So....., Are the tails falling off of all Huskys?
- Thread starter MoJo
- Start date
Steve Pierce
BENEFACTOR
Graham, TX
They came out with a servic bulletin on the rear attach several years ago and when I called my buddy that worked thee he said they only saw the issue on banner planes. The front attach is evidently a different issue.
G44
MEMBER
SW Michigan
No, the tails are not coming off Husky’s. Pretty darn robust tail if you ask me. Last week a friends Husky had a failure of the main strut on the horizontal stab due to a hardware failure, airplane flew fine. I realize his failure is completely unrelated to this AD, I just wanted to point out even after a failure like he had the tail did not come off or fail.
We have inspected (As per the AD) 4 or 5 Husky's in my group of friends in the last 2 weeks and no cracks found. I don't know anyone who has had cracks except for the airplanes that caused the AD to be issued. The subject airplanes were banner and glider tow airplanes with thousands of hours and cycles on them. Easy to inspect and look for cracks. My guess is that when its all said and done there wont be many found. I have always inspected this area over the years long before the AD and have never found any cracks. That being said, anything is possible!
Kurt
We have inspected (As per the AD) 4 or 5 Husky's in my group of friends in the last 2 weeks and no cracks found. I don't know anyone who has had cracks except for the airplanes that caused the AD to be issued. The subject airplanes were banner and glider tow airplanes with thousands of hours and cycles on them. Easy to inspect and look for cracks. My guess is that when its all said and done there wont be many found. I have always inspected this area over the years long before the AD and have never found any cracks. That being said, anything is possible!
Kurt
JWE
FRIEND
NC30
I believe one guy on the Husky website said he had a crack and that his airplane had not been a tow plane. Ours has over 3400 hours on the airframe and no cracks found when complying with the AD. We did find a crack during the last annual but it was in a different area than that addressed in the AD.
Steve Pierce
BENEFACTOR
Graham, TX
G44
MEMBER
SW Michigan
Yep, 2015, 200 hours total time. The bolt that attaches to the strut and goes thu the horizontal stab leading edge broke. There was evidence that it was cracked for quite some time. We don't know exactly when it broke but this airplane has not been abused or flown outside normal operating limitations.
Kurt
The one I fly regularly had tail A.D. inspection at ~2150 hours TT, mostly as a glider tug, so LOTS of landing cycles. No problems noted. This is a "new wing" A1B with 200 hp I0-360, and MT 3-blade prop.
It has had problems with the left outboard horizontal stabilizer strut terminal breaking, at least twice. This is a known problem, and suspect a bad batch of parts, although Aviat service instructions are vague about squaring up both horizontals and torque values. It flew OK, but had more than normal vibration through the control stick, and on instrument panel. The original owner and the current owner are very good at staying ahead of maintenance issues, and actually appreciate that I sometimes "break" the Husky just by looking at it (thorough pre-flight and post-flight inspections).
This surprise A.D. feels to me like a solution in search of a problem. I hope Aviat has the integrity to share the data with the aircraft owners once it's compiled.
Thanks. cubscout
It has had problems with the left outboard horizontal stabilizer strut terminal breaking, at least twice. This is a known problem, and suspect a bad batch of parts, although Aviat service instructions are vague about squaring up both horizontals and torque values. It flew OK, but had more than normal vibration through the control stick, and on instrument panel. The original owner and the current owner are very good at staying ahead of maintenance issues, and actually appreciate that I sometimes "break" the Husky just by looking at it (thorough pre-flight and post-flight inspections).
This surprise A.D. feels to me like a solution in search of a problem. I hope Aviat has the integrity to share the data with the aircraft owners once it's compiled.
Thanks. cubscout
