Inspections of the tailcone reinforcement for airplanes in severe usage environments with floats or skis

1 FAA Aviation Safety SPECIAL AIRWORTHINESS INFORMATION BULLETIN SUBJ: Inspections of the tailcone reinforcement for airplanes in “severe usage environments” with floats or skis SAIB: CE-16-16 Date: May 4, 2016 This is information only. Recommendations aren’t mandatory.

Introduction

This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin is to alert owners, operators, maintenance technicians, and inspectors of an airworthiness concern, specifically the potential for cracks and corrosion in the stabilizer hinge brackets and tailcone reinforcement brackets on Textron Aviation Inc. (Cessna) Models 180 and 185 airplanes that are equipped with floats or skis. Airplanes equipped with floats or skis are identified as “severe usage environments” in Cessna service manuals.

At this time, the airworthiness concern is not an unsafe condition that would warrant airworthiness directive (AD) action under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 39.

Background

A recent inspection of a Cessna Model 185 airplane revealed excessive up and down movement of the horizontal tail section. Upon further inspection, the stabilizer hinge brackets and tailcone reinforcement brackets were found cracked.

Textron Aviation has updated the Cessna supplemental inspection documents (SID) as follows to address this concern:

Model-Series Service Man. (Years) SID Number Manual Revision SID Rev. Date 180/185 (1963-68) 53-10-01 10 May 18, 2015 180/185 (1969-80) 53-10-01 9 May 18, 2015 180/185 (1981-85) 53-10-01 9 May 1, 2016

The manuals state: “Airplanes which are equipped with floats or skis must use the SEVERE time limits”. Section 2A-30-01 provides “Corrosion” information that is unchanged from the previous manual revision. This reference to corrosion is included because corrosion may be a contributing factor in crack development.

Recommendations

For Cessna Models 180 and 185 airplanes that are equipped with floats or skis, we recommend adherence to the Cessna Service Manuals because of the “severe usage environments” as a result of these installations.

For Further Information Contact

Gary D. Park, Aerospace Engineer, ACE-118W phone: (316) 946-4123; fax: (316) 946-4107; e-mail: [email protected].

2 For Related Service Information Contact

Cessna Aircraft Company, Customer Support Service, P.O. Box 7706, Wichita, Kansas; telephone: (316) 517-5800; fax: (316) 517-7271.