Twin Cessna Gear AD

[Colonel]

Requires TWO of these bolts.

[digits]

Which AD is that?

[Squaretail]

Cessna, or rather Textron (that's what they're listed under in the most recent A/D I was sent) is trying really hard to make it cost prohibitive to fly their legacy aircraft, particularly their 300/400 series. They will probably eventually succeed, given their determination.

[digits]

I don't think they are doing it intentionally, but it is a weird industry where a manufacturer can one sidedly decide you have to buy expensive part X for Y dollars in order to keep flying your perfectly fine aircraft.

[Colonel]

A thousand us dollars for a fucking bolt.

[Slick Goodlin]

A thousand us dollars for a fucking bolt.

A friend of mine needed to buy some nut plates for a restoration he was doing. Open up the ACS catalogue and find that they range from $4 to $6 a piece except for one size in the middle at $78 each. Guess what size he needed over a hundred of.

[Squaretail]

I don't think they are doing it intentionally, but it is a weird industry where a manufacturer can one sidedly decide you have to buy expensive part X for Y dollars in order to keep flying your perfectly fine aircraft.

Actually Textron was caught trying on purpose. There was a big go around with the FAA when they saw fit to start issuing their own A/Ds. Thankfully the FAA slapped them down, but it was somewhat revealing of their stance on those aircraft.

A thousand us dollars for a fucking bolt.

Are you new to this? That's cheap. Take a guess what a new stall sensor for the Navajo cost, just that little toggle that the packaging says pilots AREN'T supposed to flick when doing walk arounds. That little unit which has about $10 worth of metal and plastic.

I've been shining up my welding skills these days, I could totally fabricate one of those bolts for only say $500.

edit: don't get me started on sourcing parts for a janitrol. If you want to see expensive pieces of sheet metal.

[digits]

I don't think they are doing it intentionally, but it is a weird industry where a manufacturer can one sidedly decide you have to buy expensive part X for Y dollars in order to keep flying your perfectly fine aircraft.

Actually Textron was caught trying on purpose. There was a big go around with the FAA when they saw fit to start issuing their own A/Ds. Thankfully the FAA slapped them down, but it was somewhat revealing of their stance on those aircraft.

Oh, interesting. Do you have a source or reference to that story? I can't seem to find it. Curious to know what happened exactly.

[Squaretail]

https://blog.aopa.org/aopa/tag/airworth ... mitations/