some or
serious fatigue?  If so, what is the cause of it?
Improper use, or faulty manufacturing process
with the metal not up to spec?

[Slick Goodlin]

[quote author=David MacRay link=topic=8306.msg22966#msg22966 date=1524244187]
Maybe but if they "forgot" to report it before they might be even more reluctant now.
[/quote]
If I ran the show right now I'd be doing everything in my power to fish for confessions, just in case.  A huge operation like Embry Riddle has more than one psychologist on staff to consult on exactly how to phrase and handle the request.

"Vee have vays of making you talk..."

[anofly]

The pics of the break look like outboard of the two bolt holes has been working for a while,discoloured etc,  and the final break was a quick fracture inboard of bolt holes... not very pretty at all.
florida has some bumps but the planes at the school probably land multiple times for each hour of flight.
I have always been amazed at some ad's that say "inspect landing gear every 1000 hours" some planes only land once every 3 to 4 hours, some land 4 times an hour on grass... somewhat different circumstances. I think most are amazed that most , or many piston  planes, avg flights are less than an hour.... when you scan the log, apart from pipeline planes, that fly in the bumps, but save on tires...

[ScudRunner-d95]

She seams a little sloppy.



[youtube][url=[/url][/youtube]

[David MacRay]

Yikes! I wonder if someone is still flying that plane?

It would have made a better video if the wing shaky guy broke it off while filming.

If I found that on a rental, I wouldn't know wether to snag it or jump on it to break it off, then snag it. I'm not flying it I know that. I can imagine a particular AME I argued with a few times years ago telling me not to worry about it. Probably adding something like, "It's been like that all month, we're waiting for parts."

"Wing came off during walk around."

[Colonel]

Wait for the emergency AD from the FAA ...